It has been months now that headlines have chronicled the familiar spectacle of mass corporate layoffs. Thousands of jobs are being eliminated in a single sweep, careers are upended overnight, and boardrooms are cloaked in a crisis mode. But beneath these lies a quieter, insidious shift, one that rarely makes the evening news.According to Glassdoor’s latest report on 2026 work trends, a new phenomenon has taken hold: the rise of the “forever layoff.” This is not like a thunder layoff, a sweeping downsizing that fills the news cycle. It is like the whispered one that cuts a role here, a position there. A drip-drop of smaller-scale firings, fewer than 50 at a time. It now dominates the corporate picture.
The numbers are raising eyebrows: These small-but-steady terminations accounted for 51% of WARN Act notices in 2025, compared with just 38% in 2015, according to the Glassdoor 2026 Work Trends Report. The cumulative effect is crumbling and corrosive.
The quiet whispers that create loud noise
This strategic layoff may help companies dodge the stigma, guilt, and headlines of mass cuts. However, researchers have issued a stark warning that it can have a profound impact on the workplace.Glassdoor’s analysis notes that such layoffs “create cultures of anxiety, insecurity, and resentment,” with the damage lingering long after the pink slips have been handed out.One piece of data that is specifically saddening is: After a single layoff, negative sentiments linger among remaining employees. It takes more than two years to recover. When layoffs recur, the impact doubles, hitting hardest key talent, managers, and hires, according to the Glassdoor Research. The impact reverberates in the walls of the corporates.This drip-feed approach to job cuts keeps workers guessing: Who’s next? Will there be another announcement next quarter? Next month? Tomorrow? The result is an undercurrent of fear that permeates daily work, eroding trust and flattening morale.
Leadership under scrutiny, and losing ground
Compounding the unease is a growing distrust in leadership. Since the second half of 2023, Glassdoor’s ratings of senior leaders have slipped steadily and now sit well below pandemic-era highs.Workers in media and communication, management and consulting, and technology report the sharpest declines in confidence. The reasons, researchers say, are rooted in sector-wide disruptions: The whiplash of AI adoption, accelerating media consolidation, and a revived hustle-culture ethos in the tech industry.Compounding this slump is a telling linguistic shift. In reviews mentioning senior leadership since 2024, workers increasingly invoke terms like “misalignment,” “distrust,” “miscommunication,” “disconnection,” and “hypocrisy.” These are not the words of a stable workforce; they are the lexicon of growing disillusionment.
As job security falls, opportunity rises for a few
Yet amid the bleakness, one cohort is stepping into a silver lining: Young workers. With up to four years of experience, early-career employees are witnessing something not seen in years: A meaningful rise in wage growth, according to Glassdoor’s findings. For a generation that has struggled to secure entry-level roles due to sluggish hiring and rapid AI integration, this uptick offers a rare dose of optimism.Young workers in emerging economic hubs, Provo (Utah), Boise (Idaho), Orlando (Florida), Charleston (South Carolina), and Austin (Texas), are seeing the sharpest wage gains since 2020 (Glassdoor). The salaries may not be the nation’s highest, but the growth trajectory is compelling.“For early career workers considering where to pursue their next career step, these rising cities represent good opportunities to grow their earnings even though they may not offer the highest salaries,” Glassdoor researchers wrote.
What the “forever layoff” ultimately signals
The American workplace is undergoing a recalibration, one that may reshape norms around loyalty, stability, and leadership accountability. Rolling layoffs may keep companies out of the spotlight, but the long-term fallout is harder to obscure.Anxiety spreads. Trust deteriorates. Culture fractures.The “forever layoff” is not simply a new HR strategy, it is a structural shift that threatens to make insecurity a permanent feature of modern employment. And while pockets of opportunity emerge for younger workers, the broader picture suggests a workplace where unpredictability is the new baseline.As companies navigate 2026 and beyond, the question is no longer whether layoffs will occur, but whether organizations can withstand the cultural erosion they leave behind.
