As the labor market continues to change, economists are intrigued as some industries are adding jobs by the thousands while others are making similar-sized layoffs. For example, as companies like TikTok, Google, and Microsoft make significant cuts to their workforce, we can’t help but liken it to pandemic times and wonder if we’re seeing the next monumental wave of layoffs. Past layoffs were repercussions of overhiring. Now we’re seeing a different pattern, one far more preventable.  

Companies are hiring duplicate roles.  

For example, Tesla recently laid off 10% of their workforce, citing duplicate roles in the way of their next growth phase. Shortly after, job board giant Indeed made an 8% cut to their workforce, citing similar duplication challenges. So what’s the underlying issue?  

It all goes back to job descriptions.

How does a job description lead to layoffs?

In the race to fill open positions amid labor shortages and company growth, some hiring managers and HR teams are getting a bit lazy when refreshing and updating job descriptions to reflect the current position’s skills requirements.  

In the past, job descriptions were written to gauge how much someone would get paid for said position; however, despite a shift in the fundamentals of hiring and onboarding over the past decade, many of these job descriptions have not been updated in years. Instead, they are repeatedly copied and pasted until they vaguely resemble the open position available.

Each new job description should be viewed as fresh content, which can then be enhanced with artificial intelligence, creating better matches through automated sourcing tools and optimizing for searches of a career site.    

Unfortunately, an HR team that fails to thoroughly update and tailor each job description to the current needs of their evolving organization and the dynamic landscape of the broader hiring marketplace can inadvertently cause several issues leading to duplicate roles and subsequent layoffs.  

Turnover might beat you to layoffs

These “ghosts of job descriptions past” with overlapping or undisclosed responsibilities can cause confusion during the interview and onboarding process. This can lead to new hire buyer’s remorse, operational inefficiencies, duplicated efforts across teams, and can negatively impact long-term employee retention.  

Pouring more gasoline on the fire is job title inflation, which can be used to retain employees without offering additional monetary benefits and can contribute to resource overlap and confusion in the workplace.

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