Companies are shuffling people around more than they were a year ago. Here's how to know what your reassignment really means.

• Companies have been moving employees around internally more frequently, per LinkedIn data.
• Some people may be moved because of promotions, others because their jobs have been cut.

Shuffling employees between projects, teams, and managers is becoming more common these days.

"Reassigning is definitely a huge part of the dynamic right now," Andy Challenger, a senior vice president at the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a recent story in The Wall Street Journal that suggested organizations might be reassigning workers instead of conducting layoffs in a workplace trend called "quiet cutting."

A recent report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that companies announced 42% fewer job cuts in July than in June and 8% fewer cuts than July last year.

Challenger told Insider that over the past few years, companies focused on reassigning workers internally because it was hard to find replacements amid the labor shortage. Now, companies are reassigning tasks or positions so they don't have to hire new employees or lay off current employees while still being able to meet demand, Challenger said.

"The labor market is cooling, but I think because they've built up that ability to reassign people now they're able to use that maybe in ways they haven't always been able to, where in the past they would've just cut jobs," Challenger said.

Research from LinkedIn analyzing global member data across 19 industries showed that internal mobility rates increased between February 2022 and February this year in many industries. In LinkedIn's report, internal mobility included both promotions and lateral moves within a company.

The increase in internal mobility comes as overall layoff rates have remained low over the past few months despite some high-profile companies laying off workers.

Reassignment by itself isn't a red flag

Being reassigned could actually be a good sign that a company wants to keep you even if your position is no longer needed.

"It's usually a company saying, 'Hey, we don't have this role anymore, but we want to keep you,'" Challenger told Insider. "'We want to find a place for you in the organization.'"

In some cases, it could be the result of companies reorienting their priorities and filling jobs that will be key to future plans while pulling back on roles related to prior strategies.

"Just the act of reassignment does not signal that a company wants you gone," Julia Pollak, the chief economist at ZipRecruiter, told Insider. "Companies are constantly leaning into certain business functions and units that are doing best, that are most profitable, and winding down efforts that are past their time or that are not succeeding well."

"The immediate economic incentive for the company is to close your unit and get rid of your job, and instead they want to make an effort to slot you in where you might be happy in an effort to retain you," Pollak said.

It's still worth evaluating whether a role fits with your long-term goals

Even if a company reassigns you to a role where it sees business potential, it's worth considering how that role really matches up with your own interests — or fits into your long-term career goals.

Sometimes a "less attractive" assignment comes simply because a company needs someone to take on that job, Pollak said, "but usually in that case they try to counteract the effect on attrition by offering you something in the future."

Yolanda M. Owens, a career coach who works with platforms like the Muse, told Insider by email that companies can also use reassignments to keep the power dynamics in their favor. Reassignments can eliminate a worker's sense of agency over their career trajectory — and their salary — she said.

"While you may be reassigned, you may be getting a job with more responsibility and no raise. Or worse, be demoted in title, pay grade, and sense of worth," she said over email. "It's a game of power, not productivity."

More often than not, it'll be obvious

"If you're getting a really bad assignment and you're not being offered a promise of some reward for it down the line, that may be a nudge," Pollak said.

If you're afraid that you are going to be reassigned, there are signs you can look for — and they may look like signs of a layoff, Challenger said.

"You're being excluded from things that you might otherwise have been a part of," he said, or perhaps you're being cut from meetings you used to attend.

Pollak said a common sign that a worker is quietly being pushed out is a change in the tone of one-on-one meetings with your manager. She said blunt feedback about how someone is doing, such as not meeting expectations, "is there either in the hopes that you change and improve and become a superstar or that you understand that this isn't a great fit for the other side."

"Many people in those kinds of situations do leave for their own pride and enjoyment of work," Pollak said. "It doesn't feel good to be in a job where one isn't appreciated."

Has your job been eliminated and you have been reassigned to a new role? Have you experienced being pushed out of your company? Reach out to these reporters to share your experience for a story at mhoff@insider.com and lvaranasi@insider.com.