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Nothing rattles a workplace quite like a rumor that your entire department might be replaceable.

One employee found out secondhand that a newer boss had floated the idea in a closed meeting that her department could eventually be eliminated by AI, a claim she knew didn’t hold up given the actual nature of the work.

What made it worse was the timing: her company had just filled several open positions in that same department, making the whole suggestion feel more like posturing than fact.

Suddenly the employees began to question if management was just finding ways to push them into accepting less just to keep their jobs.

Keep reading for the full story.

New Manager proposed eliminating my department and job because AI is going to do it all soon anyway

Word leaked out that a relatively young, new manager suggested in a meeting with other managers of the same rank that my department should be eliminated because AI will be doing it all eventually anyway.

Obviously, this employee immediately objects.

First of all, without going into the specifics, this is simply not true. In fact, I would argue if anything the new manager’s job is more likely to be eliminated by AI before mine.

Luckily, other bosses rejected the idea, but it did open the door to some major drama.

Supposedly the other managers shut the conversation down, but people are both nervous and ticked, especially since my company just filled a couple of open positions in my department.

Other employees begin to suspect foul play.

And people are suspicious of the leak itself. Why would this information be shared if not to make people anxious in order to squeeze more work out of us and tamp down any requests for more money, better work life balance, etc.

The employees weigh their next move carefully.

Ok, get it out, but afterwards, how would you handle this situation professionally.

We do have a union, and as much as I like unions, our current leadership has been supine instead of standing up to management.

This doesn’t sound like the healthiest work environment.

What did Reddit think?

Sounds like this boss’ ego is getting a little out of control.

This employee could get the union involved, but this user isn’t so sure it would work.

Jobs are a precarious thing nowadays.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who quiet quit, then quit for real, following a no-overtime mandate.

If it were this commenter, they would just cut their losses.

Rumors framed as inevitabilities deserve a healthy amount of skepticism, especially when the facts on the ground don’t support them.

New hires in a department that’s supposedly being phased out is a pretty clear signal that this AI elimination idea wasn’t as serious as it sounded, or at least not serious enough to act on yet.

Ultimately, staying calm and informed is a far stronger position than reacting to a rumor that was possibly designed to provoke exactly that reaction.

The best defense against manufactured anxiety is simply refusing to humor it.