WiseTech has started informing staff that redundancies will result in job losses, attributing the cuts to AI advancements. Employees have waited nearly three months to learn whether they are among about 2,000 roles to be eliminated. The company, listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, plans to lay off almost 30% of its roughly 7,000 workforce across 40 countries. A spokesperson said the process began in South Korea and Mexico and would expand to other countries including Australia. An email to China-based staff reportedly changed wording by omitting “AI” and replacing it with “global transformation.” Staff questioned whether the omission related to a recent Chinese court ruling involving an employee replaced with AI, and asked the CEO to explain the legal basis for the wording difference.
"WiseTech has begun informing staff that they will lose their jobs as part of redundancies the company has said is due to artificial intelligence advancements although an email to staff in China omitted the word AI after a court case against another company in the country. Staff at WiseTech have been waiting almost three months to be told if they are among the 2,000 people the logistics software company is to cut due to advances in AI."
"The Australian Stock Exchange-listed company announced in late February it would lay off almost 30% of its 7,000-strong workforce across 40 countries. A spokesperson for WiseTech said the process had begun in South Korea and Mexico, and would start in other countries including Australia next week. In an email to staff sent this week laying out the timeline for the redundancy process, the company referred to an AI transformation, saying AI has fundamentally changed how work gets done across many industries and businesses."
"However, in internal WiseTech Global Teams chats on Wednesday seen by Guardian Australia, staff noted the wording in the email sent to China-based employees was changed to global transformation and the second line was omitted from the email. Employees in the chat asked the chief executive, Zubin Appoo, whether this was done in response to a recent Chinese court ruling compensating a tech company employee who was sacked and replaced with AI almost A$53,000."
"Changing the content of just one email seems quite confusing, one employee said. We have several emails that can demonstrate it was an AI layoff. Zubin can you please clearly explain what legal law prevented you from [including the] word AI [in the] China email when you have been clear through out past three months that these redundancies are due to AI? another asked."
#artificial-intelligence #redundancies #workforce-layoffs #global-hr-communications #legal-compliance
Read at www.theguardian.com
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