While scanning the current lay off headlines , many related to government cutbacks, one grabbed my attention from the LA Times, and upon closer review the details reveal the layoffs are connected to “automation”.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-05-03/ups-usps-job-cuts-impacts-on-service-explained
We have been warned about the pending impacts of driverless cars, driverless trucks and other forms of automation for many years. I remember discussing such impacts with guest speakers who would come to engage to our leaders during my years as a CHRO. They always claimed it was right around the corner, but it never was.
Many have written about how certain forms of technology are dreamed of and discussed as eminent but take decades to mature. Language translation was one such dream, which became a reality just in the last several years. It is embedded in many apps now and speech recognition just gets better each day.
When a household name like UPS matter of factly states that 20,000 layoffs are due to automation, it may be time to start paying attention.
Are we close to Skynet becoming self aware, a la’ The Terminator franchise of movies? Its at least getting closer….
Here is some advice for those workers, both blue and white collar at UPS confronting this scenario, and the legions of others that will follow at other firms.
First, a growth mindset will serve you well. Tired of being a victim of AI, Robots or general automation? The old saying “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” applies here. Learn the topics of AI most appropriate for your discipline and stay a student of the topic permanently.
Your experience is still relevant to many other warehousing and delivery firms, and they may in fact hire you, but you will want to avoid going through the same disruption at a new employer. Make sure you learn how to be the one behind the Robot’s controls, instead of the one being displaced by Mr Roboto. Make time for learning because it will be the difference between employment and displacement.
The skilled trades (machinists, welders, electricians, mechanics, etc) remain the most underserved jobs in terms of qualified people being ready to take them. Companies continue to partner with trade schools, even offering scholarships to committed future employees. If you have the acumen and are willing to learn such a new set of skills, do not turn away from these lucrative careers. In the future, these workers will be the ones servicing automated factories and their automated machines. Take a serious look.
Always seek to add skills to your stack. there will be no “set it and forget it” careers. All of them will require constant learning and re-certification. The tendency remains for all of us to think “I have my degree, my latest promotion, my certificate, my certification – I am good now and can coast a bit.” The reality is that the notion of such coasting moments is now lost in the 20th century. Gone with the wind, you might say.
I am not in the group that will panic over automation, robots and their impact. I do not see a dystopian landscape of dead end humans with nothing to do. I do see a major age of change upon us, like others in the past, and the need for all of us to adapt. We can bitch about it or get on with it.
I wish all of those affected by these pending changes at UPS, USPS and the many others not mentioned in this article the best as they renew, re-skill and re-emerge in new and promising careers. Make your mantra a spin on the original Terminator’s: “I’ll be back – with new skills!”
Book reco: a revised addition of Leaders Make the Future: 10 New Skills to Humanize Leadership with Generative AI by Johanson, Kirshbaum and Cervantes is out and I strongly recommend it. Those leading in this new environment will benefit this thoughtful work.
