▲ Moon Sung-wook, CEO of Blind
An analysis has shown that employees detected signs of organizational changes about two months before companies officially announced large-scale layoffs driven by the transition to artificial intelligence (AI).
According to an analysis of the activities of 101,632 employees at 10 U.S. companies that announced workforce reductions from May of last year to August of this year on the anonymous workplace community Blind, five stages of behavioral changes were commonly observed before layoff announcements.
Indirect signals of organizational change, such as the end of remote work, hiring freezes, reduction of benefits, cost-cutting, and pressure regarding performance evaluations, began to be mentioned approximately 12 weeks before the layoff announcements.
During the same period, the frequency of access and time spent on the service to check layoff-related news also increased, and starting about 10 weeks before the announcement, posts and comments trying to verify whether one was a target for layoffs grew.
Movements to search for performance evaluations, ratings, and job levels also became prominent.
Following this, searches regarding severance pay, compensation terms, and job levels targeted for layoffs surged.
Activities searching for job information at other companies or internal referrals began in earnest about 8 weeks before the layoff announcements.
The proportion of posts mentioning AI and employment together has tripled over the past year, with three-quarters of such mentions classified in a negative context.
Blind explained that anxiety was not limited to departments actually targeted for layoffs but spread across job positions and years of experience, with particularly active participation from employees with 3 to 7 years of experience.
An official from Blind stated, "Employees perceive the possibility of organizational restructuring or layoffs early on, but they tend to begin actual job-seeking preparations at a time close to the announcement."
However, Blind noted that it cannot be concluded that these signals automatically lead to actual restructuring, as patterns may vary depending on the management situation and operational methods of each company.
Amid the current trend of expanding AI investment and cost efficiency, U.S. big tech companies such as Microsoft (MS), Amazon, and Meta are continuing workforce reductions and organizational reorganizations.
Meanwhile, Blind, where verified employees from 480,000 companies worldwide are registered, operates a service that diagnoses corporate organizational risks by analyzing anonymous employee conversation data using AI.
(Photo provided by Blind, Yonhap News)
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