{"id":720541,"date":"2026-06-07T07:11:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T07:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/720541\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T07:11:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T07:11:28","slug":"canadian-employers-are-paying-the-price-after-ai-proves-unable-to-replace-laid-off-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/720541\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian employers are paying the price after AI proves unable to replace laid off staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many employers seeking to save money by cutting staff and using artificial intelligence to do parts of their jobs are now going through the costly process of rehiring to fill voids left behind, a new survey shows.<\/p>\n

A recent Robert Half survey of 1,365 professional services hiring managers shows that more than a third of those who eliminated positions after onboarding AI have since added them or similar roles back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile [AI] can automate some of those routine tasks, [employers] underestimated how much human judgment, context and decision making many of those roles required,\u201d says Koula Vasilopoulos, a Calgary-based senior managing director at Robert Half Canada. \u201cIt does work as a productivity tool, but not as a full replacement, so companies are now recalibrating after seeing gaps in quality, execution or oversight.\u201d <\/p>\n

According to a recent global study<\/a> conducted by outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, 26 per cent of layoffs in recent months have been explicitly attributed to AI. However, the Bank of Canada suggests<\/a> it is not responsible for widespread job losses in this country. <\/p>\n

Jack Dorsey\u2019s Block to cut nearly half of work force as it makes greater use of AI tools<\/a><\/p>\n

Cisco plans to cut 4,000 jobs, raises annual revenue forecast to $63-billion range<\/a><\/p>\n

According to the Robert Half survey, 38 per cent of those who have cut staff owing to AI cite the technology\u2019s higher-than-expected oversight and quality control requirements as a primary reason for rehiring staff. An equal proportion said business demand increased, requiring greater overall capacity. Another 37 per cent said the roles they cut required relationship management skills that AI couldn\u2019t replicate. <\/p>\n

The sector that saw the biggest reversal was legal, where 45 per cent of employers that made AI-based job cuts have since rehired those or similar roles back, followed by finance and accounting at 38 per cent and marketing and creative at 37 per cent. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese roles are coming back with a much stronger focus on AI literacy,\u201d Ms. Vasilopoulos says. \u201cEmployers are prioritizing candidates who can work alongside AI, validate output and continuously learn new skills.\u201d <\/p>\n

The study echoes the findings of a February survey<\/a> of 600 American HR professionals by outplacement services provider Careerminds. Among them, more than three-quarters made staffing cuts in the prior 12 months, citing technological advancements. <\/p>\n

Of those who made cuts, more than 90 per cent say they would rethink the decision if given a second chance and more than two-thirds rehired at least some of the positions they cut, with more than a third replacing more than half the roles they let go. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t anticipate how much management or supervision would be required to oversee the technology,\u201d says Amanda Augustine, a certified professional career coach for Careerminds. \u201cThe technology they were using to replace human workers required a bit more hand-holding and oversight than was originally budgeted for.\u201d <\/p>\n

The layoffs done to save money also proved more costly for 75 per cent of organizations that let staff go. Those costs typically came in the form of recruiting, training, onboarding and institutional knowledge loss. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt ended up backfiring on them,\u201d Ms. Augustine says. \u201cRehiring these individuals, whether it\u2019s the same people or going out to find new people, that cost hit them the hardest.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ms. Augustine says many also took a hit to employee morale, engagement and loyalty. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were also seeing brand reputation damage, because customer service stats were falling, which affects your sales and increases refund rates,\u201d she says. \u201cCustomer service is where an individual interacts with the brand most directly, and the technology couldn\u2019t replace customer support; people want to talk to a human.\u201d <\/p>\n

While it\u2019s too soon to draw overarching conclusions about the direction the job market will take in the AI era, the trend offers lessons to both employers and employees. <\/p>\n

For employers, Ms. Augustine says it shows the value of being cautious and deliberate when replacing staff with technology, as moving too quickly can turn a cost-cutting measure into an expensive blunder. <\/p>\n

For staff, she says it\u2019s a reminder to be ready for what could come next in the workplace. <\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies are always going to be looking for ways to cut costs and improve profit, and they\u2019re going to continue to test how AI can do that for them,\u201d she says. \u201cSo, perform at your best and prepare for the worst.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many employers seeking to save money by cutting staff and using artificial intelligence to do parts of their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46,2922,4081],"class_list":["post-720541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy","tag-noastack","tag-ordid20000"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}