These workers aren’t waiting to be laid off — they’re building a Plan B

• Workers who believe they have less job security than they used to are coming up with a backup plan.
• Corporate strategy shifts, a tough job market, and AI hype are fueling anxiety.
• They’re getting a head start on their job search, launching side gigs, or prepping their finances.

When Michael Permana realized his software engineering job at Amazon was at risk, he didn’t panic. He took paternity leave.

Permana’s job security concerns began in February 2023, when he was placed on a performance improvement plan — a move he saw as a clear sign his job was in serious jeopardy.

“I was desperate because from what I’d heard, once you are in a performance improvement plan, you are on your way out at Amazon,” said the 47-year-old, who lives in California.

He began looking for work immediately but knew it might take a while to land a new role, and he was worried about not being able to earn a paycheck when he had a mortgage to pay.

Then he had an idea. His daughter had been born the previous May, and he still had a few remaining months of paternity leave before it expired when she turned one year old. By temporarily stepping away from work, he thought he might be able to prolong his employment at Amazon while he searched for a new role.

“I took the opportunity while I could to delay time,” he said.

It paid off. Less than a month after returning to work, Permana received a job offer for a software engineering position at MobilityWare, a mobile game developer.

While layoffs across the economy remain low by historical standards, white-collar workers have been disproportionately affected — and a hiring slowdown has made it harder for them to secure new roles. Business Insider has spoken with dozens of people laid off by major corporations as companies implement strategic shifts — including shedding management roles, reallocating resources toward AI initiatives, pushing out underperformers, and cutting costs across the board.

Some of these workers saw their layoffs coming, but many others were caught off guard — citing factors like long tenure, a lack of performance issues, and the seemingly strong financial position of their employers.

Rather than simply working hard and hoping for the best, some workers have prepared for the worst — deploying strategies like getting a head start on their job search, launching a side business, or secretly working a second job.

Laura Ulrich, director of economic research at the Indeed Hiring Lab, said some workers may be feeling anxious about job security because lower hiring levels have raised concerns about their ability to find a new role if a layoff were to occur. And because hiring was so much stronger in many industries just a few years ago, the shift may feel especially stark.

“If you become unemployed, it’s become much harder to find a job,” she said.

Ulrich added that the hype surrounding the potential of AI technologies has also given some workers reason to worry about their job security — even as the full impact of these technologies remains to be seen.

Business Insider has heard from dozens of workers about how corporate strategy shifts, layoffs, and hiring slowdowns have affected their careers. If you have a story to share, contact this reporter via email at [email protected] or via Signal at jzinkula.29,

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Starting a business to prepare for a layoff

Eduardo Noriega first began worrying about his job security at Microsoft in 2009, when the company laid off about 5,000 workers. He was spared, but it was a wake-up call.

“When I saw the layoff, I realized that job security isn’t real,” said Noriega, who’s in his 50s and lives in Seattle.

After weighing his options, Noriega concluded that his best chance at financial stability was to build a business he could rely on if he ever lost his job. He said it was one of the best career decisions he’s ever made.

By the time he was laid off by Microsoft this past May, he’d spent nearly a decade building a staffing firm outside work hours — and was earning more from it than from his software engineering job. He said he had been hesitant to quit and give up the steady paycheck, but the layoff gave him the push he needed to go all in.

“I never dared to quit,” he said. “And then Microsoft presented the layoff, and for me, that was like an exit.”

Taking second jobs and building your network

Many of the workers Business Insider spoke with who had the greatest concerns about job security — and who took steps to guard against it — had either been laid off in the past or witnessed significant cuts at their employers.

After getting laid off from four tech jobs between 2020 and 2023, Reed, who is in his 30s and lives in New York, was desperate for some level of job security. Business Insider verified his identity, but he requested to use a pseudonym due to concerns about professional repercussions.

After his fourth layoff, Reed had a eureka moment.

“I was like, the only way for me to combat not continuously being unemployed is to have two jobs,” he said.

As of earlier this year, Reed was on track to earn about $280,000 working two full-time remote jobs. He said his typical workweek is about 60 hours, and neither employer knows about the other gig — but he thinks it’s worth it for the additional job security.

“I need these two jobs to sustain my life with my partner,” he said, adding, “I don’t really have a choice.”

Not all job jugglers are as ambitious as Reed. Some, like John, a millennial software engineer based in California, are boosting their job security by taking on a part-time role on the side. He expects to earn about $225,000 this year, including around $60,000 from his part-time gig. John said his main employer knows he has a side gig of some sort, but doesn’t know the specifics of the role — or how many hours he devotes to it.

In addition to his part-time gig, John has become less concerned about his job security as he has developed his network over the years. If he were to be laid off from his primary job, he said he knows several startup founders and hiring managers in his industry who he believes would help him find employment.

“I’m pretty confident that I’d be able to secure another full-time job in pretty short order,” he said.

Preparing financially and starting your job search

Earlier this year, a strategic shift at Intel led Kent Ha, then a digital marketing strategist, to believe that his team’s jobs were in jeopardy. He’d already been laid off twice over the past decade — in 2015 and 2020 — and wanted to avoid a lengthy spell of unemployment. So in June, he contacted his financial advisor to help him prepare financially — and started applying for jobs.

“I figured worst case, I’d land another offer and have a backup plan,” he said. “Best case, I’d keep my job and wouldn’t have to make any changes.”

When the feared layoff came in July, Ha was already in the middle of a job search. While he’s still looking for work, he’s glad he got a head start.

For some workers, the best way to ease their job security concerns is by accumulating savings that can help them stay afloat during unemployment — or give them the freedom to leave a job that doesn’t feel stable.

Phil Coachman, formerly a senior cloud solution architect at Microsoft, said that the company’s layoffs conducted in 2023 raised significant concerns about his job security. Other frustrations with his role followed, and in July 2024, he began looking for a new opportunity.

“I just didn’t feel happy there anymore,” said Coachman, who’s in his 40s and lives in Pennsylvania. “I wanted to just continue making cool stuff and not have this constant fear of losing my job every week.”

However, Coachman’s search proved challenging, and by January of this year, he decided to resign in order to focus on his job search. He said the “rainy day fund” he’d built over the years helped him feel comfortable doing so.

“I had enough savings that even if it would take me a year to find a job, I would be fine,” he said. “So it was just getting the courage to take that jump.”

While his savings helped him stay afloat during his job search, Coachman said deciding to rely more on his network after he resigned is what landed him a new job. A former Microsoft colleague referred him for a role at the AI startup Databricks, which led to an interview — and, in April, a job offer.

His network couldn’t protect him from being laid off, but it helped him end his spell of unemployment — and made him feel a bit less concerned about his job security going forward.

“Finding my next gig was 100% through my network,” he said, adding, “It’s real connections with people that I think make all the difference.”

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