"Next Is My Turn?"... AI Layoffs Sensed by Employees Months in Advance

An analysis has emerged showing that employees sensed signals of organizational changes about two months before companies carrying out massive layoffs tied to artificial intelligence (AI) transitions officially announced them.

According to Blind, an anonymous community for office workers, on August 29, an analysis of the activities of 101,632 employees at 10 U.S. companies that announced workforce reductions between May of last year and August of this year revealed five common stages of behavioral changes observed prior to layoff announcements.

Indirect signals of organizational changes, 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, service access frequency and dwell time to check layoff-related news also increased.

Starting about 10 weeks before the announcement, posts and comments attempting to verify whether they were targets for layoffs increased.

Movements searching for performance evaluations, ratings, and job titles also became prominent.

Subsequently, searches inquiring about severance pay, compensation terms, and job levels subject to layoffs surged.

It was found that activities searching for job information at other companies or looking for internal referrals began in earnest about eight weeks before the layoff announcements.

The proportion of posts mentioning AI and employment together has tripled over the past year.

Three-quarters of these mentions were classified as having a negative context.

Anxiety was not limited to departments actually targeted for layoffs, but spread across job functions and years of experience.

Blind explained that participation was particularly active among employees with 3 to 7 years of career experience.

An official from Blind stated, "Office workers detect the possibility of organizational restructuring or layoffs early on, but they tended to actually begin preparing for job changes only when the announcement was imminent."

However, Blind noted that the capture of such signals cannot definitively conclude that it will lead to actual restructuring, and patterns may vary depending on each company's management situation and organizational operation methods.

Amid the current trend of expanding AI investments and cost efficiency, U.S. big tech companies such as Microsoft (MS), Amazon, and Meta are continuing workforce reductions and organizational realignments.

Meanwhile, Blind, where corporate employment has been verified by subscribers worldwide reaching 480,000, operates a service that analyzes anonymous office worker conversation data using AI to diagnose corporate organizational risks.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.