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[WSJ] CEOs Are Shrinking Their Workforces—and They Couldn’t Be Prouder

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Os Trigonum, Jul 28, 2025 at 10:59 AM.

  1. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Member
    Supporting Member

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    link will work for everyone

    CEOs Are Shrinking Their Workforces—and They Couldn’t Be Prouder
    Bosses aren’t just unapologetic about staff cuts. Many are touting shrinking head counts as accomplishments in the AI era.

    https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/caree...6?st=4CbbW8&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    excerpt:

    Big companies are getting smaller—and their CEOs want everyone to know it.

    The careful, coded corporate language executives once used in describing staff cuts is giving way to blunt boasts about ever-shrinking workforces. Gone are the days when trimming head count signaled retrenchment or trouble. Bosses are showing off to Wall Street that they are embracing artificial intelligence and serious about becoming lean.

    After all, it is no easy feat to cut head count for 20 consecutive quarters, an accomplishment Wells Fargo’s chief executive officer touted this month. The bank is using attrition “as our friend,” Charlie Scharf said on the bank’s quarterly earnings call as he told investors that its head count had fallen every quarter over the past five years—by a total of 23% over the period.

    Loomis, the Swedish cash-handling company, said it is managing to grow while reducing the number of employees, while Union Pacific, the rail operator, said its labor productivity had reached a record quarterly high as its staff size shrank by 3%. Last week, Verizon’s CEO told investors that the company had been “very, very good” on head count.

    Translation? “It’s going down all the time,” Verizon’s Hans Vestberg said.

    The shift reflects a cooling labor market, in which bosses are gaining an ever-stronger upper hand, and a new mindset on how best to run a company. Pointing to startups that command millions of dollars in revenue with only a handful of employees, many executives see large workforces as an impediment, not an asset, according to management specialists. Some are taking their cues from companies such as Amazon.com, which recently told staff that AI would likely lead to a smaller workforce.

    Now there is almost a “moral neutrality” to head-count reductions, said Zack Mukewa, head of capital markets and strategic advisory at the communications firm Sloane & Co.

    “Being honest about cost and head count isn’t just allowed—it’s rewarded” by investors, Mukewa said.

    Companies are used to discussing cuts, even human ones, in dollars-and-cents terms with investors. What is different is how more corporate bosses are recasting the head-count reductions as accomplishments that position their businesses for change, he said.

    “It’s a powerful kind of reframing device,” Mukewa said.
    more at the link
     
  2. Amiga

    Amiga Member

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    Not Nvidia.

    The companies that primarily use AI to shrink their workforce will lose to those that use AI to boost productivity and do more - launch new products, get to market faster, etc.

    Both approaches can trim "fat" or eliminate outdated roles, but that’s always been the case. The only difference now is how much faster these changes are happening (b/c of AI and technology).

    As for the short term, over the next 6 months, what’s holding companies back is government-induced chaos and inefficiencies, causing many to adopt a wait-and-see approach or remain in a holding pattern. They need certainty to move more boldly. For now, no one dares to hire aggressively amid economic uncertainty. But they are more willing to cut because of it.
     
    FranchiseBlade likes this.
  3. Xerobull

    Xerobull ...and I'm all out of bubblegum

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    I’ll be interested to see how it pans out when AI identifies these overpaid yes-men as a cost that can be cut. Nobody deserves a salary of tens of millions of dollars for crunching data and making decisions.
     
  4. snowconeman22

    snowconeman22 Member

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    The guys crunching number are making hundreds of thousands

    The guys that make the decisions are deciding to pay themselves millions
     
  5. Surfguy

    Surfguy Member

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    So, better to be an investor than an employee? F-ing CEOs don't give a sh t about fellow human beings being out of work. All they care about is the bottom line.
     

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