Cutting employee benefits is no longer off the table
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A bummer for benefits
It's no secret that the era of generous employee perks is fading. Free food, on-site laundry, and gym subsidies are all becoming less common. Even full-time remote work is becoming increasingly rare.
Amid all the cutting, I really thought certain benefits like paid time off and parental leave would be untouchable.
I was wrong.
Earlier this month, my colleague Polly Thompson reported a bombshell scoop that Deloitte plans to pare back or cut several core benefits for some of its employees. Internal documents and a meeting recording revealed the consulting firm is planning cuts to parental leave, PTO, pensions, and IVF funding for workers in internal support roles such as admin, IT support, and finance.
And it's not just Deloitte.
Zoom is also scaling back its parental leave. Birthing parents now get 18 weeks of paid parental leave, down from 22—24. Non-birthing parents get 10 weeks, down from 16.
Here's the thing: Once a few big companies put the most prized benefits on the chopping block, others may follow suit.
These moves aren't happening in a vacuum. Companies are prioritizing measurable output over loyalty. They are raising performance expectations and tracking AI usage, all with eyes on improving the bottom line.
To be sure, some employees might prefer having their benefits cut rather than losing their jobs altogether.
Just this past week, Meta said it plans to cut 10% of its staff next month and eliminate 6,000 open roles in an effort to "run the company more efficiently."
Employees didn't hold back in their reactions. "Welcome to 28 days of hell," one Meta employee posted on an internal forum, referring to May 20 (the date the cuts are expected to happen).
Also on Thursday, Microsoft said it was offering one-time buyouts to long-serving US employees. The package is aimed at workers who want to retire.
With companies squarely in efficiency mode, they are sending a clear message: Job cuts are en vogue, loyalty is dead, and no benefit is off-limits anymore.