Sunday Oct 26, 2025

[26 OCT] PAPER CUT - The Productivity Mirage Meets The Pink-Slip Economy

This week’s lead story: AI agents scale while layoffs surge. We unpack the cultural signal in the cuts, why middle managers decide AI success, and how to rebuild early-career rungs and remote strategy.

This week’s Paper Cut slices through the spin to give HR and employer brand leaders the insight they actually need. No fluff, just facts.

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📌 Sources & Links:

The Cuts Are Strategic. The Signal Is Cultural.

Target eliminating 1,800 positions, laying off 1,000 workers https://www.startribune.com/target-la...

Exclusive: ConocoPhillips to lay off Canada employees in November, company memo shows https://www.reuters.com/business/worl...

Charter to Lay Off 1,200 Workers https://broadbandbreakfast.com/charte...

Meta layoffs tied to AI priorities https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/22/meta-...

Rivian layoffs reported https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/23/rivia...

Graphic of the day: Layoffs accelerate in 2025 https://www.forbesindia.com/article/u...

US federal layoffs threaten the backbone of community support https://www.benefitsandpensionsmonito...

AI’s Split Screen — Agents Deliver, Adoption Fumbles

How Block Got 12,000 Employees Using AI Agents in Two Months https://thenewstack.io/how-block-got-...

Middle Managers Feel the Least Psychological Safety at Work https://hbr.org/2025/10/middle-manage...

Amazon To Lay Off 15 Percent Of HR Employees After Jassy Said AI Will ‘Reduce Our Total Corporate Workforce:’ Report https://www.crn.com/news/cloud/2025/a...

AI might be creating a ‘permanent underclass’ but it’s the makers of the tech bubble who are replaceable https://www.theguardian.com/commentis...

Deloitte's Global AI Leader Nitin Mittal warns job loss to AI is ‘inevitable’, but engineers should….. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/t...

The Broken Rungs — Early Careers Are A Meat Grinder

A City exec says Gen Z is nearing breaking point as AI turns graduate hiring into a 'meat grinder' https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-br...

KPMG: Half of banks experiencing uptick in Gen Z staff quitting https://www.cityam.com/kpmg-half-of-b...

At least 4 in 5 tech talents could face limited opportunities as job market cools https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/comp...

UK tech grad jobs slump, placements cut https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/1...

Gen Z is stuck at the bottom rung. Citi Foundation pledges $25 million https://fortune.com/2025/10/21/gen-z-...

‘They want us to work but there is no work’: meet the NEETs https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/job...

Remote Reality Check — Demand Is Lopsided

Remote companies like Dropbox and Atlassian say they're getting flooded with applications, as other firms RTO https://www.businessinsider.com/remot...

Woman wins right to work from home every day in landmark case https://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...

Employers want hybrid. Workers want flexibility. https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjourna...