Some companies are opting for a new tactic in slimming down employee numbers — “stealth firing.”
Meta let go around two dozen staff in October for using their $25 meal credits to buy other items, including laundry detergent and acne pads, while EY fired many more for “cheating” and taking multiple training courses at once.
The Financial Times, which first reported the EY firings, referred to these instances of being dismissed for minor offenses as “stealth firing.”
Joe Galvin, the chief research officer at the executive coaching platform Vistage, told Business Insider that this sneaky sacking is “a “covert behind-the-scenes activity” that “violates the principle of respect for the individual.”
A corporation might think: “I’m trying to downsize a little bit without saying I’m downsizing a little bit,” Galvin said.
“So you go through this process that does nothing but break trust.”
Short-term gain for long-term problems
Stealth firing leads from an era of “quiet firing,” where companies methodically made employees’ roles increasingly uncomfortable and less appealing, such as implementing strict return-to-office mandates.
This trend, along with the quietly agreed-upon severance packages of “silent layoffs,” is a tactic to avoid the optics of publicly cutting dozens of staff.
Cynthia Patterson, the founder of the HR consultancy firm PeopleOps.how, who has 20 years of experience in HR across tech, AI, healthcare, and retail industries, told BI that while quietly trimming headcounts in these ways may work in the short term, they can cause serious issues for a workplace.
“Any short-term outcome is offset by the negative cultural impact,” Patterson said. “Employees are left second-guessing their own value and stability, creating an environment of anxiety and mistrust.”
A lack of trust and stability can lead to low morale, reduced productivity, and a stressed-out workforce.
“This dynamic mirrors the patterns of toxic and/or abusive work cultures, where fear and uncertainty are used — intentionally or not — as tools for behavioral control,” Patterson said.
A shift in power
People are also perceptive, and employees who see their colleagues be shown the door for minor indiscretions will only make them wary and dissatisfied.
Patterson told BI companies who push people out in arbitrary ways are mistakenly viewing avoidance as kindness.
“Employee performance management is part of running a business,” she said. “And it can’t be skipped because it feels uncomfortable or inconvenient to the employer.”
Stealth firing, Patterson said, simply exposes a company’s inability or unwillingness to have honest, necessary conversations about performance — and “signals to employees that the organization doesn’t have integrity.”
Galvin told BI that companies willfully harming their reputations in this way may find they are the ones suffering and bleeding talent if an era of revenge quitting hits in 2025.
“The signs are pointing up toward a really strong 2025 — our community is energized, hiring’s going back up again, investments are going up, expectations for profits and revenues are up,” he said. “The power shifting.”
Weigh up your options
It’s always a smaller world than you think when it comes to work and looking for your next job, Ciara Harrington, the chief people officer of the leadership training platform Skillsoft, told BI.
“It’s in the interest of everybody to keep good relationships,” she said. “I don’t think anybody really wants to leave a company on bad terms.”
Sometimes, companies have to let their staff go, and the best thing for everyone is to do so with respect and honesty. That way, while the news isn’t what the employees hope for, they still maintain a level of respect for the company.
The alternative is that employees post on public platforms such as LinkedIn, TikTok, Reddit, and job review sites about their negative experiences, such as how they felt undervalued and lied to.
Patterson said these stories could reach future employees, customers, investors, and even employment lawyers, opening up companies to potential legal disputes.
“Strong companies know their employees are human beings and deserve to be treated as such,” Patterson said.
Galvin told BI that if there are signs that your company is looking to stealth fire you, it’s time to start weighing your options.
Even if your employer isn’t planning on firing you, if their communication is poor, and you feel unsafe, it’s best to get out anyway.
“In the absence of a story, we create one,” Galvin said. “If you sense that’s happening to you, you either have the direct conversation with your manager or start looking for your next job.”
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