The AI layoff trap: How cutting headcount could backfire on corporate America |
The AI layoff trap: How cutting headcount could backfire on corporate America
Are layoffs really the answer to increased AI adoption? That question has been top of mind for most people leaders I’ve spoken to recently.
“The thing that keeps me up at night is this notion of the immediacy, of you can just use AI, get efficiencies, and release talent,” one senior HR executive said at a dinner I cohosted with IBM earlier this month in New York.
This is certainly the ethos many companies have adopted. Just last week, Snap cited rapid AI advancements as part of its rationale to eliminate some 1,000 jobs, joining companies like Atlassian and Block that have made similar moves.
The HR leaders at that dinner expressed unease. Several others shared stories of recent AI-related layoffs, and one said there was “no doubt” the decision had damaged company culture. Another Fortune 500 CHRO was even more blunt: “We didn’t have a lot of strategic intent when [our]........