If every employee had an AI assistant that doubled their productivity, would companies hire fewer people or expect twice as much work?

I got dinged on my latest review for not participating enough in the team channels, and I feel like I’m back in middle school. Apparently, shipping clean, bug-free code ahead of schedule takes a backseat to not dropping enough memes in the #random channel. My manager literally told me that social presence is a core metric for our remote culture this year. Is this normal? I’m so grumpy about it.

I just got my first performance review, and the feedback was literally "you're doing great, keep doing what you're doing," with a 2% raise. Inflation in my city is sitting at 4%, so my reward is effectively a pay cut for a year of hard work. Is this normal? Is the only thing to do jump companies?

I feel like the tech industry has completely warped my perception of money. I find myself getting jealous of people making $250k on Reddit, while completely forgetting that my current salary puts me in the top percentage of earners in my own zip code. My non-tech friends are struggling with groceries, and here I am complaining that my RSU refresher wasn't high enough this quarter. How do you ground yourself?

How do you deal with the feeling that your entire professional output is meaningless? I’m watching my company ignore every single one of my user-centric findings. They pay me to conduct deep-dive interviews and usability tests, but at the end of the day, the CEO just goes with whatever gut feeling he had. It’s soul-crushing.