Can We Expect Unexpected Layoffs In 2022?

• According to a recent Korn Ferry report, firms are now preparing quietly for layoffs due to inflation and arbitrariness. 
• This is despite the U.S. economy seeing one of its highest years in employment numbers. Korn Ferry’s report advises corporate managers to preserve their best employees and identify them by reviewing top talent. 
• Telltale signs that a series of layoffs are on the way include a company or location failing, micromanagement of finances, not being kept in the loop, coworker layoffs, and high turnover rates. 

Layoffs in 2022 have been significant since the beginning of the year, according to Business Insider. Layoff spikes are routinely seen every May in American startup companies and are increasingly commonplace in the tech domain.   

Layoffs become inevitable when the economy is in bad shape. Layoffs, therefore, are on the way. According to a recent Korn Ferry report, firms are now preparing quietly for layoffs due to inflation and arbitrariness.  

Some analysts are predicting considerable layoffs in the corporate world toward the end of this year. Of course, layoffs are always arbitrary to some degree. Still, in this case, increased layoffs are expected because companies are looking to cut costs to protect themselves from the impact of inflation.  

This is despite the U.S. economy seeing one of its highest years in employment numbers. Korn Ferry’s report advises corporate managers to preserve their best employees and identify them by reviewing top talent.   

The report also advises corporate leaders to help employees and would-be employees find work if they are laid off, and some companies are already doing as much.  

One worthy addition here should be considered: employers need to consider layoffs as a worst-case scenario decision as opposed to a precaution. This is because layoffs guarantee the loss of excellent workers, which employers must take extremely seriously.  

Layoffs as a precaution do not indicate that one is taking that fact very seriously. Putting excellent workers’ jobs at risk as a precaution is equivalent to putting their livelihood at risk for the company’s well-being, whose well-being hasn’t yet been damaged.  

Worst-case scenario situations entail a definite risk to the company’s existence. However, exceedingly few layoffs result from worst-case conditions – according to the Korn Ferry report, they are mostly arbitrary. Moreover, in many cases, layoffs are annual, such as in the world of start-ups.  

What can workers do?  

Korn Ferry’s report did not advise employees on what to do in the wake of this rouge-wave of layoffs. This might be because most workers are already looking for work or intend to look for work soon, and this is essentially all workers are in a position to do.   

For instance, telltale signs that a series of layoffs are on the way include a company or location failing, micromanagement of finances, not being kept in the loop, coworker layoffs, and high turnover rates.  

When these signs occur in a place of work, it is time to start looking for a new job. Unfortunately, they are hard to spot, so be on the lookout.  

Apart from that, however, all workers are only in a position to start looking for a new job in the face of upcoming layoffs. Workers have gotten used to the idea that job stability is essentially a thing of the past – whether or not that is true – and are looking for work anyway. 

One thing to be on the lookout for is whether the company you work for has announced layoffs. In recent months, prominent companies like Tesla, TomTom, Uber, Meta, Robinhood, Carvana, and others have announced upcoming layoffs or already laid off a substantial number of employees.  

What industries are layoffs most likely to happen in?  

In terms of which industries are most precarious, at the moment, despite following the general trend in the United States in 2022 of high employment rates, the tech industry has initiated the majority of recent layoffs and has contributed to the majority of most recent announcements for layoffs.   

Tech is especially precarious because hiring freezes and slowdowns are rising in conjunction with these layoffs. As a result, experts and executives are telling analysts and employees to prepare for the worst in some cases. Additionally, crypto has experienced and expects to experience additional significant layoffs in 2022. 

These layoffs are already seeping into June and have been ongoing for almost all of 2022. They will most certainly extend into the end of this year, and given that inflation is exceedingly unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon, it will grow into the future indefinitely.  

Apart from these significant instances, it is worth investigating the problem at an individual level. People who are worried about getting laid off should look into whether or not the company they are working for has been laying people off or whether tightening financial strangeness has occurred in their workplace.