Why Does Going to Work Feel Like Waiting for the Ax to Drop?
- Sahar Andrade. MB.BCh
- 16 hours ago
- 5 min read
Sahar Andrade, MB.BCh, neuroleadership coach and Forbes Coaches Council member, explains: chronic job threat reads to the brain as predator. Cortisol stays elevated. The prefrontal cortex throttles down. Working memory shrinks. Decision quality drops. Performance collapses before any layoff notice arrives. Leaders who cannot name the threat make it worse. Naming is the regulation move that reopens the brain.
Why Does Going to Work Feel Like Waiting for the Ax to Drop?
You read the news. Another round. Another headline. Another company cuts forty percent of its staff. Then you open your inbox. A Monday meeting invite with no agenda. Your stomach tightens.
You sit in the meeting. Nothing happens. You leave. The tightness stays.
Leaders on Reddit are naming it in exact language. "I am working scared every day." "Permanent low-grade panic." That is not a mood. That is a nervous system stuck in survival mode. It has a price. It has a mechanism. And it has a way out.
What Is Chronic Threat and What Does It Do to a Leader's Brain?
The brain cannot tell the difference between a saber-toothed tiger and a layoff rumor. Both register in the amygdala as threat. Both release cortisol. Both throttle down the prefrontal cortex.
Cortisol is a fast-acting stress chemical. It is useful in bursts. It is corrosive in chronic form.
When cortisol stays high for weeks, working memory compresses. You forget what you said in the last meeting. You lose the thread in a conversation. You walk into a room and cannot remember why.
This is not a character flaw. This is chemistry. Your nervous system is reading the environment as predator. It is doing its job.
Why Are Leaders Losing Performance Before Any Announcement Is Made?
Look at the numbers. 78,557 tech workers laid off between January and April 2026. Tom's Hardware reported 47.9 percent of those cuts were attributed to AI and workflow automation. Tech industry burnout nearly doubled year over year. 46 percent of workers now report burnout.
CDO Magazine wrote on April 17, 2026 that AI will expose weak leadership faster than any technology. Inc. reported on April 19, 2026 that Jack Dorsey and Block cut 40 percent of staff. Futurism called the result what it is. AI is turning workplaces into hopeless gridlock.
Here is the part most leaders miss. Performance is not collapsing because of the layoffs. Performance is collapsing because of the waiting.
Before any announcement is made, the team is already compressed. The prefrontal cortex is offline. The work gets thinner. Meetings get longer. Decisions get deferred.
One post read simply. "AI tools let managers expect more output in less time." Another said, "Reskilling is corporate BS." That is not cynicism. That is the freeze response speaking through people who cannot metabolize the threat.
What Does Working Scared Actually Cost a Team?
The cost lives in four layers.
One. Decision quality. When the prefrontal cortex throttles down, strategic thinking drops first. The team narrows to short-term survival moves. Revenue. Timelines. Visible wins. Innovation dies quietly.
Two. Cognitive bandwidth. Working memory compresses under threat. People cannot hold more than one idea at a time. Collaboration slows. Handoffs fail. Nothing escalates because no one has the bandwidth to escalate.
Three. The body. Sleep goes first. Digestion next. Then the immune system. Sick days climb. So does presenteeism. People show up and produce nothing.
Four. Trust. Leaders who cannot name the threat become the threat. Silence is dysregulation amplified. The team fills the silence with the worst-case story. You cannot fix what you refuse to name.
We own 33 percent of any story. Your side. Their side. The truth. That is a principle I teach in every workshop. You are responsible for your third. Regulate your piece first. Then you can help the room.
How Does a Leader Stop the Fear From Running the Organization?
The move is not a pep talk. The move is regulation.
Start with your own nervous system. Before any all-hands. Before any strategy session. Before any hard conversation. Name what you feel. Three words. That is enough. Naming drops cortisol. Cortisol dropping opens the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex opening gives you back your judgment.
Name it to tame it.
Then name what is true in the room. Not what you hope. Not what you have been told to say. What is actually true. People can metabolize truth. They cannot metabolize corporate theater.
A regulated leader is a thermostat. The room takes the reading. The room settles. The work returns.
That is the regulation-first move. It is why my proprietary B.R.A.I.N. framework starts with the body before the business.
FAQ:
Why do I feel anxious at work even when nothing bad has happened yet?
Because the brain treats anticipation of threat the same as threat. Cortisol fires on rumor, not only on confirmation. Chronic low-grade fear keeps the amygdala active. The prefrontal cortex throttles down. Anxiety is a nervous system reading the environment. Your job is to help it complete the cycle.
Can job insecurity affect my brain function?
Yes. And the effect is measurable. Chronic cortisol compresses working memory, reduces decision accuracy, and narrows attention. You are not imagining the fog. Sustained threat changes the brain's operating state. The fix is not more willpower. The fix is regulation. Regulation restores function.
Is it normal to feel paralyzed at work during organizational change?
Yes. That is the freeze response. The nervous system has three modes under threat. Fight. Flight. Freeze. Freeze is chosen when fight and flight both feel impossible. It is common in corporate environments where leaving or pushing back both carry cost. Freeze is not laziness. Freeze is biology.
Why is my team underperforming even though nothing has changed officially?
Because performance tracks nervous system state, not calendar state. When rumors circulate, cortisol rises across the team. The prefrontal cortex throttles down in many people at once. Strategic thinking drops. Execution drops. Silence from leadership accelerates the drop. Naming what is true stabilizes the system.
What is the nervous system response to layoff fear?
It is a sustained threat response. The amygdala stays activated. Cortisol stays elevated. The vagus nerve dysregulates. Sleep breaks. Digestion breaks. Focus breaks. This is the mechanism under performance. Treat the nervous system first. The performance follows.
How do leaders manage teams when everyone is working scared?
Regulate yourself first. Name your state. Drop your own cortisol. Then walk into the room as a thermostat. Tell the truth. Stop the rumors. Define what you know. Define what you do not know. Define when you will know more. Clarity is regulation. Clarity is leadership.
About the Author
Sahar Andrade, MB.BCh, is a neuroleadership coach, Forbes Coaches Council member, Amazon Best Release Author, and host of the Top 2% global podcast AI Café Conversations. She is the founder of Sahar Consulting LLC. Learn more at saharconsulting.com.
Not sure where YOU stand? 30 minutes. No pitch. Just clarity. Book a Leadership Clarity Call at https://calendly.com/saharandrade.
