Companies Are Not Hiring In 2026

Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

Eric Siu and Neil Patel

Business, Marketing, Careers

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2026

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why are big companies not hiring in 2026? In this episode, hosts Neil and Eric break down hiring freezes at major companies, rising caution among CEOs, and why AI efficiency is replacing headcount. They discuss data from large employers, economic uncertainty, interest rates, and how leaders are planning for 2026 hiring. The conversation also covers management styles, leadership, and why people remain the best long-term investment despite automation. A must-listen for founders, executives, and anyone watching the job market in 2026. Key Takeaways • Why big companies are freezing hiring in 2026 • How AI is replacing headcount, not growth • What leaders should do before hiring again Chapters (00:00) Why companies not hiring 2026 (01:33) Big tech hiring freezes (03:35) Interest rates and hiring outlook (06:54) AI efficiency vs people (08:56) Leadership and management styles (12:44) Direct feedback and firing fast (17:21) Hiring strategy for 2026

Transcript

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0:00.0	Neil, I actually have a good one to start with here. I haven't highlighted in green. I want to talk
0:04.3	about why companies are not hiring in 2026. More specifically, big companies. Have you seen this
0:08.8	trend? I have not seen that trend. I assume companies are hiring in 2020. Yeah. So let's talk about
0:14.5	what these big companies are doing and then let's talk about what we're doing because I think you and I
0:17.7	probably, I'll speak for myself, we are looking to make
0:21.1	a more aggressive push. But if you look at, I'm looking at Wall Street Journal right now.
0:26.5	So companies are outlining plans for 2026. Hiring isn't one of them. So this is why big
0:30.0	companies are not hiring in 2026. So you got Shopify, chime financial. They're vowing to
0:34.4	keep the size of their employee base is roughly flat.
0:42.8	And then Midtown Manhattan, this is a gathering of CEOs by the Gale School of Management. 66% of leaders surveyed said they plan to either fireworkers or maintain the size of their existing teams.
0:48.5	And only a third said they plan to hire.
0:50.3	So right now you have someone saying, you're seeing a lot of weight in C. Some of the
0:55.3	looming uncertainty will mean that we're going to see an investment in capital over people.
0:59.4	So unemployment rose 44.6% in November, it's the highest in four years while the U.S. added
1:04.8	jobs in, you know, health care and education. I think what's going on right now is what you're
1:09.5	seeing too is like IBM, this will be the last point over here.
1:12.6	IBM employees are leaving the technology giant
1:15.2	at the lowest rate in 30 years, 30 years, dude.
1:18.8	And so he's basically saying the CEO, Arvin, of IBM,
1:23.8	voluntary attrition at IBM is under 2%, which is amazing, okay?
1:47.1	A decline from the typical 7%. So people are looking to stay pat right now. And then at the same time, big companies, they're looking to see what type of efficiencies they're going to gain from AI, I think in 2026. I think we're going to continue to figure things out. But at least for us, I think it's worth talking about. And before I switch it over to you to see what you're doing right now, here's another data point.
1:52.4	Wells Fargo CEO said the bank expected to have fewer people as it heads into next year.
	...

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