“We’re not adding headcount at this time.”
The hiring freeze is the company’s way of solving a budget problem with your workload. The team goes from ten to eight through attrition. The work doesn’t decrease. It redistributes. Eight people do ten people’s work. “We’ll revisit headcount next quarter.”
Next quarter they revisit and realize: eight people are doing the work. It’s getting done. Nobody quit. Why would we hire two more?
The hiring freeze isn’t a freeze. It’s a permanent cut disguised as a pause.