{"id":512596,"date":"2026-03-01T21:51:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T21:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/512596\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T21:51:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T21:51:25","slug":"afterpay-owner-slashes-workforce-by-half-after-wisetech-global-cuts-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/512596\/","title":{"rendered":"Afterpay owner slashes workforce by half after WiseTech Global cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"David<\/p>\n

Updated February 27, 2026 \u2014 2:51pm,first published 10:01am<\/p>\n

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It was 1am when Natalie MacDonald\u2019s phone lit up. The email\u2019s subject line told her everything she needed to know before she\u2019d read a word of it. After she had spent seven years at LinkedIn, building its audience across Australia, mentoring colleagues and flying to India for a conference on women in tech just weeks earlier, her role was being eliminated.<\/p>\n

The reason: a company-wide restructure driven by investment in artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

\"NatalieNatalie MacDonald resists the narrative of robots stealing jobs.<\/p>\n

MacDonald, 36, and a mother-of-two, had returned from parental leave just six weeks prior. Her baby had been hospitalised with a serious infection the week before she went back to work. Now she was sitting on the floor of her children\u2019s bedroom at 3am, messaging former colleagues around the world, trying to grasp the scale of what was happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI woke my partner up and just said: \u2018I\u2019m losing my job in the morning,\u2019 \u201d she tells this masthead.<\/p>\n

MacDonald\u2019s story would be devastating enough on its own. But this week it became something more: the human face of what is rapidly emerging as a tipping point for AI-driven job losses across corporate Australia.<\/p>\n

Within just a few days, a cascade of announcements from some of the country\u2019s biggest companies has made it impossible to treat AI displacement as a theoretical problem, a future risk to be managed with training programs and reassuring talking points.<\/p>\n

\"WiseTechWiseTech Global chief executive Zubin Appoo didn\u2019t try to dodge questions about whether AI was to blame for his company\u2019s job cuts.Sitthixay Ditthavong<\/p>\n

This week made clear that it is here now and it\u2019s accelerating.<\/p>\n

A week like no other<\/p>\n

The dominoes fell fast. On Tuesday, WiseTech Global, one of Australia\u2019s most valuable technology companies, announced it would slash 2000 jobs<\/a>, nearly a third of its workforce, across product development and customer service. Chief executive Zubin Appoo didn\u2019t try to dodge questions about whether AI was to blame. He pointed to the launch of Anthropic\u2019s Claude Opus 4.5 in late 2025, and subsequently OpenAI\u2019s latest models, as a tipping point that had fundamentally changed what the technology will do for software companies.<\/p>\n

Investors loved it. WiseTech shares surged nearly 11 per cent on the news, and J.P. Morgan estimated the cuts could deliver up to $150 million in savings. The analyst note\u2019s title: \u201cCutting a leaner path to FY28.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CommonwealthCommonwealth Bank of Australia chief executive Matt Comyn.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n

The same day, the Commonwealth Bank confirmed 300 job cuts<\/a>, timed alongside the launch of a $90 million Future Workforce Program designed to retrain staff for roles the bank believes will survive the AI era: financial crime, digital risk and data engineering.<\/p>\n

CBA chief executive Matt Comyn has been preparing for this moment since an embarrassing episode last year, when the bank blamed 45 contact centre redundancies on AI before walking the claim back weeks later. This time, the messaging was more sophisticated: cuts paired with investment, and displacement paired with redeployment. \u201cWe recognise there\u2019s a lot of uncertainty around AI and we\u2019re trying to replace that with transparency and opportunity,\u201d Comyn told the ABC\u2019s 7.30 program on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Wisetech<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many things that humans can do that currently the technology can\u2019t do. But it can do some things remarkably well. And it\u2019s the pace of change that I think\u2019s really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, on Friday morning (Australian time), Jack Dorsey\u2019s fintech company Block, the parent company of Square and Afterpay, told shareholders it was becoming a \u201csmaller, faster, intelligence-native company\u201d and that it was axing nearly half its global workforce. Some 4000 jobs are to go. Australian employees of Block are not immune from the cuts, though the company did not say how many local staff would lose their jobs. Dorsey said a significantly smaller team using AI tools could already do more and do it better. He said that within the next year, the majority of companies would reach the same conclusion and make similar structural changes.<\/p>\n

And the Communications Workers Union this week accused Telstra of \u201coffshoring by stealth\u201d, saying that its plans to shift technology development<\/a> and AI delivery capabilities to foreign contractors would put local skills and the personal data of millions of Australians at risk.<\/p>\n

\"US-basedUS-based Block, led by Jack Dorsey, is the latest technology company to announce mass lay-offs, citing AI.Bloomberg<\/p>\n

The Australian cuts did not happen in a vacuum. The same week, a viral research note from US firm Citrini Research shook global markets with what it called a \u201cscenario, not a prediction\u201d \u2013 a doomsday timeline in which AI agents gut software companies, trigger mass white-collar unemployment, and set off cascading defaults in private credit and mortgages. The scenario ends in mid-2028 with unemployment above 10 per cent and protesters camped outside OpenAI\u2019s offices.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"WiseTech<\/a><\/p>\n

Speculative as it was, markets flinched. The S&P 500 dropped more than 1 per cent on Monday. Companies named in the report \u2013 Uber, Mastercard, American Express, DoorDash \u2013 lost between 4 and 6 per cent. A Federal Reserve governor felt compelled to push back publicly, saying AI would not rapidly displace workers.<\/p>\n

Still, the fact that a Substack post could rattle the world\u2019s biggest sharemarket tells you something about where investor psychology sits right now.<\/p>\n

Globally, AI is tearing through workplaces. Amazon has confirmed 16,000 corporate cuts. Dow Chemical is slashing 4500 roles as it automates with AI. Autodesk is shedding 1000 jobs to redirect spending to its cloud and AI platform. HP expects to eliminate up to 6000 positions by 2028.<\/p>\n

The fear is real<\/p>\n

New data from Randstad\u2019s Workmonitor survey found that one in three Australian workers now believes their job will disappear due to AI within five years. The same proportion says their job prospects have worsened compared with a year ago. Millennials and Gen X are the most worried, and almost half of all workers surveyed believe AI adoption will primarily benefit companies rather than employees.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most telling is the training gap. Less than half of Australian workers say they\u2019ve received training on the AI tools reshaping their roles. But 56 per cent of employers say their workforce has been adequately trained, a disconnect that Randstad\u2019s Amelia O\u2019Carrigan says could produce an \u201cAI skills cliff\u201d.<\/p>\n

\" Photo: Matt Golding<\/p>\n

\u201cEmployers are moving quickly to adopt AI, but many workers haven\u2019t been given the training to keep up,\u201d O\u2019Carrigan says. \u201cWithout proper training, AI doesn\u2019t boost productivity, it erodes confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

UNSW professor Toby Walsh used a National Press Club address this week to say Australia is sleepwalking into an AI future without the investment, regulation, or independent expert advice that every comparable nation considers essential. He pointed to a global survey of 180 million job postings that found advertisements for graphic designers had fallen by 33 per cent in 2025 compared to the prior year. Photographers dropped 28 per cent. Writers and copy editors fell by the same margin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI refuse to accept an AI revolution that enriches founders in Silicon Valley by impoverishing Australian artists, writers and musicians,\u201d Walsh told the audience.<\/p>\n

\"TobyToby Walsh speaking at the National Press Club this week.AAPIMAGE<\/p>\n

Work futurist and former Atlassian executive Dominic Price offered a more measured take. \u201cAI is pouring accelerant on [workplace disruption], because in the short-term, business leaders see AI purely as productivity and cost out,\u201d he says. \u201cIn the medium term, AI should lead us to new business opportunities and the chance to redeploy people to grow new products and services.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other side of the equation<\/p>\n

MacDonald, for her part, resists the narrative of robots stealing jobs. She used her redundancy payout to launch a consultancy helping other professionals \u2013 particularly mothers and caregivers \u2013 to navigate career disruption. She now has a portfolio career spanning brand consulting, hosting and media work.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy story is very much not \u2018grumpy, the robot stole my job\u2019,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s more a pause and a pivot.\u201d<\/p>\n

And she refuses to be pessimistic about what\u2019s coming. \u201cI think we\u2019re going to hit an inflection point,\u201d she says. \u201cSome organisations will realise they\u2019ve cut too far, that there\u2019s a ceiling on how far AI can get you. AI can take an average idea to good, but that\u2019s about as far as it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Thomas<\/a><\/p>\n

Electrical Trades Union national secretary Michael Wright offers a different kind of optimism, saying the physical infrastructure underpinning AI \u2013 data centres, energy systems, fibre networks \u2013 could create enormous demand for skilled Australian workers. Data centres are near population centres, he says, providing varied work from cabling to off-grid generation, making them ideal training grounds for the next generation of electrical workers the nation desperately needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t like the mining boom,\u201d Wright says. \u201cData centres and energy transition are happening everywhere at the same time. If we want this done, we have to skill up and do it ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

What comes next?<\/p>\n

The question corporate Australia now faces is not whether AI will reshape workforces \u2013 that debate is already settled. It\u2019s how the transition will be managed, and who bears the cost.<\/p>\n

CBA\u2019s approach \u2013 pairing cuts with a $90 million retraining investment \u2013 may become the template. But not every company will have CBA\u2019s resources or inclination. WiseTech\u2019s cuts were announced to market cheers, as were Block\u2019s. But for the thousands of workers caught in between \u2013 sitting on bedroom floors at 3am, refreshing their email, wondering what comes next \u2013 the macro narrative offers cold comfort.<\/p>\n

A Financial Services Union survey found about three in four CBA employees are worried about their job security. Half have considered leaving.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo things can be true at once,\u201d MacDonald says. \u201cYou can miss the lifestyle you had and not love what happened to you, while also loving the autonomy of the path you\u2019re now on.\u201d<\/p>\n

A fast-growing chunk of corporate Australia could be about to find out for themselves what that path looks like.<\/p>\n

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"DavidDavid Swan<\/a> is the technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor for The Australian newspaper.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated February 27, 2026 \u2014 2:51pm,first published 10:01am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-512596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}