The Bosses Are Back in Charge

America’s bosses are starting to feel bossy again.

Many executives say that they are no longer scrambling to retain workers, after several years of doing whatever it took to keep people on staff. Pay increases are slowing. For some jobs, hiring is getting easier. Executives are seizing on this moment to streamline operations or cut projects, shedding staff that until recently they couldn’t afford to lose.

A wave of corporate layoffs that began in technology is now flowing through other industries. In recent weeks, employers as varied as toy maker Hasbro Inc., chemicals giant Dow Inc. and payments pioneer PayPal Holdings Inc. announced job cuts, following reductions at tech giants such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs Group Inc. On Wednesday, FedEx Corp. and electric-vehicle startup Rivian Automotive Inc. said they would cut jobs.

Inside many organizations, there is a shift in sentiment, executives and their advisers say. Employers who felt they had less leverage in the tight labor market of the past couple of years say they have more power in negotiations with employees. Many feel less pressure to hire quickly to avoid losing a top candidate. Others are enforcing in-office attendance mandates that previously were ignored by some staffers.