AI leading to reduction in staff numbers

Adecco’s report took in the views of businesses across a number of sectors from nations, including Singapore, Australia, Canada, the US, Spain, Japan, Germany, France and the UK.

Out of 2,000 major organisation senior executives polled, 41% said they expect their team sizes to shrink due to the evolution of AI technology in the workplace.

Generative AI is capable of creating text, images and videos based on written user requests. Industry leaders speculate that these advancements could carry out of many mundane working tasks that individuals and teams currently take care of, which in turn could lead to redundancies and workforce streamlining.

Global powerhouses are leading the way on this, with Google and Microsoft both having recently gone through a series of staff shrinks as they implement AI systems such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini chatbot.

Adecco’s study offers one of the most thorough examinations of the trend to date, and comes off the back of last year’s World Economic Forum report which found that a quarter of companies worldwide anticipate job losses due to AI. The report also concluded that as much as one half of businesses think that new jobs opportunities will be created, owing to the growth of machine learning software. 

However, despite recognising AI as a transformative force, the majority of senior executives polled by Adecco admit they have yet to make significant strides in adopting these technologies. 

Speaking to Reuters, Adecco CEO, Denis Machuel said:

“Almost all jobs are going to be impacted by AI one way or another. AI can be a job killer and it can also be a job creator.”

“Ten years ago, there was this big fear many jobs are going to be destroyed by digital, when actually lots of jobs have been created by the digital world…between jobs created by AI and jobs destroyed, we believe this is going to be balanced,” Machuel continued.

What’s clear is that organisations worldwide need to start preparing for the disruption and performance-enhancing strength that AI is set to bring on staffing profiles across all industries.

Speaking exclusively to GRC World Forums recently, AI Faculty Director, Andrew Perry described how businesses and teams will have to adapt:

“CDO/CTO/CIOs will play pivotal roles in spearheading this transformation, ensuring that AI initiatives align with business objectives and drive tangible impacts on both top-line and bottom-line performance.

“There’ll be natural hesitancy and pushback to all of this. Employees may have concerns about their roles or they may lack the skills required to adapt to AI-driven workflows. Indeed, some roles won’t be needed anymore, but other new positions will be created over time,” Perry continued.

“Smoothing this transition requires proactive efforts to retrain and reskill the workforce, ensuring that employees are equipped to thrive in an AI-enabled environment. For some businesses, this change will be tough, but they’ll have to adapt if they are to survive,” Perry added.

Know the risks

AI technology is transforming the Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) landscape, delivering cost-savings, accelerating compliance pathways and unlocking new efficiencies in all sectors. But what are the implications for existing systems? 

These issues take centre stage this month at PrivSec & GRC Connect Chicago, where industry experts will discuss how new technologies need to be embraced in order to optimize performance and mitigate risk.