Forever Layoffs: Continuous Job Cuts Create Worker Insecurity
A recent Glassdoor report on workplace trends in 2026 reveals that the phenomenon of “forever layoffs” may become increasingly frequent. Several major companies announced redundancies in late 2025, affecting hundreds or even thousands of employees.
Large-scale redundancies of this kind certainly attract considerable attention. However, another problem is emerging beneath the surface. Smaller-scale redundancies, affecting fewer than 50 employees, have become the most common type of job cuts occurring throughout the year.
In 2025, this type of redundancy accounted for approximately 51 per cent of notifications under the WARN Act, up from 38 per cent in 2015. These smaller waves of job cuts, occurring more frequently, are expected to continue fuelling anxiety among workers through 2026.
Redundancies have damaging effects on company culture for years. According to CNBC Make It, researchers have noted that staggered redundancies may help companies avoid media attention. However, they create a culture of anxiety, insecurity, and resentment.
Previous Glassdoor research found that after redundancies, negative sentiment from remaining employees takes more than two years to recover, based on their company ratings. Repeated redundancies have a twofold impact on employee sentiment immediately after the second round of job cuts, with the largest decline among key talent, managers, and new employees.
Another indicator of worker dissatisfaction is that Glassdoor ratings for senior leaders have declined since the second half of 2023 and are now well below their peak during the Covid-19 pandemic. Workers in media and communications, management and consulting, and technology sectors have experienced the greatest erosion of trust in their leadership.
Glassdoor researchers point to business disruption from artificial intelligence, media consolidation, and the return of hardworking cultural idealism in the technology sector as primary reasons for this decline. Meanwhile, more users have mentioned words such as misalignment, distrust, miscommunication, disconnection, and hypocrisy since 2024 in Glassdoor reviews mentioning their senior leadership or management.
Good news for young job seekers
Beyond redundancy forecasts, there is positive news for some, namely that wage growth has increased for young workers with up to four years of work experience, giving them greater purchasing power in 2026.
Recent graduates have struggled to launch their careers over the past year given a weak recruitment environment and businesses adopting artificial intelligence, causing many companies to open fewer entry-level positions. However, for those who do secure employment, their salaries will be better.
Young workers in several developing cities will experience the largest difference. Provo, Utah, Boise, Idaho, Orlando, Florida, Charleston, South Carolina, and Austin are among locations with the highest wage growth since 2020, according to Glassdoor.
“For entry-level workers considering where to pursue their next career move, these developing cities represent good opportunities to increase earnings even if they do not offer the highest salaries,” Glassdoor researchers wrote.