Pros
Bright and motivated people trying to solve hard problems for the nation. Half off on Starbucks is a nice perk.
Kontras
The CEO announced that layoffs were coming a month in advance and that details would be given only at a later date. On one side you can appreciate that the CEO is trying to be honest and open about the situation; on the other hand, such announcements serve no purpose other than cause job insecurity. We spent a month worrying whether or not we would keep our jobs. If you kept your job, then you spent a month worrying for nothing. If you lost your job, well, worrying about it for a month and then still losing it is not any better. In this situation, I think it is better to just announce that layoffs happened after the affected people have already been notified.