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Companies Are Replacing Workers Instead of Hiring More - Business Insider
No mediocre worker is safe — the bar for keeping your job just went up By Jacob Zinkula You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email. Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI 2026-04-04T10:45:01.233Z Companies are replacing lower-performing workers with stronger talent to boost performance. It’s one way businesses are optimizing their workforces as hiring budgets tighten. The trend is playing out from early-career roles to the C-suite. With hiring budgets constrained, some companies are finding a different way to bring in talent: replacing workers with better ones. "There is just no appetite for mediocrity anymore," said Brent Orsuga, founder of the supply chain and logistics recruiting firm Pinnacle Growth Advisors. Over the past year, he's seen many of his clients quietly replace employees rather than grow headcount."Everyone was looking at what they have and being like, 'I want the best of the best,'" Orsuga said.Take the example of a company with 10 sales reps that is looking to boost performance, he said. They could expand the team. But it's often more affordable to identify the lowest-performing reps and replace them with better ones — even if the new employees cost a bit more.While upgrading isn't new, Orsuga said that 2025 was the biggest year he's seen for the trend in more than two decades in the recruiting world. He calls it "bullseye hiring." "It's like every seat matters, so I've got to hit a bullseye and get the right person in the right seat," he said.Hiring has slowed in the US recently, due to economic uncertainty, cost-cutting, and AI adoption. In February, the hiring rate fell to 3.1% — a modern low matched only by the pandemic and early recovery from the Great Recession. Three recruiters across tech, marketing, and logistics said that when companies do hire, it can come at the expense of an existing employee.One of the driving forces behind the shift, which they said is playing out from early-career roles to the C-suite, is a push to maximize every dollar spent on talent as hiring budgets tighten. You need to do a "great job" — not a "good job"Many clients looking to upgrade existing employees turn to confidential searches, said Lindsay Myketey, a recruiter at Cella by Randstad Digital who focuses on mid- to senior-level marketing and technology roles.She said that as roles evolve, companies may replace workers for several reasons, from underperformance to gaps in skills, including tho...
OPM Plan on Employee Ratings Asking for Abuse, Says Senior ... - FEDweek
In high-performing units, supervisors will be required to assign lower ratings to employees who meet or exceed all expectations.
Performance management needs evidence-based, holistic reform
Purpose: Does the system actually improve performance? Are leaders and employees aligned on what good performance looks like, how it connects to agency goals and how it will be assessed and rewarded? People: Do managers have the skills, incentives and time to conduct performance management effectively?
Administrative Sciences | Special Issue : HRM and Employee Performance ...
The various antecedents and consequences of employee development and employee performance at the individual, group, and organizational level. The systemic, structural, organizational, institutional, cultural, and societal obstacles related to HRM in diverse organizational settings and workplaces.
