Company AI Layoff Risk Checklist

What the checklist measures

Twelve warning signs are listed, each with a one-line description. You tick only what you have personally observed: a hiring freeze, a departmental budget cut, an automation pilot aimed at your team's workflow, a sudden request to document your steps, leadership messaging about efficiency, or a manager whose decisions are being routed around them. The result is a count out of twelve, a warning band, and a short list of actions.

How to act on the score

One isolated sign is common and often means nothing. The useful pattern is a cluster that points at your own work — for example, a pilot plus process documentation plus a quiet hiring freeze. Because the checklist only counts visible signals, the number is a prompt to prepare rather than a prediction. Start with the practical items you can control: update your résumé, gather performance evidence, and check your financial runway. If severance is on your mind, run the Severance Pay Estimator before rumors turn into a meeting.

What a checklist cannot see

It cannot read private board discussions, acquisition plans, or the quality of your relationship with your manager. The same set of signs can mean a routine restructuring in one company and a genuine contraction in another. Nothing here confirms that a layoff will happen, and nothing replaces the information you can gather from trusted colleagues or, where available, a union representative. Use it as an early-warning habit, not a diagnosis of your employer.