30 year old, no kids/pets, no mortgage, no debt, in relatively good health. Sitting on about $90k, making $110k/year. I started my role just over a year ago, and the company has been in an extremely bad place from the start, with all the harbingers of layoffs. Repeated team meetings about hiring/spending freezes, how we need to focus on “fulfilling our promise to investors,” 10% of my very small corporate communications team getting laid off in Q4 of 2025, etc. The energy crisis related to the closure of the Gulf has only worsened this.
I spent the first 8-9 months getting extremely anxious about every last minute meeting request and burning the midnight oil to get deliverables in but, for the past month or so, I just could not care less. I’m still going to the office, engaging with colleagues, getting the bare minimum done to get a “good” employee, but I’m so burnt out from the repeated layoff “edging” that I can no longer bring myself to care once the call comes. I received a positive performance review and small merit bonus one month ago, and know that I will be eligible for unemployment for at least 6.5 months.
I don’t mean to sound glib - I know how bad the job market is and have worked very hard to save up an emergency fund - but I think the repeated threat of layoffs hanging over my head and the knowledge that I’m just as likely to get laid off whether I work until 5 PM or 8 PM has really numbed my anxiety. If I’m doing everything that I could be doing to mitigate risk, why should I worry?
Does anybody feel the same?