Welcome to the age of office paranoia, when layoffs, AI, and job insecurity are terrorizing workers

Getty Images; Ava Horton/BI

• AI and white-collar layoffs have office workers feeling paranoid about job security.
• They're trying to read the signs to determine whether job cuts are coming and if they'll be next.
• Workers' paranoia can affect productivity, as some hoard knowledge to stay indispensable.

When Amber Smith, 28, had trouble submitting an IT support ticket, she quickly realized that her second layoff in one year had arrived.

Before that, she was already jumpy.