How to survive the end of the 'everybody has potential' era at work

"It's a tough time to be just average. Workers who are decent at their jobs - but not superstars - are facing a tougher slog in industries like tech, where employers have the upper hand, and AI threatens to automate their roles. What used to be a spectrum of employee performance is hardening into something more binary. Companies are focusing more on two camps: hotshots and underachievers."

""Good-enough, B player is the most dangerous place to be," said Jeff Hyman, who has been a recruiter for about 30 years. In part, that's because poor workers don't last long, and midlevel workers might have a false sense of security. "They're sleepwalking," Hyman said. "They're spending time polishing their LinkedIn while AI is just starting to, task by task, nibble at their job description.""

Workers who are competent but not exceptional face growing pressure as employers hold more leverage and AI threatens to automate aspects of their work. The traditional spectrum of employee performance is shifting toward a binary split between high performers and underachievers. Companies are restructuring pay and rewards to boost top performers and reduce payouts for those who miss quotas while scrutinizing individual impact. Midlevel employees risk being overlooked and vulnerable; recruiters warn B players may have a false sense of security and could be displaced as AI incrementally encroaches on routine tasks.

Read at Business Insider