What Is Silent Firing, The New Workplace Trend?

The corporate landscape is ever evolving, with trends like the Great Resignation, quiet quitting, moonlighting, and rage applying capturing headlines. However, a new phenomenon is now gaining traction: silent firing. This unsettling trend sees companies subtly encouraging employees to resign by making their jobs increasingly difficult, often in favor of replacing them with artificial intelligence (AI).

As concerns grow about job security in the face of advancing AI technology, some experts assert that silent firing is already happening. According to George Kailas, CEO of Prospero.Ai and a contributor to Fast Company, companies are adopting strategies that push employees out of their roles, particularly by enforcing strict return-to-office policies. A striking 73 per cent of surveyed employees indicated they were considering quitting due to dissatisfaction with such mandates, particularly at companies like Amazon, which has recently insisted that workers return to the office five days a week.

Kailas points out that while remote work has been shown to boost productivity, corporations might see limiting such flexibility as a way to decrease employee retention without incurring the costs of severance packages. “The best way to decrease retention while saving on severance would be to remove remote work,” he argues.

What’s even more concerning is that we may be only beginning to see the ramifications of this shift, as Kailas notes that we haven't fully tapped into the potential of AI yet.

On the other hand, economist and MIT professor Daron Acemoglu suggests a more measured view of AI’s capabilities. He estimates that only about 5 per cent of jobs will be fully replaced or significantly assisted by AI in the next decade. “A lot of money is going to get wasted,” he told Bloomberg, warning against the notion that AI will lead to a revolutionary change in the workforce. Acemoglu emphasises that AI lacks the reliability necessary to replace humans in most tasks and will require human oversight for the foreseeable future.

Adding to this complicated picture, younger generations—particularly Gen Z—are driving another trend termed the Great Detachment, which signifies a troubling decline in employee engagement. A recent Gallup survey found that engagement among Gen Z and younger millennials dropped by 5 per cent. Richard Wahlquist, CEO of the American Staffing Association, noted that roughly 30 per cent of employees feel disconnected from their work.

As silent firing takes hold, it prompts a critical question for today’s workforce: How can employees navigate an environment where their roles may become increasingly tenuous? Understanding these dynamics is essential as we adapt to this shifting workplace landscape.