Your workforce plan is already out of date: a whitepaper on planning for AI

This year's AI layoffs follow an old pattern: companies make their biggest people decisions too late and all at once.

Under 1% of last year's AI-attributed layoffs happened because AI had actually made those jobs unnecessary. Yet US employers have blamed AI for more than 120,000 announced job cuts so far in 2026. Some, like Block, have already had to hire people back.

In this whitepaper, David Mendelsohn, from our Strategy and Operations team, explains why workforce planning keeps getting this wrong, and what to do instead. Inside, you'll find:

• Six places traditional workforce planning fails, from starting too late to never checking the results.
• What big, late cuts really cost: less engaged teams, weaker profits and savings that rarely last.
• A two-speed model: set the direction once a year, and make the moves every quarter, in steps you can reverse.

Set the direction once a year. Make the moves every quarter.