In a bid to cut costs by automating various job roles with Artificial Intelligence, technology company IBM decided to cut off nearly 8,000 employees from its workforce, most of whom were from its HR division.
The firm then installed an AI-powered digital HR employee, named AskHR, capable of handling most regular HR duties, such as queries, leave approvals and documentation
But was still unable to take on nuanced duties that required subjectivity, empathy and judgement.
This gap created operational issues, which made it necessary for the company to begin hiring for all the positions that had been let go.
The company has been doing so quietly over the years, despite reporting a net increase in jobs related to the management of AskHR.
The productivity gains were also hard to ignore. IBM estimates that automating HR tasks led to a $3.5 billion improvement in efficiency across more than 70 job roles globally.
But the surprise was in the headcount. Despite job cuts, IBM’s total workforce actually grew.
“Our total employment has gone up,” CEO Arvind Krishna said. “AI lets us redirect investment into areas that need human touch — such as software engineering, sales, and marketing.”