I think people could argue that even years ago many workplaces have been sort of bifurcated between people that would be "first to fire" and those that were "integral", but these days it appears that its become more institutionalized by the use of the contractor and full time employee classes -- I would say generally not a great trend.. seems better to at least allow the illusion to people that are initially considered as less important to have a chance to become more important within the company..
You’re touching on something that may affect these companies medium/long term.
The fact that there’s a class divide among workers now naturally selects out many workers that otherwise might be incentivized to create more wealth for the company. This could have long term consequences in industries that formerly relied on innovation.
