> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://apidoc.cufinder.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Employee Decrease

> A company's employee count dropped by at least one.

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Signal key" icon="code">
    `employee_decrease`
  </Card>

  <Card title="Category" icon="category">
    Decline
  </Card>

  <Card title="Source" icon="world">
    Company Professional Network page (employee count field).
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

A company's employee count dropped by at least one.

## When it fires

<Card title="Trigger condition" icon="bolt">
  `employee_count` decreases by ≥ 1 between snapshots.
</Card>

## Magnitude

Bucketed on percentage change in `employee_count`.

Buckets are assigned from the percentage change between snapshots:

| Bucket     | Condition                   |
| ---------- | --------------------------- |
| `low`      | 1% ≤ \|delta\_pct\| \< 5%   |
| `moderate` | 5% ≤ \|delta\_pct\| \< 15%  |
| `high`     | 15% ≤ \|delta\_pct\| \< 30% |
| `hyper`    | \|delta\_pct\| ≥ 30%        |

## Why it matters

Mild on its own, but it feeds the heavier decline patterns (layoff\_signal, decline\_signal, restructuring\_signal). A single departure is normal churn; sustained decreases across crawls indicate genuine contraction.

## How to read it

<CardGroup cols={1}>
  <Card title="Normal vs trend">
    One drop is churn; repeated drops are contraction.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Composite fuel">
    Feeds layoff\_signal, decline\_signal, and restructuring\_signal.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Not always bad">
    Contracting companies sometimes buy efficiency tools, read the context.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Outreach playbook

<Tip>
  Don't alert alone. Use as a component of decline composites or to pause expansion-focused outreach.
</Tip>

## Related signals

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Layoff Signal" href="/buying-signals/signals/decline/layoff-signal">
    Employee count dropped sharply in a single interval.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Employee Size Band Downgrade" href="/buying-signals/signals/decline/employee-size-band-downgrade">
    A company fell down a Professional Network employee size band.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Decline Signal" href="/buying-signals/signals/composite/decline-signal">
    A company shows a clear distress pattern.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Restructuring Signal" href="/buying-signals/signals/composite/restructuring-signal">
    A company is undergoing major restructuring.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

***

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</Card>