Unfortunately, with the number of pilots employed and the number being let go, the human touch probably wasn't possible. Reviewing the files of around 4000 flight crew, even if only 10 minutes was spent on each one would take around 660 hours or 16 weeks at 8 hours per day. Obviously this would be reduced if more people were involved, but you would want to have relatively senior people making the assesssments.
Having the IT department write up a short program to trawl through the records and fish up specific markers such as warning letters or excessive sick leave was likely to have been the quickest option.
Once a company gets above a certain size, putting faces to names becomes impossible and you are just a number. In a much smaller company, the Chief Pilot might know each of his crew personally and have his own chop list based on individual performance and merits.