Software specialist Workday is laying off 1,750 people worldwide. AI is the direct cause, according to the CEO, as the company wants to put its focus there.
Belgian AI experts agree: while AI will impact the way we work, the technology is not a threat to jobs. 1,750 Workday employees will feel differently anyway, as they will lose their jobs. CEO Carl Eschenbach makes that announcement himself.
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Workday lays off 1,750 people because of AI
He notes that companies worldwide are reevaluating what work looks like, spurred by AI. The CEO believes Workday needs to capitalize on that. AI is a growth market, and to take full advantage of it, the company needs to restructure. Initially, that means 8.5 percent of Workday’s employees will lose their jobs.
Eschenbach does reveal that the company will rehire in other AI-related areas. That shows that, surely at Workday, it is at least partly a myth that jobs will simply change because of AI, or employees can retrain. In this case, a large software company clearly prefers to cast aside staff and hire new talent.
Always added value?
Workday will invest the freed-up resources in AI development and constantly evaluate its added value. Internally, processes must be shaken up in the name of greater efficiency and faster decisions. Existing roles will be redefined.
AI is gobbling up a lot of attention around IT these days. LLMs already proved their worth and are making many people more efficient in their daily work. However, a drastic change in what work looks like is not happening. Microsoft and Google are even forced to ram AI down the throats of users, since too few people feel organically inclined to pay for it.
AI and jobs
Workday, like most other software companies, expects AI not to be hype, but a keeper. The entire company needs to be restructured for it. The move, which so clearly refers to AI, shows that the direct relationship between the technology and employment is not as unequivocally positive as AI fans make it seem. Of course, this round of layoffs says nothing about the evolution of jobs over the long term, but it does illustrate that AI is more than an efficiency booster. Certain experiences and skills are becoming at least temporarily obsolete, at least at Workday.