From tech to finance, mass layoffs are rippling through industries this year. Companies including Amazon, Meta and Oracle have slashed thousands of roles, typically citing AI adoption or broader restructuring as the reason for the cuts.
Through several recent community polls that surveyed thousands of United States professionals, Glassdoor found that the impact of a layoff can linger long after it takes place.
According to a May 2026 poll of more than 900 U.S. professionals, nearly 40% of workers say they haven’t fully recovered from a layoff.
“I’ve been laid off, my wife has been laid off, my brother and sister-in-law both laid off,” one user posted on Glassdoor. “If you work long enough, you’re bound to be laid off at some point from some job.”
Those who have survived their company’s layoffs are also impacted by the stress of potential future layoffs, too. An analysis by Glassdoor’s Economic Research team shows it takes nearly three years for a company’s ratings on the platform to recover after laying people off.
Several companies have gone through major restructurings recently. In May, Meta laid off 10% of its workforce, cutting 8,000 employees and closing 6,000 open roles. Since the layoffs occurred, the company’s CTO Andrew Bosworth said morale at Meta is nearly the worst it’s ever been. The tech giant is facing a discrimination lawsuit from employees who claim Meta used AI systems to create the termination list.
Earlier this month, Microsoft also announced layoffs that would impact 2.1% of its global workforce, including 1,600 Xbox employees, with more to come over the course of the fiscal year. On Blind, an anonymous workplace forum, Microsoft employees have posted things like: “Microsoft layoffs are only just getting started,” and “highkey stressed but just carrying on with my work today.”
And just last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Verizon has plans to lay off 3,000 workers.
After a layoff, finding a job or simply landing an interview can give impacted professionals a sense of motivation. But according to Glassdoor’s findings, 57% of workers said they felt pressure to accept a lower salary after being laid off, with women (63%) reporting that pressure more frequently than men (52%).
Still, Glassdoor found that the first interview post-layoff is key to building a sense of self-assurance. When asked what helped people regain confidence after a layoff, 26% of workers said it was landing a job interview.
Outside the job search, leaning on family and friends also appears to play a meaningful role in helping people feel like themselves again, with 19% of those surveyed saying support from loved ones mattered.
