The wave of layoffs has hit every major sector across firms and hierarchies. Be it top managerial or long-term employees, everyone is under the radar. Layoffgaurd, an assistance portal, highlighted key employment issues faced in 2025. From forced resignation to severance package disputes, the report emphasised the need for employment rights awareness.
Forced resignations
More than 50% professionals, as per Layoffgaurd, have faced forced resignation scenarios in 2025. The common situations include increased performance pressure to force “voluntary” resignation. Unachievable targets are set to force out employees which leads to duress without any official documentation. This comes across high managerial roles across consulting firms such as WNS, EMC and Ascendion.
Notice period manipulation
The report also revealed that nearly 15% employees face notice period manipulation, including immediate exists while retaining the notice period salary, the employee is entitled to. Various industries have varied notice period patterns such as 60-90 days is the industry norm in tech, while 30-60 days is normal for consulting roles. The 90+ day notice period in financial services is often used as a retention tool.
Severance pay dispute
Layoffgaurd also revealed that employees often face miscalculated severance pay and gratuity payment delays. Industry benchmarks suggested that for senior roles, 3-6 months’ salary has become the standard, for mid-level it ranges between 1 and 3 months, while for entry-level roles, the notice period payment is a minimum.
Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) is becoming a scapegoat termination plan for employers. Rather than focusing on genuine improvement, it is used as a tool to soften the blow, especially in technology sectors, as per the report.
These numbers support the rising mass layoffs in tech giants like Microsoft, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Intel. In a fresh round of job cuts, TCS has laid off nearly 12,000 employees so far, with Microsoft at 15,000 since 2024. Attributed to AI investments and triggered by advancing tech, the firms have just issued a memo in response.