The Rise of Workplace Coasting: Why 27% of Workers Have Mentally Checked Out

A New Kind of Workplace Disengagement Is Spreading

There’s a term circulating through HR departments and corporate boardrooms right now, and it should concern anyone paying attention to the future of work.

“Coasters.”

According to Forrester Research’s Predictions 2026: The Future of Work report, 27% of employees now fall into a category the firm defines as workers who simply don’t believe their employer deserves their energy. That number sat at 25% in 2025, and Forrester expects it to climb to 28% by the end of 2026.

But this isn’t the “quiet quitting” trend of 2022. That movement was largely about boundary-setting and rejecting hustle culture. Coasting is different. It’s a direct response to watching colleagues get fired for AI initiatives that often fail to deliver.

And the data backing that claim is staggering.

The Numbers Behind the Disengagement Wave

The rise of workplace coasting doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It sits at the intersection of several converging trends that are reshaping how employees view their relationship with work.

The AI layoff regret problem is real. Forrester’s research found that 55% of employers now regret laying off workers because of AI. Many of those companies didn’t even have mature AI systems ready to replace the roles they eliminated. Instead, they bet on “the future promise of AI,” as Forrester describes it, and lost.

Here’s what else the data reveals:

• 108,435 layoff announcements hit in January 2026 alone, the worst January since 2009 (Challenger, Gray and Christmas)
• Only 5,306 new hires were announced that same month, also the lowest January figure since 2009
• 57% of workers now describe themselves as “job huggers,” staying in roles out of fear rather than loyalty, up from 45% just five months ago (ResumeBuilder.com, February 2026)
• An IBM survey of 2,000 CEOs found that only 1 in 4 AI projects delivers on its promised return on investment, and just 16% are scaled across the enterprise

When you combine mass layoffs, AI initiatives that underperform, and a job market where companies are slowing hiring across the board, you get a workforce that’s watching very carefully and adjusting its effort accordingly.

Interview Guys Take: The coasting trend isn’t laziness. It’s a rational recalculation. When employees see their company fire talented colleagues for AI tools that don’t work, then watch those same companies quietly rehire at lower salaries, it sends a clear message: loyalty isn’t rewarded here. Workers are responding in kind.

The Klarna Effect: When AI Promises Fall Apart

Perhaps no company better illustrates the coaster-creating cycle than Klarna.

The Swedish fintech giant famously replaced 700 customer service workers with AI in 2024, partnering with OpenAI and publicly boasting about the savings. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski went so far as to declare that “AI can already do all of the jobs that we, as humans, do.”

Then reality hit. Customer satisfaction tanked. Complaints surged. Automated responses were generic, inflexible, and incapable of handling nuanced situations. By mid-2025, Siemiatkowski admitted the company “went too far” and began rehiring human agents.

Klarna isn’t alone. Forrester predicts that half of all AI-attributed layoffs will be quietly reversed, with jobs returning offshore or at significantly lower salaries. The term Forrester uses for this pattern? “AI washing,” where companies use artificial intelligence as a convenient justification for what are really financially motivated cuts.

Now imagine you’re an employee watching this play out at your own company. Your coworkers got let go. The AI tools haven’t materialized. And nobody in leadership is talking about it. Would you keep giving 110%?

Most workers have answered that question with a quiet “no.”

The Engagement Crisis by the Numbers

Workplace coasting is feeding into (and being fed by) a much broader engagement crisis that’s been building for years.

Gallup’s latest data paints a sobering picture:

• Only 31% of U.S. employees reported feeling engaged at work in 2025, down from the 36% peak in 2020
• That 5-point decline represents roughly 8 million fewer engaged workers nationwide
• Manager engagement dropped from 30% to 27%, and since Gallup finds that 70% of team engagement is attributable to the manager, this creates a cascading effect
• Global disengagement costs an estimated $8.9 trillion per year in lost productivity

The generational breakdown is especially telling. Since 2020, engagement among Gen Z and younger millennials fell eight points, while older millennials saw a nine-point decline. Baby boomers? Their engagement levels held steady.

Younger workers are also far less likely to feel that someone at work cares about them as a person (down 13 points since 2020) or that they have opportunities to learn and grow (down 11 points).

Interview Guys Take: The engagement data tells a story that goes beyond AI anxiety. Younger workers entered the workforce during a pandemic, watched the “Great Resignation” fizzle into a hiring slowdown, and are now watching AI reshape their career prospects before those careers have even started. Coasting might be the most predictable outcome of all.

Is Coasting a Career Risk or a Rational Response?

Here’s where things get nuanced. On one hand, coasting can protect your mental health in a volatile environment. On the other, it can quietly erode the very things that make you employable.

The case for coasting being rational

• In a “low-hire, low-fire” market, keeping your current job is genuinely strategic
• Overperforming hasn’t protected workers from AI-justified layoffs
• 57% of workers are now job hugging specifically because the external market feels too risky
• Conserving energy while upskilling on the side can be a smart long-term play

The case for coasting being dangerous

• Companies are increasingly using AI tools to evaluate employee performance, and disengagement patterns can be detected
• When layoffs do come, coasters are the most vulnerable because they have fewer recent accomplishments to point to and weaker internal advocates
• Skills atrophy is real. Workers who coast through 2026 may find themselves less competitive in 2027
• The workers who are building AI fluency right now are creating separation that only widens over time

The data suggests a middle path makes the most sense. IBM, for example, just announced it’s tripling entry-level hiring while rewriting every job description to account for AI. Their CHRO noted that AI can now handle most of what entry-level employees used to do, which means the roles that survive are being redesigned around human strengths like customer engagement, creative problem-solving, and AI oversight.

That’s the direction the market is heading. Workers who coast through the transition risk waking up to find the job they’re coasting in no longer exists.

What This Means for the 2026 Workforce

The coasting phenomenon reveals a deeper truth about where we are in the AI transition. We’re stuck in an awkward middle period where:

• Companies are cutting jobs for AI capabilities they don’t yet have
• Workers are disengaging because they feel disposable
• The actual ROI on most AI investments remains disappointing
• And both sides are locked in a cycle of mutual distrust

Forrester specifically warns of a “deepening culture energy chasm” in 2026, where leadership optimism about AI-fueled success feeds their confidence while the remaining workforce’s energy quietly drains away. That divide isn’t just a morale problem. It’s an operational one.

Forrester also predicts that AI will eliminate 10.4 million jobs through 2030, more than the 8.7 million lost during the Great Recession. But how companies handle that transition will determine whether they retain their talent or drive the coaster percentage even higher.

With January 2026 layoffs hitting their worst level in 17 years and increasingly visible cases of AI replacing workers only to fail, the conditions that create coasters are only intensifying.

Interview Guys Take: Here’s the uncomfortable truth that nobody in leadership wants to hear. You cannot fire people for robots that don’t work, offer no transparency about what’s coming next, and then wonder why 27% of your remaining workforce has mentally checked out. The coasting epidemic isn’t a people problem. It’s a leadership problem. And until companies address the trust deficit they’ve created, that 27% is only going up.

The Bottom Line

The rise of workplace coasting is one of the most significant (and least discussed) workforce trends of 2026. It’s the quiet aftermath of two years of AI hype, broken promises, and a job market that has left millions of workers feeling trapped.

Whether you’re currently coasting, thinking about it, or managing a team where it’s happening, the data makes one thing clear. This isn’t going away on its own. The companies that figure out how to rebuild trust and create genuine career pathways through the AI transition will thrive. The ones that keep swinging the layoff axe while chasing AI mirages will watch their best people disengage, one percentage point at a time.

And right now, 27% of the American workforce has already made its decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is workplace coasting?

Workplace coasting refers to employees who remain in their jobs but deliberately reduce their effort and engagement. Unlike quiet quitting, which focused on setting boundaries, coasting is specifically driven by a loss of trust in the employer, often triggered by watching colleagues get laid off for AI initiatives that failed to deliver results.

How is coasting different from quiet quitting?

Quiet quitting was primarily about rejecting hustle culture and doing the job you were hired for without going above and beyond. Coasting is more cynical. It stems from watching employers make promises about AI, cut staff based on those promises, then fail to deliver. Coasters have concluded their company doesn’t deserve discretionary effort.

Can my employer detect if I’m coasting?

Increasingly, yes. Companies are deploying AI-powered performance analytics that can track productivity patterns, communication frequency, and project contributions. While coasting may feel invisible, the data trail it leaves is becoming easier for employers to identify and act on.

What should I do instead of coasting?

The smartest approach is to use this period strategically. Keep performing at a solid level while quietly investing in your own skill development, particularly around AI tools and human skills that complement automation. Update your resume, strengthen your network, and position yourself for what the market will need next rather than what it needed two years ago.

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