The start of this year has ushered in a new and unpleasant job market trend. Throughout mid-2022 to 2023, major companies announced widespread layoffs, eliminating thousands of roles all at once. The workforce is now experiencing a shift from large-scale layoffs to a more gradual and ongoing process.

Under the cloud of looming layoffs, employees will confront a work environment that almost feels like the psychological torture of waterboarding—the century-old practice in which water is poured on the face of a prisoner, slowly driving them mad as they experience feelings of drowning and uncertainty as to when it will end.