On October 22, Barclays announced it will cut about 5% of its workforce, close to 5,000 jobs, mostly in support functions, as it moves more operations to AI systems. The next morning, American Express said it will eliminate 5% of its global workforce. Based on roughly 76,800 employees at the end of 2025, that is about 3,840 roles. CEO Stephen Squeri said the company needs "to become a more agile and efficient organization." Reuters counts Barclays among a long list of companies linking layoffs to AI this year, from HSBC to Kroger.
Those are the facts as reported. Everything below is my opinion.
My position: cutting headcount in the name of AI before the AI is doing the work is backwards. Redesign the work, prove the tools carry it, redeploy the people who know the process, and only then decide what roles you no longer need.
A round number is a budget, not a plan
Five percent is a clean figure for an earnings call. It is rarely what the work actually requires. When a cut is sized from the top down, the people who leave are often the ones who understand the exceptions, the workarounds and the customers who do not fit the standard flow. Those are exactly the cases AI handles worst.
If the automation is not ready, the remaining team absorbs the gap, service quality slips and the savings show up on paper long before they show up in operations.
Where AI really changes the workforce
In my experience, AI rarely removes a whole job on day one. It removes tasks: drafting, summarizing, first-pass review, routine tickets. That frees time, and the smart move is to decide in advance what that time is for.
Some of it should go to work that was always understaffed, like quality, security and customer follow-up. Some of it should become real savings. The order matters.
What leaders can take from this
Map the work before you map the cuts. List the tasks AI will take over and test it on live volume.
Keep the process experts. Move them into the roles that supervise, correct and improve the AI. They are your quality control.
Measure the outcome, not the headcount. Track error rates, cycle times and customer satisfaction before and after. If those slip, the cut was premature.
A fair counterpoint
To be fair, large banks and card issuers carry heavy support costs, and both companies may have tested these tools for months before announcing anything. Some roles really will disappear, and saying so early can be more honest than a slow drip of cuts. My view is only that the announcement should follow the proof, not lead it.
The payoff
The companies that get the most from AI will be the ones that treat it as a redesign of work, not a headcount target. Through AI Rescue & Technology Consulting, TDZ Pro provides developers, DevOps, QA, and PMs vetted over years of delivery, on a top-1% talent bench, and I took a firm from $6M to $60M in under three years. Getting the work right first was the engine. Strong people on profitable work raise the whole company.
Want help putting AI to work without breaking delivery? Visit tdzpro.com.
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