German software giant SAP says it's encouraging workers to invent new, more valuable jobs aided by AI, to try to avoid layoffs; SAP cut nearly 10K staff in 2024
The German software giant SAP says it is betting that employees can reinvent jobs instead of eliminating them. Experts are divided on whether it will work.
Context & Ripple Effects
SAP’s workforce strategy has already moved through job cuts and a 2024 restructuring centered on voluntary exits or role changes. At the same time, it has been repositioning around cloud growth and AI software that automates business processes.
The new approach extends that restructuring logic inward: SAP is testing whether the AI capabilities it sells to customers can support redeployment of its own employees into higher-value work rather than another round of reductions.
First-order effects
- SAP employees whose work is affected by AI face pressure to redesign their roles and acquire skills tied to higher-value tasks, rather than rely on existing job definitions.
- SAP must turn its stated preference for redeployment into concrete internal training, job-matching, and management processes while continuing to build and sell AI-focused products.
Second-order effects
- If SAP can retain and redeploy workers effectively, it could preserve institutional knowledge while reducing the disruption and reputational cost associated with repeated restructuring; failure would strengthen the case for further cuts.
- The move raises the bar for enterprise-software peers and services firms, including employers already linking retraining to job security, to show whether AI workforce programs produce durable new roles rather than temporary transition measures.
Third-order effects
- Enterprise AI adoption is shifting the workforce question from whether tasks can be automated to whether companies can systematically convert productivity gains into redesigned jobs; outcomes will vary by the availability of retrainable work and credible internal mobility.
- If redeployment proves difficult at scale, AI-led productivity programs may increasingly concentrate gains in software and capital while making employment less stable, despite corporate commitments to reskilling.
The trend: This is part of the broader shift from AI as a standalone automation tool to AI as a catalyst for reorganizing enterprise work, skills, and headcount.