Employees in nearly every industry are worried they'll join the growing tally of workers that have already lost their jobs in 2024 — and it's costing them the faith they once had in their employers.

Sixty-four percent of employees have lost trust in the stability and security of full-time employment because of layoffs in what is being referred to as "The Great Betrayal," according to a recent survey from AI-driven contracting platform A.Team. As a result, less than half of laid-off workers are looking for another job in the same field and 26% are pivoting to an entirely new field.

"A lot of conversations happen after layoffs," says Kenna Meryerhoff, head of people at A.Team. "For employees, their biggest takeaway has been that they no longer feel like they need to be dedicated long term to employers, especially given the fact that they never know what's going to happen, no matter how loyal, how dedicated, or how much of a high performer they are."

Despite how they feel about employers, the workforce hasn't lost faith in having fruitful careers. Seventy-three percent of employees said that the waves of layoffs over the last two years have made freelance work more attractive than before, according to A.Team's findings, with 86% saying they would like to have more control and flexibility over their work schedule than traditional full-time employment can offer. A quarter of survey respondents said they have already turned to freelancing or starting their own business in the wake of layoffs.

"Employees want to be doing great work and they want to work with people who they like working with — they just don't want to feel like their lifeline is based on one employer," Meryerhoff says. "It has become obvious to employees that they can instead sell their skill set to a company for a period of time or a specific project, and still make good money while doing the work they actually want to be doing."

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