HR ironically the hardest hit
IBM has announced the dismissal of approximately 8,000 employees, with its HR department bearing the brunt of the cuts.
The redundancies at IBM, which equal about 3% of its total workforce, follow a steady build-up of automation within the company, culminating in the replacement of around 200 HR positions with AI-driven agents last month.
Similar systems, designed to perform tasks such as sorting employee data, answering internal queries and managing routine paperwork, are now being scaled across departments, eliminating roles previously thought to require human judgment and emotional intelligence.
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna confirmed the shift during a recent interview, describing the deployment of AI as a “strategic realignment” rather than a blanket downsizing.
“While we have done a huge amount of work inside IBM on leveraging AI and automation on certain enterprise workflows, our total employment has actually gone up,” Krishna said.
“It gives you more investment to put into other areas.”
Despite the job losses and bland corporate euphemisms, IBM claims it is not cutting its overall staffing numbers. Rather, it is reallocating resources toward departments that demand creativity, strategic insight and human-centred problem solving, such as software development, marketing and sales.
The firm says it is actively hiring in those areas, aiming to build a workforce better aligned with AI-enhanced business models.
Nickle LaMoreaux, IBM’s chief human resources officer, said that while automation is reshaping job roles, it is not entirely replacing them.
“Very few roles will be completely replaced,” she said.
“Instead, AI will take over the repetitive parts of the job, freeing up employees to focus on areas that need human judgment and decision-making.”
IBM’s pivot comes as the company continues to aggressively promote its AI solutions. At its annual Think conference last month, IBM launched a suite of tools designed to help other businesses create and manage their own AI agents.
These services are intended to integrate with AI platforms developed by major players such as OpenAI, Amazon, and Microsoft.
LinkedIn to lay off workers across California
The wave of tech layoffs is swelling across Silicon Valley and beyond. LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned professional networking platform, disclosed in a recent WARN Act filing that it is laying off 281 workers across California.
The cuts, which span cities like Mountain View, San Francisco and Sunnyvale, include a substantial number of software engineers, particularly in senior and specialised roles.
This follows a broader 6,000-employee reduction at Microsoft last month, as the company deepens its reliance on AI – a technology CEO Satya Nadella claims is now responsible for writing up to 30% of Microsoft’s code.
“We continue to implement organisational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace,” said Jeff Jones, a Microsoft spokesperson.
Microsoft — currently the most valuable company in the United States — reported in its latest earnings release that LinkedIn is among its slower-growing revenue segments.
In 2023, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky addressed a previous reduction of 716 employees in a publicly shared email, but no similar communication has been issued this time.