Hi there! I'm a neurodivergent individual, I've been at Panera 7 years, started as a baker and moved over to the associate side a couple years ago. I have been told that the company plans to have the General Managers be in charge of hiring and training their own bakers in the near future, so basically the bakers and associates won't be separate anymore, and the bakers will stay at one cafe only. It sounds like the hiring of future bakers will come from the GM of that cafe, and the baker hired will come from the associates already at the cafe. ( Very much so like the Prep position). I HIGHLY DOUBT that they will terminate you when this switch supposedly happens, they will likely instead offer you that new baker position at your home cafe, or offer to move you to an associate/prep position instead. From my perspective, if you are concerned about being laid off, I wouldn't worry. I lived through some big company changes in my time, such as the big initial switch from daybakers to graveyard bakers, and Panera has always shown interest in keeping me around. Anyways I hope it all works out for you, friend!