Director-level here. The chances of your manager knowing ahead of time about layoffs is pretty low, and having been in leadership during a few rounds of layoffs, I can confirm that middle- and lower-management often only find out about the layoffs maybe a handful of days in advance. The C-suite and HR know about it for weeks, and _maybe_ a VP might be looped in, depending on the size of the company.
Should you expect real answers? If your boss is cool, yes. You should expect them to be honest. Just don't expect them to have any useful information. If your boss is not cool, then... that's another problem entirely. :)
The best thing you can do to ensure you have a job is to provide value to the business. That means shipping things on time, that means fixing bugs, that means being proactive, that means spending time on less sexy stuff that makes money instead of shiny new things that are fun. And honestly, it's really, really difficult to do that when you think you might be facing a round of layoffs -- or have already gone through them!
What questions should you be asking your manager _now_, post-layoffs? "How can I help" is one. How can you help the company be more successful so they don't need more layoffs. Great question to ask. Your manager may not know, but it's a good question.
Personally? I'd brush up your resume, suck up to your manager, be as friendly as you can with as many people as you can, and pump yourself up as an awesome colleague, because the day will come when they will lay _you_ off, and you'll want a network that you can rely upon.
TL;DR: In this environment, build value to keep your job, but also build relationships with your colleagues (boss, peers, reports, indirect team members), and keep your eyes open for other opportunities where you can leverage those now-more-solid relationships to get references or referrals.
Should you expect real answers? If your boss is cool, yes. You should expect them to be honest. Just don't expect them to have any useful information. If your boss is not cool, then... that's another problem entirely. :)
The best thing you can do to ensure you have a job is to provide value to the business. That means shipping things on time, that means fixing bugs, that means being proactive, that means spending time on less sexy stuff that makes money instead of shiny new things that are fun. And honestly, it's really, really difficult to do that when you think you might be facing a round of layoffs -- or have already gone through them!
What questions should you be asking your manager _now_, post-layoffs? "How can I help" is one. How can you help the company be more successful so they don't need more layoffs. Great question to ask. Your manager may not know, but it's a good question.
Personally? I'd brush up your resume, suck up to your manager, be as friendly as you can with as many people as you can, and pump yourself up as an awesome colleague, because the day will come when they will lay _you_ off, and you'll want a network that you can rely upon.
TL;DR: In this environment, build value to keep your job, but also build relationships with your colleagues (boss, peers, reports, indirect team members), and keep your eyes open for other opportunities where you can leverage those now-more-solid relationships to get references or referrals.
Hope that helps.