Large companies are taking a hint from the quiet-quitting movement and are reassigning employees to lower-status positions.
The trend, dubbed quiet cutting, has been recorded at several of the biggest companies, including Adidas, IBM and Salesforce.
Instead of firing employees to cut costs, companies are moving them to different departments and roles. The new roles typically come with new assignments, lower titles and less pay.
The trend was noticed by financial research outfit AlphaSense, which found that the quiet-cutting reassignments tripled over the past year.
The reassignments are initially met with relief from workers, since they’re happy to avoid firing. However, once the reality of their new role sets in, the employees become angry and confused.
The strategy is a way for companies to get workers to quit so they can save money on severance pay.
This comes as many companies across the world cut costs and workers to prepare for rising interest rates and a possible recession. Amazon, Google and others have cut thousands of jobs this year.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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