Dive Brief:
- Eighty-two percent of companies still plan to give executives bonuses this year, according to results of a November Resume.org survey released Wednesday.
- Meanwhile, nearly a third of companies plan to lay off workers before the end of the year, and 42% won’t give employees severance, the survey of 1,008 business leaders found.
- Companies cited cutting costs before Q1 as the top reason for conducting layoffs during the holiday season (74%), as well as a way to avoid paying bonuses (42%) or PTO (35%).
Dive Insight:
Kara Dennison, Resume.org’s head of career advising, said year-end layoffs can help companies finalize budgets before January.
“Laying off employees at the end of the year can make transitions operationally easier for some teams,” Dennison said. “For the person losing their job, however, the timing is brutal. The holidays magnify stress, and lost income combined with the social expectations of the season, can make the experience feel lonelier.”
Holidays layoffs are especially “destabilizing,” per Dennison, because hiring typically slows at the end of the year. Employers can help, however, by providing extended severance or benefits and outplacement assistance, she said.
Yet only 58% of business leaders said all laid off workers will receive severance. Thirty-five percent said only some workers will, and 6% said no workers will. Of those that will provide severance, 9% will give less than two weeks’ pay, 30% will provide three to four week’ pay and 34% will offer two weeks’ pay, the survey found. About 2 in 3 companies will provide job placement help.
Impending layoffs are indicative of the shift in the balance of power between employers and employees, Glassdoor’s recent 2026 Worklife Trends report found. Employers are actively engaged in what Glassdoor referred to as “forever layoffs” — serialized smaller layoffs of 50 people or fewer.
In fact, the rate of job cuts in October was the highest it’s been in any October since 2003, according to a data analysis by outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The 153,074 cuts announced in October were up 175% compared to October 2024.
