The story of work this week reads like a split screen. On the left, upbeat talk of productivity and AI agents doing real work at scale. On the right, a drumbeat of layoffs from retail to energy to Big Tech’s orbit. Leaders are being sold efficiency. Employees are being handed uncertainty. Both can be true.
The talent market is not “weak.” It is weird. Remote employers are overwhelmed with candidates. Banks report Gen Z quitting for autonomy and pace. Meanwhile, middle managers report the lowest psychological safety, exactly the tier needed to land any transformation. The tension is not hype versus doom. It is execution versus consequence.
Helping HR, talent acquisition, employer branding, and company culture professionals find careers worth smiling about.
Here is how to navigate it: treat AI as a work-design problem, not a headcount lever. Rebuild early-career ladders before they snap. And if you want to hire, stop swimming against your own current. We unpack the cuts, the agent reality, and the broken rungs, then end with a remote reality check and a useful tool for planning your workforce mix.
This Week’s Paper Cut's
