Whether company executives are scared to have a public layoff in the news (wouldn’t want those shareholders skittish), or too lazy or fearful to let problem employees go, to wanting to reduce employee headcount the cheap way, employers have been utilizing quiet firing for a couple of decades. While the quiet firing phrase is newer, the concept behind it, it not. Organizations are always looking for ways to reduce costs, and one of those costs – employees.
This is psychological warfare toward the employees, making staff anxious that layoffs are coming so they need to look for a new job. It reduces employee productivity, and ruins any employee engagement and workplace culture initiatives you have in place.
So, how do you know if your company is utilizing this strategy? Here are 12 trends to look for:
- Suddenly limiting promotions within the company.
- No raises and no bonuses for staff.
- Re-titling job titles for new employees, and using terms like Coordinator or Assistant, in order to pay staff less.
- Reassigning roles, and of course adding more tasks, without more compensation.
- Giving employees a new managerial job title and extra duties, while not providing the corresponding pay increase.
- Advertising jobs on their website or Indeed, but not actually hiring new staff (part of the 40% of jobs advertised that are not real).
- Advertising new jobs on their website or Indeed, but then a couple of weeks into the application process, withdrawing the job.
- Suddenly having your responsibilities reduced or projects taken away.
- Exclusion from meetings you have been regularly included in recently.
- Sudden lack of performance feedback.
- Lack of recognition verbally or monetarily for high performance levels.
- No longer receiving important emails or other communication from your direct manager.
While this approach is a huge trend right now according to a 2025 Korn Ferry study, shedding talent quietly isn’t really quiet at all! From external online chat boards that let employees know this is happening, to scuttlebutt in the company, staff is aware, and it is sure to result in negative outcomes for your company.
Yes, the organization might be saving on severance packages, or avoiding dismissal conversations with a difficult or low-performing employee, but at what cost to the company. The stress and mental health issues you cause the employees, the productivity lost, the good employees you wanted to keep that are leaving, employee engagement and company culture going down the drain, and potential lawsuits for hostile work environment cannot be worth the supposed money savings. Have some compassion – do a severance package that consists of two weeks for every year an employee has been there and six months of health care, or if the employee is a problem and needs to go, do a Performance Improvement Plan for 30/60/90 days and dismiss them.
Quiet firing is giving companies a bad name online, and has the additional ripple effect of nastygrams on Glassdoor, Indeed, and social media sites. Treat your employees with respect, and do the right thing. Your company, shareholders, and remaining employees will be better for it.