Hold onto your office chairs, folks! IBM's CEO, Arvind Krishna, recently spilled the beans on the company's futuristic workforce plans.
Brace yourselves, because AI is about to change the job market game. Let's dive into how IBM is playing a significant role in shaping our AI-driven future!
In a candid chat, Krishna shared IBM's intentions to put the brakes on hiring for certain non-customer-facing roles, like those in HR.
With 26,000 workers in these positions, he envisions AI & automation booting out 30% of them over five years – that's 7,800 jobs! But don't worry, IBM will soften the blow by not replacing some roles vacated through attrition.
AI is the talk of the town, from automating customer service to writing your next novel. It's no surprise that people are concerned about the impact on the job market.
IBM's plan is one of the boldest workforce strategies we've seen, showing that the company is ready to embrace the future with open arms.
According to Krishna, mundane tasks (think employment verification letters or moving employees between departments) will soon be a thing of the past, as AI takes over.
However, he reassures us that some HR functions, like evaluating workforce composition and productivity, won't be replaced for at least another decade.
Despite this looming AI takeover, IBM still needs human touch and is actively hiring for software development and customer-facing roles. Krishna even spilled that it's easier to find talent today than before.
The company previously announced job cuts, which may affect about 5,000 workers. However, Krishna proudly states that IBM has welcomed 7,000 new hires in the first quarter!
Since donning the CEO hat in 2020, Krishna has been steering IBM towards a software and services-centric future, focusing on hybrid cloud technology. He's been shedding low-growth businesses like a snake sheds its skin, and he's even considering selling IBM's weather division.
By managing expenses, including job cuts, IBM's profit is on the up and up. The company's CFO, James Kavanaugh, predicts $2 billion in annual savings by 2024, thanks to these new productivity and efficiency measures.
Now, onto the economy: Krishna once believed the US could dodge a recession until late 2022, but he's now forecasting a "shallow and short" dip towards the end of this year.
However, Bloomberg Intelligence's Anurag Rana believes that IBM's robust software portfolio, including the acquired Red Hat unit, should help the company sail through these choppy economic waters.
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