Many small cuts

People on Wall Street seem to be vanishing overnight. [...]

After the 1987 stock market crash, for example, employees were herded into conference rooms and dismissed en masse.[...]This time, companies are making many small cuts over the course of weeks or even months. Some people who have lost jobs, and many more struggling to hold them, say banks are keeping employees in the dark about the size and timing of layoffs.[...]

The idea that banks will slowly wield the knife again and again unnerves many employees. People know the cuts are coming — they just don’t know when or where.

—"For Wall Street Workers, Ax Falls Quietly," NYT