The layoff bulletin grows longer every month.
On 7 May, cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike confirmed it would cut 500 positions — about 5 percent of its staff — to streamline operations, citing efficiency gains from AI-driven threat-hunting tools. Less than eight weeks earlier, Siemens announced 5,600 job cuts in its Digital Industries division due to slowing factory-automation orders, with automation reducing demand for some traditional engineering roles.
The World Economic Forum estimates that technological advancements, including AI, will displace 92 million jobs globally by 2030, though new roles will create a net gain of 78 million jobs.
Buried in CrowdStrike’s filing is a key detail: while technical roles are shrinking, the firm plans to hire for customer-facing and product engineering teams. Siemens is prioritizing roles that support human-AI collaboration, reflecting a broader industry trend toward valuing interpersonal skills like empathy, which the WEF notes as critical for managing automated workflows.
Strip away the jargon, and the signal is clear: as AI handles repetitive tasks, emotional intelligence (EQ) — the ability to build trust, read a room, and navigate hybrid teams—becomes profit-critical.
Employers start ranking empathy alongside AI fluency
Hard data backs the shift.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2025 survey, covering 1,000 employers across 55 economies, places “empathy and active listening” in its global top 10 core skills for the first time, alongside AI literacy and analytical thinking. The WEF reports that AI and big data skills are the fastest-growing, with 85% of employers prioritizing upskilling, yet emotional intelligence is increasingly valued as a differentiator in hiring. Employers are placing a premium on emotional intelligence, with the WEF noting that skills like empathy are now critical, often commanding higher compensation in roles requiring human interaction.
Demand for leadership roles that foster collaboration and trust is surging, with the WEF highlighting “leadership and social influence” as a top skill in 2025. Universities are adapting by emphasizing human-centric leadership skills, such as empathy, to prepare students for AI-driven workplaces. This shift reflects a broader market trend: while technical skills are trainable, interpersonal competence is harder to instill, making EQ a sought-after trait.
Economists have long predicted a premium for interpersonal skills, but generative AI is the forcing event. Goldman Sachs estimated in March 2023 that AI could expose tasks equivalent to 300 million jobs by 2030, yet demand for human-centric roles will likely keep employment stable.
Trust erodes when a chatbot drafts a memo or a vision system flags a defect. EQ is the operational glue that keeps algorithmic workflows running smoothly when ambiguity arises.
Why the soft stuff suddenly delivers hard ROI
Research highlights that managers with strong emotional intelligence can reduce team stress, acting as coaches to foster resilience in AI-driven workplaces. If AI flattens org charts without shrinking workloads, EQ becomes a critical resource, setting the pace for output. Paying for emotionally literate talent may be cheaper than watching projects derail when human interfaces falter.
Online platforms like Coursera are seeing growing demand for courses in emotional intelligence, reflecting the need for soft skills in automated workplaces. Coaching platforms are capitalizing on this demand, as employers invest in reskilling to bridge skills gaps. Regulatory bodies are developing standards to support digital transformation, emphasizing skills like empathy to facilitate AI adoption.
Policymakers are exploring incentives to support upskilling in soft skills, aiming to enhance workforce resilience in an AI-driven economy. Skepticism is warranted — EQ is hard to quantify, and HR-tech tools claiming to measure empathy via micro-expressions have been debunked by behavioral psychologists. The risk is that firms swap one flawed metric (hours at a keyboard) for another (algorithmic empathy scores), missing the human-centered assessments that detect nuance.
Yet ignoring EQ carries a cost: a failed AI rollout can erode savings if staff distrust outputs or customers feel unheard by bots.
For workers facing layoffs, the implications are paradoxical but hopeful. Algorithms commoditize mid-level coding but elevate the value of human traits. Upskilling remains vital, but not just in TensorFlow: study mediation, cross-cultural feedback, and reading virtual rooms. These skills may soon boost your compensation—and could be why you keep your job.
Executives eyeing cuts to soft-skill budgets for the next GPT license should reconsider: faster algorithms trim headcount, but only an emotionally literate workforce prevents customers and shareholders from bolting when automation fails. The current layoff wave is painful proof. The companies that thrive will be those investing in the oldest workplace technology: human empathy.
Rewarding genuine EQ in the AI era
Not everyone is convinced companies can measure what they now claim to value. HR-tech vendors already pitch “empathetic AI” interview tools that score micro-expressions, a science psychologists have repeatedly debunked. Policy makers see the risk and are moving, cautiously, toward standardisation: the UK’s Institute for Apprenticeships is drafting a “digital change facilitator” qualification that embeds verifiable EQ competencies, while U.S. Senator Mark Warner has floated tax credits for firms that earn recognised conflict-resolution certifications. In both cases, the goal is to reward real interpersonal competence, not gamified test scores.
For workers staring at AI-driven layoffs, the message is paradoxical but hopeful. While algorithms compress demand for mid-level coding, they amplify demand for skills that can’t be containerised: mediating tense Zoom rooms, crafting feedback that lands across cultures, recognising when the model misreads the mood. Those abilities won’t appear on a model card, but soon they may add a line item to your pay stub — and might even be the reason you still have a pay stub.
Executives tempted to slash “soft-skill” budgets to fund the next GPT licence should remember: a faster algorithm may trim head-count, but only an emotionally literate workforce keeps customers — and shareholders— from bolting when automation errors hit production.
The current layoff wave is painful proof.
The companies that thrive after it will be those that finally put real money behind the oldest workplace technology of all: human empathy.
