I mean, I don't believe it's a cover.
From the perspective of a company why would you ever want to lay off ($) people when you can push them towards wanting to quit (no $).
Two reasons: wanting to be able to hire in the future, and to retain high performers who also value a good atmosphere in the workplace.
That's the kind of short-sighted thinking that makes the difference between high performers actually wanting or not wanting to work for you.
(In more detail, the two reasons my sibling comment gave.)
My company is being acquired and doing exactly this. Senior engineers and managers are getting fed up and leaving, and the company does nothing to retain anyone. It's a win-win for the company and those who leave because they're all leveling up and the company saves a ton of cash, but the people who stay are suffering from the brain drain. No idea how they expect new hires to keep this ship afloat...