Anyone else seeing the backfill freeze in the Midwest region?

The freeze isn't limited to the Midwest, it’s a firm-wide directive. I’ve seen the same pattern in other offices where open positions are being quietly shuttered rather than posted. Management calls it 'optimizing capacity,' but anyone actually doing the work knows it's just a headcount reduction disguised as corporate strategy. Expect the workload to stay exactly where it is while they wait for natural attrition to do the heavy lifting for them. It’s a miserable way to operate, but keep your head down and update that resume, because the freeze is likely just the beginning of further consolidations.

Honestly, the Southfield situation is just the tip of the iceberg. The silence from leadership regarding these 'inefficiencies' is deafening. I’ve stopped asking about backfills because the answer is always a vague non-response about future restructuring. If you're feeling the squeeze, you aren't imagining it—they are actively looking for reasons to justify trimming more staff. Don't wait for them to reach a breaking point because they clearly don't care if the systems collapse under the pressure of the remaining staff. Focus on yourself and start looking for an exit strategy before the next round of cuts hits.