Salesforce cuts staff. Amazon tightens rules and chases urgency. Paramount plans five days in the office. The market cools, workers hedge, and AI only pays off when companies change how they work. Paper Cut distils the noise into practical moves for employer-brand leaders.
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Hard Reset at the Top
Salesforce lays off 4,000 employees; support staff trimmed from 9,000 to about 5,000
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy reshapes company culture to restore urgency and discipline
Amazon’s strict phone policy stirs employee concerns over trust and control
Amazon asks staff to report personal use of work phones as cost cutting deepens
Unilever to review its top 200 roles under turnaround strategy
Office Rules, Talent Gravity
Paramount to mandate five-day return to office from January, internal memo says
Amazon’s strict RTO policy is costing top tech talent
Community reaction and internal chatter on Amazon RTO
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45132093
Regional and suburban shared workspaces boost productivity for WFH
Want staff back at their desks? Make the office less boring
Soft Demand, Smaller Bets
US JOLTS: job openings and layoffs
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/03/economy/us-jolts-job-openings-layoffs-july
“I applied to 5,000 jobs” in a brutal market
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/jobs/career-advice/applied-over-5000-jobs-brutal-market/
Feeling stuck in a stagnating job market
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