CEOs get more demanding as AI threatens job security in top companies; A look at the job market in 2026

Meta Platforms Inc. is only one of the many tech tycoons demanding enhanced work efficiency and measurable output from employees amid job insecurity related to the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workspace. Chief Executive Officers across the board, be it Unilever Plc’s Fernando Fernandez, Nestlé’s Philipp Navratil, Citigroup Inc’s Jane Fraser or Novo Nordisk’s Mike Doustdar, heads of top companies are sounding the alarm for employees to either outperform or face being replaced by bots.

3M Co CEO Bill Brown’s known to repeatedly use the word “relentless” during conversations regarding his company’s culture while Mark Zuckerberg advised employees to “buckle up” for an “intense” year in 2025. Companies are now seeking to move away from awarding “mediocre” performance and demand more from their employees in order to enhance their market standing.

“We want to become a company that works faster, that is more agile, that is bolder in its decision making. And part of the performance culture is obviously making sure that the ones that perform are the ones we keep in the company,” Nestlé’s Navratil told investors in October. Fernandez, on the other hand, is working on establishing fresh sales goals and renewed bonus plans for managers that will make the company more immune to overdependence on specific business lines and swings in local currency values.

META begins lay-offs in efficiency push

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This has significantly impacted employee motivation and mental well-being as they increasingly face the risk of losing their job at a moment’s notice. “Automators like Meta risk no longer being an employer of choice as it’s being revealed that they will cut out the human when the opportunity presents itself,” Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, professor of economics and behavioral science at the University of Oxford told Bloomberg. “Doing so might well lead to short-term cost savings but risks longer-term growth potential by undermining employee wellbeing and engagement.”

In addition to lay-offs, 7,000 employees have now been reassigned to teams that focus on AI initiatives. The company has committed well over $100 billion in AI capital expenditure this year, Bloomberg reveals. This reflects Zuckerberg’s increasing push towards AI in order to compete with Alphabet Inc.’s Google and OpenAI. He has openly encourage the use of AI towards coding and other tasks along with training his own AI-powered assistant to handle some of his tasks such as soliciting employee feedback.

This has triggered many employees sign petitions addressed to Zuckerberg regarding concerns with data collection from their personal devices while others have taken to social media to stress on how this job anxiety has downed their morale and quality of work. While the company has framed these initiatives as a way to offset certain costs, the $3 billion in savings being generated from this step is a far cry from the $145 billion capital expenditure that Meta is expected to hit this year, worrying investors.

Nestle’s move to “Nespresso-ise”

Navratil entered the world’s largest food making company with the burden of excessive costs, slow down in sales, a steady decline in share price and the recent ouster of his previous counterpart over an office romance. Navratil, however, aims to flip the company’s culture, typically known as one more accepting of share losses and cushioning employee performance by becoming “ruthless in assessing our talent, our people”, as per his statement soon after becoming CEO last year.

The Nespresso line has always been known to work at not only a faster rhythm but even deliver higher quality of performance compared to other business lines within the company. This input allowed the company to take over as a leading barista-at-home brand that tripled investment in the US and suitably attracted a younger clientele as well.

Navratil now plans on sharing the same philosophy he developed with Nespresso to the rest of the company as well in his new position as CEO. “Nespresso is a metaphor for all the things we need to do for the overall company, and need to do faster,” he said in a video released by the company in October.

The first in the list of Navratil’s many reforms starts with granting employees listed as “unsatisfactory” during review to receive no more than half of their potential bonus. Star employees, on the other hand, are now titled to receive 150% of their bonus target, an uptake from the previous limit of 130%. While some view Navratil’s stewardship of the company as great leadership, others are concerned about how tough things may get down the road.

A similar trend of workplaces getting more demanding can be seen via recent statements and shifts made by several other CEOs. The trend is clear. Either outperform or exit the door.