I read an article about BNY giving workers $6,500 toward a down payment on a home, specifically for first-time buyers making under $100,000. In a previous blog I spoke about there will come a point that you will have to offer something beyond salary. It seems like we are seeing a start of this. BNY’s downpayment home investment is not a perk, but the start of something that will be a trend across all sectors due to trust deterioration.

Between 2015 and 2020 some employees job hopped because for the best benefits. They would ask themselves why would I stay or go? The usual answers, signing bonuses, RSUs, high salaries and solid benefits. However, they do not carry the same pull anymore. People have watched too much go sideways to take those things at face value.

What Is the Shadow Workforce and Why Does It Erode Employee Trust?

A pattern emerged over the last several years that does not get enough attention. A company lays someone off. Weeks later, they circle back to that same person with a contract offer. Same work, no 401k, no RSUs and no benefits of any kind; just a salary. Microsoft, Google and Amazon have all faced accusations of running what workers call a shadow workforce, of contractors. The company gets the output of a full-time employee without any of the obligations that come with one.

That is the environment people have been operating in. Leadership then wonders why nobody volunteers extra effort or are on edge all the time.

Why Are RSUs No Longer Keeping Employees Loyal?

RSUs were supposed to be the thing that kept people around. Give someone a stake in the company because they are literally vested, because it’s their company too. That idea has been hollowed out in ways that are hard to ignore.

Oracle laid off nearly thirty thousand people recently. Almost immediately, workers went to Reddit and Layoffs.fyi saying the cuts came days before their RSUs were set to vest. In 2022, Oracle’s Advertising employees were laid off right before their RSUs were scheduled for vestment.

Oracle’s equity documentation is plain: unvested RSUs are forfeited when employment ends, for any reason. The only exception is death, in which case unvested shares pass to the family. Every other exit, you leave with nothing that has not already cleared.

Oracle’s SEC filing showed 16 million shares in stock-based award forfeitures and cancellations in the first half of fiscal 2026 alone. Whether those are tied to the layoffs is something only Oracle can answer but the data speaks for itself.

The Pensions ended in the early 90’s because companies found them too expensive to maintain. The 401k got adopted as a replacement but it was not created for that, it was actually supposed to be a supplement to your benefits. Companies at one point did dollar for dollar matching but changed it to a percentage matching. RSUs were positioned as a way to tie a worker’s interests to the company’s future. Now workers are learning that RSUs can be pulled back through policy language and termination timing. The rules shift constantly and once enough people understand that, the trust is gone.

What Has the Layoff Era Really Cost Companies in Trust?

Beyond anything that shows up in a filing, there is a cost that does not get measured. People gave real years to these companies. Then they found out their email was locked before anyone told them they were fired or they got a text message. That is how it ended for a lot of people who thought they were building something worth staying for.

The generation watching from school right now, trying to figure out whether their degree will land them a job, they are paying close attention. AI replacement warnings have run on a loop for six years. They are watching the layoffs to contract swap. They drawing their own conclusions about what a company is actually worth.

That uncertainty does not dissolve when hiring picks back up. It becomes the lens through which every future offer gets read.

What Should Companies Offer Employees to Rebuild Trust in the Future?

When hiring picks back up, companies will be sitting across from people who have no interest in going above and beyond for an organization that showed them where they rank. Nobody is staying late out of goodwill because that goodwill was spent. Getting it back takes more than a revised benefits summary.

It starts with thinking about what people actually need. If they have children, put money toward a college fund. If they want to buy a home, help make it happen. If someone wants to start a business, consider investing in it. Keeping a capable person costs less than losing them and starting over.

Companies were already moving this direction with IVF support, adoption assistance, expanded parental leave and time off for employees caring for aging parents; that was a start. The trust deficit built over the last several years means the bar has moved past where those gestures used to land.

The average first-time homebuyer was 28 years old in 1991. By 2025 that number had climbed to 40. A twelve-year gap in one generation. If it sits at 40 today, where does it land in another decade?

The companies that figure this out, the ones willing to prove themselves to their people the way they once demanded people prove themselves to them, those are the ones that will have workers who actually show up. The rest will be competing for people already planning their next move before the ink dries.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are RSUs and signing bonuses losing their pull?

People have watched too much go sideways. They have seen layoffs timed right before vesting dates. They have watched full-time roles get converted to contracts overnight. The incentives are still there but the trust behind them is not. That changes how every offer gets read.

What is the shadow workforce?

It is when a company lays someone off and calls them back weeks later as a contractor. Same work. No 401k. No equity. No benefits. The company gets everything they got before without any of the obligations. Microsoft, Google and Amazon have all faced accusations of running this playbook. Workers noticed.

What should companies be offering beyond salary right now?

Things people actually need. Help with a down payment on a home. Money toward a college fund if they have kids. Support for someone who wants to start a business. BNY putting $6,500 toward first-time homebuyers is an early example of where this is heading. That kind of investment is harder to walk away from than a signing bonus.

Why is the average homebuyer age now 40?

It was 28 in 1991. A twelve year gap in one generation. Wages, housing costs, student debt and repeated cycles of economic instability pushed that number up. Companies that understand this and actually do something about it will stand out. The ones that ignore it will keep losing people.

What happens to unvested RSUs when someone gets laid off?

In most cases you forfeit them. Oracle’s documentation is straightforward about it. Employment ends for any reason, unvested shares are gone. The only exception is death. That is the fine print a lot of people did not read closely enough until it affected them directly.

How do companies actually rebuild trust after everything that has happened?

Not with a revised benefits page. The goodwill is gone and a perks update does not get it back. It takes showing people that the company is invested in their actual life, not just their output. That is a longer road than most leadership teams want to take but it is the only one that works.

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Shaunta Garth is a Strategic Communications & Visibility Architect specializing in digital storytelling, media strategy and public affairs.