The scariest word this year for workers from DC to Silicon Valley

• The "efficiency" motto has driven layoffs and hiring freezes in the 2025 job market.
• Companies hope the cuts will save them money, but workers worry about their livelihoods.
• From Big Tech to the federal workforce, bureaucracy has fallen out of fashion.

It's CEOs' favorite buzzword and white-collar workers' nightmare fuel.

"Efficency" defined the 2025 job market from the federal government to Silicon Valley. For business and political leaders, it has become a catch-all term to signal they're leaning into AI, streamlining their workforce, and boosting productivity. A smaller bureaucracy is en vogue and increasing shareholder value was the year's hottest trend.

But reading the word in a company memo has had employees bracing for a pink slip.

With high interest rates, stubborn inflation, and steep tariff costs, businesses are looking for ways to balance their budgets — sparking a wave of layoffs across companies like Dell, AT&T, Verizon, and more.

The White House Department of Government Efficiency launched an overhaul of the government workforce, providing an especially stark example of the efficiency push to the private sector.

Chatbots, meanwhile, are becoming increasingly competent at coding, writing, and basic administrative tasks. It's culminating in tenuous job security and widespread hiring freezes, especially among college-educated office workers.

Over the past twelve months, Business Insider has heard from job seekers, workers of all ages, business leaders, and HR professionals to understand how the "efficiency" motto is reshaping the jobs landscape and employee livelihoods. Some told us they're excited to learn new skills, while others feel it's impossible to keep up with rapidly changing expectations.

"I had this degree — and that's a privilege, not everyone has that opportunity — but it didn't matter, said Jaqueline Kline, a recent college graduate who applied to hundreds of jobs without landing a role. "My GPA didn't matter. None of it mattered if I didn't have a job."

How 'efficiency' became a North Star in the private sector

In 2025, Corporate America's efficiency rhetoric evolved from a company value to a religion.

CEOs like Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Andy Jassy, and Google's Sundar Pichai, among others, have been at the forefront of the "Great Flattening," which involves simplifying organizational charts and removing layers of management. It's a bet that AI use and a smaller internal bureaucracy will translate to higher profits. The trend has led to a widespread reduction in early-career and middle-management jobs, partly to compensate for over-hiring at the height of the pandemic. It comes alongside a cooling economic landscape and a frustrated labor force.

"There are just so many people applying to the jobs, and there's only a limited number of jobs out there," said Charley Kim, a 20-something who landed a Big Tech role after a long search. He added, "Getting an interview is probably harder than the interviews themselves."

The efficiency-driven workforce flattening isn't just happening in the tech sector: Airlines, finance firms, major retailers, and media companies laid off thousands of workers this year, many of them in office-based roles.

It's beginning to appear in the data as well. Long-term unemployment rates are rising as quit rates decline — meaning companies are hiring less, while workers who do have jobs are hesitant to make a move. Unemployment and layoff rates are still relatively low, though the US is only seeing substantial job growth in the healthcare and construction fields. Employee confidence metrics indicate that workers are feeling less secure in their roles. That is, if they can land a job at all.

"My dream job might exist," Isabella Clemmens said around her college graduation in May. "But I'm one of 400 people applying for it."

DOGE added fuel to the efficiency fire — but workers aren't convinced

Shortly after President Donald Trump took office in January, the Elon Musk-led DOGE office began cutting thousands of federal workers across various agencies, citing a need for reduced spending and less bureaucracy.

Job reports show that 265,000 government employees have left their roles this year. The staff cuts have continued throughout the year — even as Musk left his post, DOGE disbanded, and courts blocked some of the firings.

DOGE's cuts were part of a broader invocation of efficiency from Musk. He sent federal workers his infamous "5 things" email, which asked government employees to regularly document their job duties and productivity. Any "failure to respond will be taken as a resignation," he said. The email followed Trump's instruction to "get more aggressive" in reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy.

It may be too early to tell if the efficiency crusades of the private and public sectors are paying off. Corporate America seems to still have a gloomy economic outlook; "tariffs," "uncertainty" and "inflation" are among the top words used by executives in company earning calls — coupled with frequent mentions of an AI bubble.

A McKinsey report published in June shows that nearly eight in 10 companies are using generative AI, and the majority report "no significant bottom-line impact." It's possible that this efficiency bet could save some companies in the long run, though lower interest rates will probably make a more tangible difference. Even Musk himself said DOGE was "a little bit" successful, but he wouldn't do it again.

For workers, the job-search process has never felt less efficient. They still need to pay the bills.

"What I look for in a job has gotten so much broader in this process," Abbey Owens said as she was searching for a job last summer. "It was very specific originally, and it's just really grown into: 'I'll accept almost anything.'"