Latest news with #AskHR
Daily Tribune
26-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Tribune
IBM Slashes 8,000 Jobs While Quietly Expanding AI Workforce
Tech giant IBM has laid off approximately 8,000 employees—mostly from its human resources departments—as part of a sweeping internal overhaul. But even as pink slips were issued, the company quietly increased its global headcount, signaling a shift from traditional roles to AI-driven functions. This restructuring effort is not just about cost-cutting. At its core, it represents a redefinition of the modern workforce, driven by artificial intelligence and evolving workplace dynamics. IBM's total headcount now exceeds 270,000 employees worldwide, even after the recent layoffs. Much of this growth is thanks to a pivot toward roles in software development, AI engineering, sales, and strategic marketing, areas where human creativity and insight remain irreplaceable. ⚙️ AskHR: The AI Engine Behind the Shift Central to IBM's transformation is AskHR, the company's in-house AI platform that now handles 94% of HR-related interactions, including payroll queries, leave applications, and document management. In 2024 alone, AskHR processed 11.5 million engagements, delivering an estimated $3.5 billion in productivity gains across over 70 job categories. While that level of automation drastically reduces the need for HR staff, it also highlights the future of administrative work: leaner, faster, and increasingly digital. Still, AskHR isn't perfect. About 6% of employee queries still require human resolution—mostly in complex or sensitive situations—underscoring the enduring value of human judgment. 🧠 CEO Arvind Krishna's 'Ready to Be Fired' Mindset At the heart of this cultural evolution is CEO Arvind Krishna, who introduced a bold mindset across IBM: 'Live every day ready to be fired.' The mantra, he argues, encourages risk-taking and innovative thinking within an organization known historically for corporate conservatism. That approach seems to be paying off. Krishna told The Wall Street Journal that AI has not only boosted internal productivity but allowed the company to reinvest in uniquely human roles, rather than eliminate jobs wholesale. 🌏 Shifting Focus to India, Investing in the Future IBM's transformation is also global. The company continues to deepen its operations in India, capitalizing on the region's tech talent and cost efficiencies. This has contributed to a decline in U.S.-based roles, even as global hiring remains strong. IBM is also betting big on future technologies. In addition to AI investments like WatsonX, which allows businesses to build their own AI tools, the company has launched the z17 mainframe —a powerful server designed to run AI workloads on-premise, giving clients more control over sensitive data. This hybrid model of cloud and in-house computing reflects IBM's unique position in a market dominated by cloud-first rivals like AWS, Microsoft, and Google. 🔄 Redesigning the Workforce, Not Replacing It IBM's latest move highlights an emerging industry trend: automation is eliminating routine jobs while creating new demand for roles centered on human intuition, strategic thinking, and complex problem-solving. The challenge for IBM—and for corporations everywhere—is to reskill affected workers, communicate transparently, and embrace change with empathy. As the lines blur between human and machine tasks, IBM's evolving workforce strategy may become a template for tech companies navigating the age of intelligent automation.
Business Mayor
19-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
IBM CEO: AI Replaced Hundreds of Human Resources Staff
Former employees at IBM were replaced with AI, the company's CEO confirmed earlier this week. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told The Wall Street Journal on Monday that the tech giant had tapped into AI to take over the work of several hundred human resources employees. However, IBM's workforce expanded instead of shrinking—the company used the resources freed up by the layoffs to hire more programmers and salespeople. 'Our total employment has actually gone up, because what [AI] does is it gives you more investment to put into other areas,' Krishna told The Journal. Krishna specified that those 'other areas' included software engineering, marketing, and sales or roles focused on 'critical thinking,' where employees 'face up or against other humans, as opposed to just doing rote process work.' Related: IBM Exec Says 7,800 Jobs (or Nearly 30% of Its Workforce) Could Be Replaced By AI IBM CTO Ji-eun Lee said earlier this year that IBM's AskHR agent had automated 94% of simple, routine human resources tasks, like vacation requests and pay statements. Meanwhile, IBM's AskIT agent reduced the number of calls and chats for the IT team by 70%. IBM saw a 'productivity improvement' of $3.5 billion over the past two years by using AI in more than 70 business areas, Lee stated. IBM did not disclose when the HR layoffs and subsequent hiring in other departments occurred. The company employed 270,300 workers globally as of its 2024 annual report. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna. Photographer: Christopher Pike/Bloomberg via Getty Images This week, IBM held its annual Think conference and introduced new products and services to grow its generative AI division, which has become a $6 billion business. The tools allow customers to build their own AI agents, capable of autonomously carrying out complex tasks, in under five minutes. The service is similar to offerings from Amazon, Nvidia, and Microsoft. Related: AI Agents Can Help Businesses Be '10 Times More Productive,' According to a Nvidia VP. Here's What They Are and How Much They Cost. Krishna has worked for IBM for over 34 years and stepped into the CEO role in 2020. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told Business Insider on Wednesday that Krishna was in the process of transforming IBM into an AI company. 'It's still the first inning in a nine-inning game,' Ives told the publication. Krishna isn't the first CEO to say the company has replaced people with AI. Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski stated last year that its AI chatbot did the work of 700 customer service agents and later announced that the company was undergoing a hiring freeze and filling in the gaps with AI. Meanwhile, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said in September that the company's new AI agents could replace gig workers during busy seasons. Former employees at IBM were replaced with AI, the company's CEO confirmed earlier this week. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told The Wall Street Journal on Monday that the tech giant had tapped into AI to take over the work of several hundred human resources employees. However, IBM's workforce expanded instead of shrinking—the company used the resources freed up by the layoffs to hire more programmers and salespeople. 'Our total employment has actually gone up, because what [AI] does is it gives you more investment to put into other areas,' Krishna told The Journal. The rest of this article is locked. Join Entrepreneur + today for access.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
IBM (IBM) Let AI Handle HR -- and Ended Up Hiring More Humans
IBM (IBM, Financials) handed off repetitive HR work to AIand used the savings to hire more people where it counts: engineers, marketers, and sales staff. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Sign with NDAQ. CEO Arvind Krishna said IBM's AI tool, AskHR, now takes care of the small stuffapproving vacations, answering pay questionsthings that don't need a human touch. And while hundreds of HR jobs were phased out, IBM didn't shrink. It actually grew to 270,300 employees in 2024. The new hires? People who solve problems, think creatively, and work with customersstuff machines still can't do well. Another AI tool, AskIT, helped lighten the load on IBM's tech support team by 70%. Add it all up, and IBM says AI helped boost productivity by $3.5 billion over two years. At its Think conference, IBM showed off its next act: generative AI tools that let customers build their own AI agents in under five minutes. That part of the business is already pulling in $6 billion a year. IBM isn't alone. Klarna, Salesforce, and others are leaning on AI toobut the key difference here is how IBM is reinvesting in people, not just replacing them. See insider trades for IBM. Explore Peter Lynch chart. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
People Have Sooooo Many Thoughts About This Manager Who Says They Won't Hire Trump Supporters
Mixing politics and the workplace can get messy fast, and in this chaotic and polarized moment in the US, emotions around this topic are running especially hot. Recently, a hiring manager posted a question about workplace politics for the HR reps of Reddit, and it led to a really interesting conversation. They wrote in to r/AskHR, saying, "Long story short, I've decided to actively discriminate against Trump supporters in the hiring process. I can't catch them all, but people are being pretty cavalier about praising him on LinkedIn, so that'll be my guide, I guess. The work my team does requires a level of critical thinking that makes gullibility an incredibly bad trait to have. Additionally, I just don't want people on my team who hate a country that has given me everything." They went on to explain: "I'm not talking about not hiring Republicans or even necessarily people who just voted for Trump because I know a lot of people vote based on complex reasoning. I'm only referring to people who actively post about or vocally support an obvious conman. I just need a higher caliber of person on my team." And then they shared their question for HR: "I'm 99% sure political affiliation is not protected by federal or state law, but I'm not 100% certain. Am I wrong in this?" Here are some of the top comments: "I would suggest you would be on much firmer ground ethically (ignoring any legal issues) by just excluding candidates whose work-related social media postings are excessively political (or even political at all). Doing so will filter out a certain kind of oversharing personality and should self-select people with a better concept of workplace decorum." —alohawolf "There are no federal protections against this. Your local state or city may have some, though. California, New York, DC, Washington, and Oregon have limiting policies, some before employment and some after. And the federal government has prohibitions against this for federal positions." —8ft7 "Political stance is not yet protected, but be careful 'cause it seems to be heading that way. Keep good records on their fuckups, you can play the game they do. You aren't firing/not hiring them due to supporting Trump. You're firing/not hiring them because you believe/can show they can't perform the job duties to the standard you require." —InstigatingDergen "I think you would be much more protected if you documented specific behaviors to justify your decision rather than their political status. Who could object to you declining a candidate who is misaligned with your company values and mission?" —ejly "You can disqualify anyone for almost any reason in the interview process. No one needs to know it's because they're moronically blasting political views on a job-specific platform. Keep your mouth shut, and keep doing good work, OP!" —JustFigure2035 "Listen, the MAGA crowd would have no issue in discriminating against me in the hiring process, so fuck 'em. I'm sure someone else will chime in with a real answer, but as far as I'm concerned, you're in the right, my friend." —PaulysDad And finally, "A small business owner I know went into the parking lot of his business after the election and fired everyone with a Biden or left-leaning bumper sticker on their car. I asked him if he thought he could get sued, and he said he ran it past several attorney friends. So I don't think there's a risk. Political affiliation is not a protected class." —LolaStrm1970
