Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["Josef J. Komenda" <joe AT komejo.com>]

I've seen this sort of thing in the local telecom market; They used to have a
layoff every 3 years at MCI to "clean out the deadwood", giving all employees
two months on the payroll to hunt for another job inside the company, then if
you can't find anything, several months separation pay and bennies (based on 
how
long you've been with the company). 

It was also not surprising to see people hopping back and forth between MCI 
and
AT&T (or similar), with about a year in between. The joke at MCI was that
quitting for a year was the fastest way to get a promotion. 

However, it's a much more pragmatic mentality in telecom than in the Internet
space. Company size also makes a huge difference. I don't think a 100 person
company can lay off 20 people who poured their hearts into the place, and 
expect
the affected employees to ever come back with that same "fire in the belly".
Smaller companies can also promote folks internally without too much hassle, 
so,
ideally, you shouldn't have good folks leaving for career advancement 
purposes.

Interesting article tho'...

Joe K