As 2024 starts to unfold, layoffs continue, including at big tech giants such as Google and Amazon, according to The Economic Times. These job cuts are happening as companies enhance their fiscal discipline by streamlining operations and prioritizing key business areas. They also coincide with businesses like Google exploring the many untapped benefits that AI has to offer, according to the Wall Street Journal. This ongoing restructuring we’re seeing signals that things are far from stabilizing. It is likely that this volatility will continue to impact HR teams in particular for some time to come, which will trigger a demand for the evolution of the function as a whole.
Over the past decade, HR has evolved into a strategic function in many organizations. However, this landscape is shifting once again as HR teams get impacted by these layoffs. Talent Acquisition teams have been significantly downsized due to decreased hiring goals, and the rest of the HR functions have seen proportional reductions in headcount to support organizational needs. This shift reflects a concerning trend for the HR function to potentially regress and lose their hard-earned seat at the table, something that took a long time to achieve.
AI’s Role in Reshaping HR Functions
The rise of AI is a key factor in the recent layoffs at companies like Amazon, according to Fortune, and continues to transform HR functions and how we partner with the business. HR teams must significantly upskill, not just in training others but in enhancing our own competencies to ensure we can adapt to the impacts of AI on organizational design, ways of work, and overall employee engagement and productivity.
This is crucial for all disciplines within HR in a post-AI era and marks a new phenomenon for people teams: acquiring a skill that is rapidly evolving in the world of work while simultaneously being expected to have expert opinions and programs ready to upskill the rest of the organization.