Companies are now "quiet cutting" workers. Here's what that means.

Some companies are reassigning workers in a way that's sending them mixed messages. Emails informing employees that their current job role has been eliminated, but they have not been fired, are leaving those staff members with feelings of confusion, fear and anger.

Dubbed "quiet cutting," this latest outgrowth of the "quiet quitting" movement, effectively allows companies to cut jobs and trim costs without actually laying off workers. 

The strategy is gaining traction as a restructuring move: Companies including Adidas, Adobe, IBM and Salesforce are among employers that have restructured its workforces in this way over the past year.