‘Your craft is obsolete’: WiseTech staff in limbo as AI touted as better than humans

WiseTech’s headquarters in Sydney where staff fear many jobs will be lost to AI. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images View image in fullscreen WiseTech’s headquarters in Sydney where staff fear many jobs will be lost to AI. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images ‘Your craft is obsolete’: WiseTech staff in limbo as AI touted as better than humans The software company said in February it would cut 7,000 jobs but, as it touts new technology, workers are still waiting to hear which roles will go Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Staff at WiseTech have been waiting almost three months to be told if they’re among the 2,000 people the logistics software company is to cut due to advances in AI, with workers criticising the wait as stressful and “ridiculous”. The comments come as its founder on Tuesday told investors an AI agent could learn a human’s job in just 15 minutes, according to the Australian Financial Review. The Australian Stock Exchange-listed company announced in late February that it would lay off almost 30% of its workforce across 40 countries, with 2,000 of the 7,000 jobs set to go over the next 18 months. Some areas would be hit harder than others, with product and development and customer service teams expected to be reduced by up to 50%, chief executive Zubin Appoo told an investor briefing in February. “The era of manually writing code as the core act of engineering is over,” Appoo said. WiseTech was one of a number of companies that earlier this year announced job cuts due to AI advancements. Unlike companies such as Block and Atlassian, which told affected staff at the time of announcement, WiseTech staff are still unsure about their future. A WiseTech spokesperson said in April the company was consulting teams in a “structured and phased” manner. “Because this is real organisational transformation, and not a cost-cutting exercise, it takes time to work through the process: redesigning our portfolios, designing the appropriate team structures, consulting with relevant stakeholders and then selecting the potentially impacted roles across our workforce,” the spokesperson said. “At this stage, no final decisions have been made about individual roles.” “People are being told to keep delivering as usual, while also helping roll out the AI tools that are supposedly meant to replace them,” one Sydney worker, Bruce* said. “All of this while everyone’s left waiting to find out if they’re in the 50%.” Bruce said he was working “under serious stress and uncertainty”. “Checking my email every morning, and at the same time copping public commentary from Zubin that the era of manually writing code as the core act of engineering is over,” he said. “Coding isn’t the core act of engineering, it’s one part of it, but it’s all about what it feels like to hear someone tell the market your craft is obsolete, and then be expected to come in the next day and keep shipping.” This week, a petition was launched on the union-backed platform Megaphone, calling on WiseTech to treat employees fairly and transparently during the restructure, including negotiating fair and competitive redundancy packages, and for safe ways for employees to raise concerns. “Right now, many employees are being asked to maintain performance while facing unclear expectations about their roles and direction,” the Professionals Australia-backed petition states. “A fair and competitive redundancy package is not just a cost. It is a signal of respect, responsibility, and leadership.” The petition had more than 300 signatures at the time of reporting, with several of those who signed complaining about the drawn-out process. “This is getting ridiculous,” one stated. “I haven’t heard of a company announcing redundancies, and then keeping employees in a limbo for months. “They have no idea how much stress they are causing.” Another said they had worked through prolonged uncertainty and expected fairness, respect and dignity in return. For the staff who do remain, the future may be as uncertain. Appoo told investors in February that as AI capability continues to advance, “we expect further efficiency gains over time”. WiseTech has reframed itself as an AI-led company. Its co-founder, Richard White, unveiled at the February briefing an “AI agent credo” written by an AI agent that can undertake tasks for a human. The credo states: “Capacity is no longer constrained by people or time.” White and Appoo reportedly did not address the redundancies at a Macquarie conference in Sydney on Tuesday, where White reportedly claimed AI agents could learn a human’s job in 15 minutes and, in two to three hours, could perform just as well. In a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper in February a survey of 6,000 US, UK, German and Australian firms found that 69% were already using AI in their companies. Its effect on productivity, however, was minimal, with more than 90% reporting it had not affected employment over the past three years, and 89% reporting no impact on labour productivity. A small percentage of executives reported a positive effect on productivity, the paper said. Explore more on these topics Technology AI (artificial intelligence) Sydney Software news Share Reuse this content