Big layoffs=bad press? Welcome to ‘forever layoffs’

It’s the big, sudden layoffs or closings that really get our attention—when hundreds are let go at John Deere plants across the state, or Tyson closes in Perry.

Companies don’t generally want the bad press that goes along with that. So some are trying something new, and it may be even more insidious:

It’s called rolling layoffs, or forever layoffs. Bosses make smaller cuts, but they do it throughout the year—adding up to big layoffs without many people noticing.

As soon as I heard that term, I immediately thought of one Iowa company in particular that has been doing this: Wells Fargo, and namely at their campus in West Des Moines, which employs around 11,000 workers.

The top of the Wells Fargo building in Des Moines. (Pat Rynard/Iowa Starting Line)

Looking at historical data from Iowa’s WARN Act website—which tracks the layoffs that large companies are mandated by law to submit—Wells Fargo has laid off a total of 461 workers in 2025 from its Jordan Creek campus alone.

Certainly, that’s not the largest number of workers lost by one company in 2025. Across all its Iowa plants, John Deere laid off 598 workers in 2025. But those were spread out, and in larger batches—sometimes hundreds at a time—and, thus, got more attention.

By contrast, Wells Fargo’s largest single-day layoff was 63 workers on Dec. 26. The company was far more likely to lay off a couple to a few dozen at a time, normally one to two times per month.

The company says they expect that trend to continue. And it’s not just Wells Fargo trying it, either.

(Axios screenshot)

In 2015, so-called “micro-firings” made up 38% of layoffs, according to Glassdoor data. Now it’s 51%, becoming the most common type of layoff.

Are you seeing this where you work? Share your thoughts.

@iowastartinglineWells Fargo laid off over 450 employees last year, but you probably didn’t hear about it. That’s because the company has a new trick for keeping things under wraps. Follow for more from our series Clocked In: Iowa At Work.

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