There's a phrase doing the rounds this week that names something a lot of HR and TA leaders have felt without a word for it: the forever layoff. Not a single brutal cut followed by recovery, but a permanent low hum of small, rolling reductions that never quite stops, even as the same companies keep hiring for AI roles and posting record productivity numbers. This week gave that phrase four separate case studies. An algorithm allegedly chose who lost their job at Meta, and allegedly targeted people who'd taken protected leave to do it. Volkswagen's threatened cuts became a confirmed number. And in offices that haven't cut anyone at all, the basic terms of employment, pay, flexibility, even how long people stay, are quietly coming apart anyway.
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- A lawsuit alleges Meta's layoff decisions were made by AI, and allegedly targeted staff on protected medical leave
- Volkswagen's threatened job cuts are now a confirmed 50,000, after the board rejected plant closures
- Welcome to the "forever layoff": workers are entering an era of continuous small cuts, and some are retiring early rather than adapt
- The employment relationship is fraying without a single redundancy: job-hugging is cracking, RTO reads as a pay cut, and Gen Z is job-scrolling on the clock
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