Big hint: probably not via email. HR and management experts say a conversation is important.

A few months into the pandemic, Sam Heansel was laid off from her graphic design job. She’s been working at a pet store for two years.

Microsoft, Apple and Meta are reporting earnings this week. But rising interest rates are luring investors away from tech stocks.

Other tech companies are also cutting jobs and scaling back recruitment after years of rapid hiring.

It’s taken companies so long to replace workers lost during the pandemic that many firms are reluctant to lay them off.

Gap is the latest company to announce layoffs. Downsizing among employers reflects shifting consumer habits.

Communication platform Twilio told employees job cuts would be carried out through an “anti-racist/anti-oppression lens,” to avoid disproportionately affecting marginalized groups. Statistics show downsizing often makes workplaces less diverse.

Some laid-off workers are surprised at how fast they were able to find new positions, says Sarah Chaney Cambon of The Wall Street Journal.

Young workers’ sense of “wanting to untether my job from my identity” has grown in the past year, The Journal’s Lindsay Ellis reports.

In some cases, it’s about responding to competition. In others, it’s a way of bracing for a possible economic downturn.