• Companies use "stealth firing" to quietly reduce staff without public layoffs.
• It involves dismissing employees for minor offenses to avoid public backlash.
• This tactic can harm company culture, leading to low morale and potential legal issues.

Some companies are opting for a new tactic in slimming down employee numbers — "stealth firing."

Meta let go around two dozen staff in October for using their $25 meal credits to buy other items, including laundry detergent and acne pads, while EY fired many more for "cheating" and taking multiple training courses at once.

The Financial Times, which first reported the EY firings, referred to these instances of being dismissed for minor offenses as "stealth firing."

Joe Galvin, the chief research officer at the executive coaching platform Vistage, told Business Insider that this sneaky sacking is "a "covert behind-the-scenes activity" that "violates the principle of respect for the individual."

A corporation might think: "I'm trying to downsize a little bit without saying I'm downsizing a little bit," Galvin said.

"So you go through this process that does nothing but break trust."

Short-term gain for long-term problems

Stealth firing leads from an era of "quiet firing," where companies methodically made employees' roles increasingly uncomfortable and less appealing, such as implementing strict return-to-office mandates.

This trend, along with the quietly agreed-upon severance packages of "silent layoffs," is a tactic to avoid the optics of publicly cutting dozens of staff.

Cynthia Patterson, the founder of the HR consultancy firm PeopleOps.how, who has 20 years of experience in HR across tech, AI, healthcare, and retail industries, told BI that while quietly trimming headcounts in these ways may work in the short term, they can cause serious issues for a workplace.

"Any short-term outcome is offset by the negative cultural impact," Patterson said. "Employees are left second-guessing their own value and stability, creating an environment of anxiety and mistrust."

A lack of trust and stability can lead to low morale, reduced productivity, and a stressed-out workforce.

"This dynamic mirrors the patterns of toxic and/or abusive work cultures, where fear and uncertainty are used — intentionally or not — as tools for behavioral control," Patterson said.

A shift in power

People are also perceptive, and employees who see their colleagues be shown the door for minor indiscretions will only make them wary and dissatisfied.

Patterson told BI companies who push people out in arbitrary ways are mistakenly viewing avoidance as kindness.

"Employee performance management is part of running a business," she said. "And it can't be skipped because it feels uncomfortable or inconvenient to the employer."

Stealth firing, Patterson said, simply exposes a company's inability or unwillingness to have honest, necessary conversations about performance — and "signals to employees that the organization doesn't have integrity."

Galvin told BI that companies willfully harming their reputations in this way may find they are the ones suffering and bleeding talent if an era of revenge quitting hits in 2025.

"The signs are pointing up toward a really strong 2025 — our community is energized, hiring's going back up again, investments are going up, expectations for profits and revenues are up," he said. "The power shifting."

Weigh up your options

It's always a smaller world than you think when it comes to work and looking for your next job, Ciara Harrington, the chief people officer of the leadership training platform Skillsoft, told BI.

"It's in the interest of everybody to keep good relationships," she said. "I don't think anybody really wants to leave a company on bad terms."

Sometimes, companies have to let their staff go, and the best thing for everyone is to do so with respect and honesty. That way, while the news isn't what the employees hope for, they still maintain a level of respect for the company.

The alternative is that employees post on public platforms such as LinkedIn, TikTok, Reddit, and job review sites about their negative experiences, such as how they felt undervalued and lied to.

Patterson said these stories could reach future employees, customers, investors, and even employment lawyers, opening up companies to potential legal disputes.

"Strong companies know their employees are human beings and deserve to be treated as such," Patterson said.

Galvin told BI that if there are signs that your company is looking to stealth fire you, it's time to start weighing your options.

Even if your employer isn't planning on firing you, if their communication is poor, and you feel unsafe, it's best to get out anyway.

"In the absence of a story, we create one," Galvin said. "If you sense that's happening to you, you either have the direct conversation with your manager or start looking for your next job."

• A Florida IHOP worker says she was fired for feeding a homeless man.
• The worker, Victoria Hughes, says she was told she was violating company policy.
• IHOP's corporate office tried to reverse the decision after media coverage.

A longtime worker at a Florida IHOP was fired for feeding a homeless man, although the company later tried to reverse course by offering her job back.

Victoria Hughes worked for over a decade at an IHOP in Lakeland, Florida.

Late last month, however, her job was terminated after she said she decided to feed a man who appeared to be homeless and hungry.

Hughes said to WFLA, "He stated to me and the host that he was hungry."

She added, "Without a second thought, I bought the stack of pancakes and made him a water."

Hughes told the local broadcaster that she informed her manager of the good deed but received an unexpected response.

"He told me the reason behind him being upset because it could cause a loitering issue, was that things like that are a safety issue for customers," Hughes said in her WFLA interview.

According to WFLA, the situation escalated when the man returned with a family for another meal at a later date.

Then, Hughes told WFLA that she received a phone call from her manager telling her she was being fired.

She said she was told it was company policy.

Although Hughes was left without a job, she told the local broadcaster that she had no regrets and would help someone in need again.

Following local media coverage, Hughes said IHOP's corporate office called her and offered her her job back, along with compensation for the missed days of work and a "healthy" donation to a charity of her choice.

In a statement provided to Business Insider by IHOP, Dan Enea of Sunshine Restaurant Partners, an IHOP franchisee, did not dispute any of Hughes' allegations.

Enea said: "We took immediate action to investigate the situation and have implemented training for our employees on addressing issues relating to food insecurity."

Enea added that the company will support efforts to address food insecurity by partnering with Feeding America and by making donations to local charities.

At this time, Hughes has declined the job offer.

In a GoFundMe page started at the event of November, Hughes said she was "publicly humiliated for feeding a homeless man."

In her fundraiser, she asked for a "little bit of help to get me through the holiday season. " She has since raised over $3,000.

Hughes did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.