Those are all typical signs of doing a soft layoff is exactly what they’re doing. Not an uncommon tactic and it’s been popular for decades because it works.
I first saw it in the early 2000s when the company I worked at expected everyone to work out of the Denver corporate office. Many refused to make the move and resigned, a few years later we swapped back and reduced the size of the office so nobody but Sr VPs even had a dedicated space in the office and folks moved as far away as Central America to work from again.
I use it and encourage my staff and other departments to use it.
I feel that we’re at a horse vs tractor or human computer vs digital computer event. In the next 10+ years those who are AI ignorant will be under employed or unemployed. Get it now and learn to use it as a force multiplier just like tractors and digital computers were.
The arguments against AI eerily mirror the arguments against tractors and digital computers.
My knees and elbows don’t hurt man.