Asked back after an AI layoff? Experts say push for more pay and a contract
Some companies that replaced workers with AI are hiring people back. Management experts say anyone who gets that call should ask about pay, training and job security first.
Asked back after an AI layoff? Experts say push for more pay and a contract
Key Takeaways
- Ford said in June it hired or promoted 350 veteran engineers after AI quality-control tools didn't perform as expected.
- Robert Half reported that hiring managers in finance, marketing, law and health cut jobs for AI, then hired for them again.
- A Georgetown management professor advises returning workers to seek a one-year renewable contract with a buyout clause.
- Microsoft, Barclays Bank and Kroger are among the companies that announced AI-related job cuts this year.
Ford's AI tools fell short.
In June, the automaker said it had hired or promoted 350 veteran engineers after the AI tools it put on quality control work didn't perform at the level it expected, The Associated Press reported. For Central Valley workers, the jobs turning up in these reversals are familiar ones: customer service, bookkeeping, data processing, finance and health, the kind of work done in offices from Stockton to Bakersfield, which means the advice experts are giving applies here too.
It happens often enough now to have a nickname: the "AI boomerang."
Who's getting rehired, and why
Hiring managers in finance, marketing, law and health reported earlier this year that their companies had eliminated positions mainly because of AI or automation, only to hire again for the same or similar roles, according to recruitment and staffing firm Robert Half. The most common reasons were that the technology needed more human oversight than expected and couldn't replicate institutional knowledge, the firm said.
"When you need critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, institutional knowledge, those are things that AI just can't replicate," said Bill Driscoll, a senior district president at Robert Half.
Klarna started recruiting human customer service representatives again last year. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski of the Swedish buy now, pay later company acknowledged to Bloomberg News that its reliance on an AI chatbot to cut costs had gone too far.
It isn't clear how common this is.
Companies don't always announce the U-turn, said Lucy Beaumont, a global senior vice president at SHL, a U.K.-based company that builds employment tests and tools. "Maybe their shareholders love that they did this right-sizing motion ... and then they have to turn around and quietly, with their tail between their legs, admit that they weren't ready for that or they shouldn't have done that," she said.
What it means in the Valley
So far the boomerang is a national story. Microsoft, Barclays Bank and supermarket chain Kroger are among the companies that announced AI-related cuts this year, according to the AP. The advice holds for a bookkeeper in Visalia, too.
Part of the problem is work nobody wrote down. Betsy Summers, a principal analyst at the research firm Forrester, said companies that hand tasks to AI often miss what employees do outside their job descriptions, like reading the mood in a room or calling a quick meeting. Company procedures for tasks like bookkeeping and data processing often aren't documented well either, said Brooks Holtom, a management professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.
What to ask for before saying yes
Plenty of people don't want to go back at all, Beaumont said.
"To come back to a business where you've been let go, replaced by AI, to be asked back to that business, your trust is gone, your psychological safety there, your relationship with the employer, and that's very, very difficult to build back," she said.
The ones who do consider it are asking for more money. They also want to know how AI might affect staffing down the road, Beaumont said, and extra training and a clear path to promotion can be part of the conversation.
Holtom suggested pitching a new job description that pairs the technology with your own expertise. That could mean a higher-ranking job that pays more, he said. Before signing, he said, ask for a one-year renewable contract with a buyout clause in case the job is cut in less than a year.
Summers said workers shouldn't discount motivation and curiosity, the human traits that make people good at their jobs.
"It's the manifestation of our search for meaning and purpose," she said. "We want to contribute to our communities as human beings."
Central Valley AI is produced by the CVAI Newsdesk team and developed by Kaweah Tech, a regional firm that builds, deploys, and integrates AI solutions for businesses across California's Central Valley.