#automation

Cutting roles that deal directly with clients and partners is especially short-sighted, but it won’t stop there. Even the so-called “mundane” jobs carry institutional knowledge that doesn’t show up on a spreadsheet. The idea that AI can just step in and replace people is laughable. AI can barely function without constant babysitting, and it certainly can’t replicate judgment, context, or experience. Every role has its unwritten rules, workarounds, and hard-earned skills. Throwing all of that away and hoping to replace it with cheap offshore labor, half-baked automation, or nothing at all isn’t strategy but laziness and greed. And in the long run, it’s one of the most expensive mistakes a company can make.

https://arizonadigitalfreepress.com/wells-fargo-expects-more-job-cuts-will-roll-out-ai-gradually-in-2026/

Chubb plans to cut workforce massively thanks to automation. Is AIG going to follow? We have cut a lot already but automation isn't our cup of tea for now, let's be real. Can we compete in the market with our present level of costs? I wish good luck and happy Christmas to everyone, I hope 2026 will be ok.

Does anyone know of any RIFed roles actually replaced with AI?

• PepsiCo Signals Imminent Layoffs with Work-From-Home Mandate

PepsiCo appears to be the latest major American corporation preparing to reduce its workforce, with reports indicating that job cuts in the United States and Canada could be imminent. The strongest indication of this move comes from a recent directive reported by Bloomberg, which instructed employees in key North American offices—including the company’s headquarters in Purchase, New York, as well as hubs in Chicago and Plano—to work from home this week. This strategy is increasingly utilized by corporate leadership to mitigate the immediate in-office emotional impact and logistical challenges associated with large-scale termination announcements.

The potential restructuring aligns with a broader strategic push to enhance shareholder value and streamline operations. PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta recently issued a memorandum outlining goals for 2026 that prioritize "record productivity savings" and improved operating margins. These changes, which include increased reliance on automation and digitalization, come amidst pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management. Elliott, known for aggressively pursuing operational efficiency and cost reductions, recently acquired a substantial $4 billion stake in the beverage and snack giant.

While PepsiCo has not yet officially confirmed specific numbers, executives have increasingly used the term "right-sizing" to describe workforce adjustments. This development follows a smaller reduction in November, where 500 jobs were eliminated following the closure of two Frito-Lay facilities in Florida. The looming layoffs arrive during a mixed financial period for the company; while PepsiCo reported a slight year-over-year revenue increase in the third quarter of 2025, its stock value has dropped approximately 4.5% since the beginning of the year.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91457193/pepsico-layoffs-job-cuts-heres-the-biggest-clue-theyre-coming-as-pepsi-looks-to-right-size-workforce

DTC Dells how to follow along is ending all LVL 1 support positions here shortly. They did a massive push on BPO companies servicing dell clients where they were not required to have formal training on TECH so they could follow a flow chart on NBA. This will be the death of quite a few jobs for the industry if others adopt.

At my last job, we had been restructuring, updating manuals, doing extra audits, but I brushed it off. Then one coworker got cut. Soon, discussions about automating tasks began. A month later I was handed the pink slip. Looking back, the warning signs were glaring. Only I didn’t want to admit it. Painful lesson. Make sure not to repeat it.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bellshannon_opentext-saasnorth-ai-activity-7392316748789645313-ZHe0?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAAABhB4MBcBHRibYSCOVJE9N6rfUeHc5O6F8

Artificial Intelligence is being promoted as the next great engine of prosperity. AT&T, like many others, insists that AI will be a job creator, a force that opens new opportunities and drives innovation. But let’s be honest. If AI is as successful as its architects hope, it will never generate more jobs than it destroys.

The entire purpose of AI investment is efficiency. It is designed to automate, to optimize, to eliminate human error, and ultimately to eliminate human labor. If after billions in research and infrastructure AI does not eliminate millions of jobs, it will be judged a failure. That is the paradox. Success for AI means displacement on a scale society has never seen.

This is not alarmism. It is simple math. Every breakthrough in automation has reduced the need for human workers. AI is not just another tool. It is a general-purpose technology capable of replacing cognitive, creative, and managerial tasks once thought untouchable. When machines can write, analyze, negotiate, and even empathize, what remains for us?

The consequences go far beyond unemployment statistics. Work is not just a paycheck. It is the backbone of civil society. It structures our days, gives us purpose, and ties us to communities. Strip away meaningful employment for millions, and you do not just create economic instability. You unravel the social fabric itself.

If AI succeeds, we face a collapse of civil society:

• Mass displacement of workers across industries, not only manufacturing but also white-collar and professional roles
• Erosion of identity and purpose as people lose the roles that anchor them in society
• Concentration of wealth and power as the benefits of AI accrue to a handful of corporations and investors
• Political instability as inequality deepens and trust in institutions evaporates

We cannot afford to be lulled by glossy promises of “new jobs” or “reskilling.” History shows that the jobs created by automation are fewer, more specialized, and often inaccessible to those displaced. The scale of AI disruption will dwarf past industrial revolutions.

This is not a distant future. It is unfolding now. The urgency is real. If we do not confront the societal consequences head-on, we risk trading human dignity for technological progress. And that is not progress at all. It is collapse.

I guess the whole transition from employees to AI didn't really go as well as they had hoped, did it now?

Thoughts on automation. Met is pushing this forward along with offshore. I see contracts as the first casualty.

While a minority of the layoffs discussed during third-quarter earnings were attributed to AI, the AI-related share increased notably through 2025, growing to just above 15% in the quarter. But more broadly, he highlighted that the companies discussing AI in the context of their workforce or layoffs “indeed appear to be pulling back disproportionately on hiring.”

https://fortune.com/2025/12/02/are-layoffs-related-to-ai-job-opening-goldman-sachs/

Replace your boss with AI
I am not trolling- this is useful:

https://ReplaceYourBoss.ai

as an employer client of Mutual of America i am disappointed to learn there could be more layoffs. We have lost some good local service team members the past couple of years, and some of these comments are a bad omen.

If there are corporate management on here, before more front line staff are laid off, listen to what your loyal customers need and want:

Better functioning website
Modern employee education
ability to submit contributions on my Android device
Improved Mobile App. this hasn't been updated for years
Retirement readiness score. there same calculators from Dinkytown have been on the website for 15 yrs. Why no upgrades ?
low amount of industry articles & newsfeeds
poor communication this is 2025 and employees can't commmunicate by Chat, text, or secure messaging
Lack of automation its paper & calls for everything. Company lacks automation
no professional money manaegment option
lack of financial planning
not enough big name investments

There you have it ! Focus on these areas and you could expand and hire more employees or at least replace the employees with AI robots or chatbots. Help us 1st !

Mutual of America, you CAN do better !

I first asked my supervisor here in Bloomington Minnesota and learned that on December 15th we shall be informed that our office is closing. Most of us are very happy to be laid off because we are all so done with this $chitt-hole place and are looking forward to the awesome termination package we get per our union contract. We get up to 2 years pay for those of us with over 31 years service. We're already celebrating! Sorry to the managers who only get a tiny fraction of what we union members get. Funny how we've all watched as all of our work, piece by piece, has become automated or off-shored - and we can only laugh about it.

Is anyone left? #robocollege

https://www.investing.com/news/transcripts/earnings-call-transcript-phoenix-education-partners-reports-q4-2025-growth-stock-dips-93CH-4371849

It's not fun whatsoever to watch coworkers, friends and/or family loose their livelihood. I know many at Verizon who've been going thru this round of layoffs turmoil, and amongst them some who lost their jobs. It's very hard watching people you know suffer, however it is a reality of working at large corporations.

Honestly, it's something you inadvertently sign up for when you take a corporate position, especially in the Telecommunications industry which has regularly had staff cutbacks for nearly ~45 years beginning with the breakup the AT&T Bell System in 1982.

I've worked in Telecom (AT&T, Verizon, Virgin Mobile, Sprint, T-Mobile and Boost) since the mid-1980's and have been thru major rounds of layoffs literally dozens of times (impacted 1 time personally when AT&T shut down their entire Consumer Business in 2003) so I can certainly emphasize with others enduring the same.

This could well be Verizon's "new norm" going forward (also Telcom & Corp America) with AI, automation and operational changes significantly take hold.

P.s., I've previously worked closely with Verizon's CEO, Dan Schulman at AT&T and Virgin Mobile over the years. He's a good Executive doing what's necessary to right Verizon's lagging performance.

The transformation of Verizon under CEO Dan Schulman, driven by AI, to mirror the goals of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—to achieve a radical reduction in operating friction and an aggressive overhaul of the cost structure—but focused on customers and internal processes rather than stove piped, bureaucracy.

Schulman has explicitly stated his plan is to "aggressively transform our culture, our cost structure and the financial profile" to make the company "simpler, leaner, and scrappier," using AI as the central engine for this change.

AI-driven transformation, analogous to a DOGE-style overhaul at Verizon:

AI as the "DOGE" for Verizon: Two Core Pillars
The transformation centers on AI simultaneously improving the customer experience (to drive retention) and automating operations (to slash costs).

1. Eliminating Customer "Bureaucracy" (The CX Overhaul)
   The goal is to use AI to dismantle the complexity and friction that causes customers to leave (churn).

Hyper-Personalized Offerings:

The Change: Instead of navigating complex plans and bundles, Generative AI analyzes each customer's real-time usage (data, call, streaming), device ecosystem, and loyalty history to instantly suggest the single best, most cost-effective plan for them. This simplifies the shopping process and eliminates the customer suspicion of being overcharged.

The DOGE Parallel: This eliminates "wasteful" time and frustration for the customer, much like streamlining a government form.

Proactive and Instant Customer Service:

The Change: AI-powered churn prediction models identify customers who are highly likely to have an issue or switch carriers before they even call. AI then triggers a proactive intervention, such as adjusting network capacity in their area, automatically applying a loyalty discount, or sending a personalized text to check in.

The DOGE Parallel: This is a shift from reactive management (only fixing problems after a complaint/crisis) to proactive, preventative problem-solving, eliminating the need for expensive, high-touch support calls.

Intelligent Agent Routing and Support:

The Change: When a customer does call, AI uses a "Fast Pass" or similar system to instantly categorize the caller's need (e.g., "international billing issue," "Fios speed problem") and route them to the exact human expert trained in that niche, cutting down transfer times and repeat explanations.

The DOGE Parallel: Maximizing the productivity of the human workforce by ensuring they only handle the most complex cases, eliminating time wasted on simple tasks.

1. Aggressively Restructuring the Expense Base (The Cost Transformation)
   AI will be deployed internally to achieve the "simpler, leaner" operations Schulman has promised, translating directly into major job role changes and cost cuts.

Automation of Back-Office Functions:

The Change: Intelligent automation takes over large-scale, repetitive tasks in billing, supply chain, and contract management. This results in significant staff reductions (layoffs) in administrative and support roles, a key part of the "scrappier" business model.

The DOGE Parallel: This is the direct application of "cutting wasteful expenditures" and "downsizing the federal workforce" by replacing manual labor with efficient software.

Network Optimization and Predictive Maintenance:

The Change: Machine Learning (ML) models continuously analyze network performance data to predict equipment failures, automatically adjust power consumption across cell sites, and optimize technician dispatch routes. The network essentially becomes self-healing and energy-efficient.

The DOGE Parallel: Modernizing technology and software to "maximize governmental efficiency and productivity," saving billions in maintenance and energy costs.

Precision Capital Allocation:

The Change: Data science and AI are used to determine precisely where capital should be invested (e.g., which specific neighborhoods need a 5G Ultra Wideband upgrade versus which areas can rely on existing infrastructure) to maximize subscriber growth and revenue return, rather than blanket spending.

The DOGE Parallel: Ensuring that every dollar is spent wisely and effectively to achieve strategic goals, much like a government audit of taxpayer funds.

The overall goal is a tectonic shift in Verizon's identity: from a company primarily defined by its physical network build-out to a digital-first, data-driven organization where AI dictates every interaction, promotion, and operational expense.

The next wave isn’t some mystery, it’s already baked into our strategy. When leadership pivots this hard into AI, it isn’t because they suddenly care about “efficiency.” It’s because they’re building a structure where human labor becomes optional.

Once the next round is done and AI systems hit their next iteration milestone, the company will need another injection of savings to justify the spend. That’s when the follow-up layoff is planned. Everyone will be surprised. It won't be because the market shifted overnight. Because massive automation projects always demand a second cut to “realize value" it's the only way we make the money from it.

And the pattern is predictable:
• automate what you can,
• offshore what you can’t,
• shrink the org until the balance sheet looks cleaner.

People keep saying, “AI can’t replace us.” But that’s exactly what these systems are being trained to do, absorb workflows, mimic decisions, and reduce headcount. It won’t replace everyone, but it will replace enough roles to hit whatever targets leadership promised the board.

We’re watching a slow-motion restructuring disguised as innovation. Employees feel it long before leadership admits it. Pretending otherwise doesn’t protect anyone, it just blindsides people who could’ve been preparing.

Leadership has already set this in motion and they know the next outcome but they're going to work you harder than ever so the AI gets trained on good data practices as you all help to make the AI perfect.

At least we don't see any government regulators coming down to regulate AI and save jobs....oh yeah, probably because the top AI company's own the AI conversation right now and they need to move fast before they lose control.

Good luck to all

How many of us will be replaced by AI in the next few years?

Can we agree that data centers will be be farmed out.

Can we agree that customer facing jobs are safe, but only untill kiosk improvements are completed and we are looking at a wave of cuts there in Q2 of 2026.

What am I missing?

Android Authority (link below)

Rumors suggest Verizon will announce layoffs and store closures around November 20, though details remain unconfirmed. The company reportedly plans to shut down less-profitable stores and cut staff across remaining locations, while expanding AI automation to fill the gaps. It’s unclear if other big changes will be announced around this time, though it’s possible that there’s more to this coming shift than just layoffs.
Last week, I wrote an opinion about the current state of Verizon, as well as some of the moves it might need to make to right the ship. I also mentioned it seemed obvious that store closures would be part of this process and that Verizon’s situation would likely get worse before it got better. It seems this may be happening sooner rather than later, as rumors of imminent closures are flying around on online communities like Reddit and The Layoff. Likewise, a few publications have also picked up on the rumors, such as Phone Arena.

First, it’s important to be clear about this: none of the people I spoke to had specific details, only reports from their managers suggesting layoffs are on the way and likely to be announced on November 20. These cuts will reportedly include both complete store closures and staff reductions in locations that remain open. I also learned of an internal email from the new CEO late last month stating that the company will take “bold actions to make the company leaner,” which was similar to the remarks made during the company’s last earnings call. Like the previous call, the email offered no specifics.

From what little has surfaced, Verizon is expected to close underperforming corporate locations while “optimizing” those that stay open. The total number of affected stores remains unknown. There are also rumors that AI automation will play a larger role in the surviving stores, allowing them to operate with smaller staffs. For those unaware, this sounds somewhat similar to T-Mobile’s recent in-store changes that rely on T-Life.

Verizon has already embraced AI, so this part of the rumor isn’t all that surprising.

Earlier this summer, the company unveiled Project 624, an overhaul of its customer service using AI to streamline the experience. It also introduced an automated shopping tool that attempted to upsell me during a recent line addition for my son. Based on that, I’m skeptical that AI-driven retail changes will do anything other than accelerate the decline of Verizon’s brick-and-mortar business.

Further changes beyond closures and automation are possible, but we’ll have to wait until later in the month to know more. It’s also important to remember this is all rumor for now, and is subject to change.

https://www.androidauthority.com/verizon-shutting-down-stores-3613951/
Joe Maring / Android Authority

https://www.androidauthority.com/verizon-shutting-down-stores-3613951/

• Rumors suggest Verizon will announce layoffs and store closures around November 20, though details remain unconfirmed.

• The company reportedly plans to shut down less-profitable stores and cut staff across remaining locations, while expanding AI automation to fill the gaps.

• It’s unclear if other big changes will be announced around this time, though it’s possible that there’s more to this coming shift than just layoffs.

Can’t wait to see that

https://www.androidauthority.com/verizon-shutting-down-stores-3613951/

Is anyone else experiencing massive data and reporting issues for their LOB? An example would be incorrect regulatory reporting sent externally. It feels like the shift higher up to push for automation and restructure is placing health plans at compliance risk. Are we just going all in here despite legal, regulatory, and future RFP risk? This seems obvious as I'm typing, but more curious if others are seeing this.

I keep seeing post about RIF's / layoffs / etc, but wondering if those have more to do with local field maintenance technicians and not Building Automation staff.

I haven't heard of anyone in the few hundred people I deal with on a monthly basis getting let go. I'm not based out of any major hub.

Agentic AI has a 98-99.5% failure rate.

But business leaders are still pretending (lying) AI is taking peoples jobs.

https://arxiv.org/html/2510.26787v1

The best-performing current AI agents achieve an automation rate of 2.5%, failing to complete most projects at a level that would be accepted as commissioned work in a realistic freelancing environment. This demonstrates that despite rapid progress on knowledge and reasoning benchmarks, contemporary AI systems are far from capable of autonomously performing the diverse demands of remote labor.

Super sad to see what TR is becoming and just corporate in general. I can’t say who or how I know due to confidentiality but I found out some managers goals are to reduce people on their team by implementing AI/automation. It is literally apart of their performance review. I was sad to find this out. My morale is shot.

F5 is poised for recovery as it doubles down on the technologies that power and protect today’s digital world. With businesses rapidly adopting hybrid and multi-cloud strategies, F5’s expertise in application delivery, security, and traffic management has never been more relevant. The company’s transition toward software and SaaS-based models ensures sustainable, recurring revenue while its Distributed Cloud platform expands reach beyond traditional load balancing into full-stack app security and observability. By embracing automation, AI-driven insights, and edge computing, F5 is positioning itself as a trusted leader in simplifying and securing complex application ecosystems—laying the groundwork for renewed growth and investor confidence in the years ahead.

Kudos to FLD and executives focusing on XC(SaaS) and not just sticking to legacy system.

Verizon reported $33.8 billion in total operating revenue for the third quarter of 2025, not $34 billion in profit. Its consolidated net income (profit) for the quarter was $5.1 billion.
Verizon is currently in the process of reducing its workforce as part of a voluntary separation program and wider cost-cutting initiatives:
Job Reductions: In September 2024, Verizon announced a voluntary separation program for approximately 4,800 U.S.-based management positions as part of a cost-saving plan aiming to save up to $3 billion by 2025. Over half of these employees were expected to leave by September 2024, with the remainder departing by March 2025.
Technician Layoffs: The recent job cuts primarily targeted management positions, not specifically technicians, although overall headcount has been shrinking across the company and industry due to automation and digitization.
Financial Context: Despite strong quarterly revenue and profit, which actually increased year-over-year, the company has significant long-term debt (net unsecured debt of $112 billion as of Q3 2025) and operates in a highly competitive market. The cost-cutting measures are part of a broader strategy to manage debt, improve operational efficiency, and remain competitive.
The decision to cut jobs despite high revenue is a strategic business move aimed at long-term financial health, operational efficiency (partially through automation and AI), and managing a large debt load, rather than a reflection of immediate financial distress.
What a bunch of Dou--e Bags!!!

Story by Justin Lahart

Corporate America has ended its firing freeze.

Companies scrambled for years after the pandemic to build back their workforces, learning a simple lesson along the way: Keep the workers you’ve got, because if you lose them you will have a hard time getting them back.

The job market has softened in recent months, however, marking a safer environment for companies to start streamlining their workforces. A host of them have pounced, including Amazon.com, UPS, Target and Meta Platforms, which have announced tens of thousands of layoffs in recent weeks.

It is a shift that could have major repercussions for U.S. workers. Over the past two years, U.S. businesses have become increasingly reluctant to bring new employees on, especially as more recent uncertainty over the direction of tariffs made it harder to plan ahead. But they have also been hesitant to cut the employees they already have, an example of what economists term “labor hoarding.”

The result has been a low-hire, low-fire environment, in which recent graduates and others trying to break into the job market have struggled, but workers who are already employed have been largely insulated.

Now things are looking a bit more like the 1990s, when many big companies were focused on eliminating workers they felt were no longer needed, according to Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM.

Back then, “we used to reward companies for letting people go,” he said

A number of things could be at play in companies’ increasing comfort with layoffs, including optimism over artificial intelligence, but they all come down to the bottom line. Labor is a major cost, and cutting it is one way to bolster profit margins. Tariffs could be adding to the urgency, especially for companies weighing whether and how to pass through the higher costs they are paying for goods on to consumers.

Some companies also added to their payrolls as they moved to keep up with the surge in demand that came in the pandemic’s wake, and may now feel that they are bloated. Amazon had about 800,000 employees at the end of 2019, and about 1.5 million at the end of last year.

In a memo to staff last week explaining Target’s plan to cut 1,800 corporate roles, incoming chief executive Michael Fiddelke said, “Too many layers and overlapping work have slowed decisions, making it harder to bring ideas to life.”

It probably helps, too, that investors have appeared to welcome job cuts. Target’s stock edged up on the day it announced layoffs. When Amazon on Tuesday said it was laying off 14,000 workers, with more to come, its stock rose 1%. When UPS disclosed it had cut 48,000 management and operations positions when it reported earnings on Tuesday, Wall Street’s focus was on its strong results, and its stock rallied 8%.

Nor are companies any more in an environment where hiring back workers would be anything like the struggle it was after the economy began to reopen from the Covid crisis. Then, workers could largely pick and choose between competing offers.

The unemployment rate, which fell to a multidecade low of 3.4% in April 2023, was 4.3% as of August. Many Americans are operating under the assumption that the jobs picture will get worse: 64% of consumers polled by the University of Michigan this month said they expected higher unemployment over the next 12 months, compared with 32% in October 2024.

One risk for the broader economy: In an environment where employment growth is already low, any increase in layoffs could lead the economy to start shedding jobs. In August—the last month of available data before the government shutdown delayed Labor Department economic releases—the U.S. added just 22,000 jobs.

Whether the recent run of layoff announcements augurs a downturn in the job market isn’t clear, said Jed Kolko, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. While those layoff numbers are eye-catching, they don’t necessarily reflect what is going on in a labor force of over 170 million people, he said.

“You need the whole picture, and that whole picture comes from data that are not being released during the shutdown,” Kolko said.

For companies, enthusiasm over the possibility to automate more work with AI is also playing a role. The Federal Reserve’s latest beige book, which compiles economic anecdotes from the 12 regional Fed banks, reported that more employers were reducing head counts through layoffs and attrition “with contacts citing weaker demand, elevated economic uncertainty, and, in some cases, increased investment in artificial intelligence technologies.”

While there is evidence that AI is cutting into demand for certain jobs, such as software development, the degree to which it is more broadly automating away jobs is difficult to tease out, points out Kolko.

But even if they haven’t been able to widely implement AI yet, a belief that they someday will could increase some employers’ comfort with abandoning labor hoarding. Companies including Walmart, Ford, JPMorgan Chase and Amazon have said that they expect AI will allow them to eliminate jobs.

“Labor hoarding was especially pronounced in higher-wage jobs, where employees are harder to find and therefore more costly to lose,” he said. “Those tended to be tech industries and other professional industries, and those overlap with some of the industries that could be most affected by AI.”

Write to Justin Lahart at Justin.Lahart@wsj.com

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/why-companies-are-no-longer-hanging-on-to-employees/ar-AA1PDQy6?ocid=msedgntp&pc=W230&cvid=9d7c22f078db4c4cad85cabf269b82b1&ei=11

it’s all of our fault for picking up the mistakes, flaws or fundamental errors from the BTC. stop, Stop, Stop before they take all our jobs. If it’s wrong, send it back and ask for the rework. Don’t fix it for them and unless it’s dangerously wrong, go ahead and let the plants feel the pain.

AI benefits for Indian Public- Tata cars prices to slashed by 70%, Tata steel at half prices thanks Robots.

Tata Homes Spacious 2 BHK in Pune at 25 lakh, build by AI and robots using advanced materials developed TIFR , that cost a fraction of current material.
4 lakh CTC in for Tech lead job in TCS will let you all these benefits -so easy

AI does (not) -

Pay Tax revenues.

On the (exponentially rising) U.S. National debt of $38.0 Trillion whereby U.S. taxpayers pay approximately ($969.3 Billion in Interest a year) to outside Investors (almost a Trillion a year) that are both U.S. based, and foreign like Japan; and China; for example.

AI won't replace (anything) that is (not) computer driven.

CEO Elon Musk recently made a (Very incompetant) statement that it would replace (all) jobs.

It won't, but it will replace a lot of entry-level white collar jobs; and a lot of manufacturing; though.

Anybody in Finance worried? They have automated so many reports it feels like they are preparing to RIF us.

White-collar workers across the U.S. are facing mass layoffs as companies such as Amazon, UPS, and Target cut thousands of corporate jobs while embracing AI and cost-saving measures. Tens of thousands of office workers, from new graduates to seasoned professionals, are entering a stagnant job market with fewer opportunities and increasing competition.

Companies are automating white-collar tasks through AI, driving investor-backed efficiency but leaving fewer managerial and midlevel roles. Nearly two million people have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more, and confidence in finding good jobs has dropped sharply.

While blue-collar fields like construction, healthcare, and trades face labor shortages, white-collar employees are being displaced, overworked, or forced into unrelated jobs. Many laid-off professionals report draining savings and facing housing insecurity, while employers demand increasingly specific qualifications from fewer hires.

Economists warn that AI-driven restructuring is reshaping the nature of office work, eroding stability for middle- and upper-income earners, and deepening inequality in the U.S. labor market.

Source:

https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/white-collar-jobs-ai-324b749c

Best use of AI

The corporate bloodbath picks up speed with Amazon's announcement today to layoff 14,000 corporate employees (following their announcement to replace 600,000 warehouse workers with AI driven robots over the next 24 months) and following mass layoff announcements other major technology/retail brands; Target, Meta, Accenture, Rivian, Paycon, etc.

I would suggest everyone update their resumes but if, like mine, your skillset is corporate related, it hardly seems like there is a point.

Good chance Canon could get involved again during slow time in January / February. Anyone know if the numbers have improved? My small division is doing okay, but not reflective of company-wide hardware sales.

I've been seeing more companies laying off employees blaming AI. Amazon laying off 14K corporate jobs. So many roles within Fidelity seem very robotic to me as it may be easy to utilize AI to cut overhead the question is on timing? If you work in one of the call centers you will notice what ever role the employees are in they are following a script, oh excuse me a call model for that role. There's very little self thinking within Fidelity so it seems would not be too far off when AI could easily learn the call models and also how to sound human to a client on the other end. Just the thought for the day