The HP Playbook: 6,000 Jobs Cut, AI Doubled—Should Your Small Business Copy Them?

HP just announced they're cutting up to 6,000 jobs by 2028—that's 10% of their 58,000-person workforce—while investing a billion dollars in AI. CEO Enrique Lores says this will create "$1 billion in gross run rate savings over three years."

So here's the question every small business owner is asking: Should you copy them?

Let me save you some time and a lot of pain. No.

What HP (and Others) Are Actually Doing

The data from December 2025 is stark. According to recent reports, 491 tech workers lose their jobs to AI every single day. That's not a projection—that's happening right now, today.

HP isn't alone. Salesforce cut 4,000 customer support jobs in September 2025, with CEO Marc Benioff literally saying "I need less heads." (Funny thing—just two months earlier in June, he'd reassured everyone that AI wouldn't cause "mass layoffs of white collar workers." But I digress.)

Klarna laid off 700 customer service employees and celebrated $40 million in projected annual savings. Their AI slashed average resolution time from 11 minutes to under 2 minutes. The metrics looked beautiful.

On paper, anyway.

The Part They Don't Put in the Press Release

Here's what happened next to those AI-first champions:

Klarna's customer satisfaction tanked. By early 2025, CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski had to publicly admit that "cost unfortunately seems to have been a too predominant evaluation factor." Translation: we fired everyone to save money, and it turns out customers actually noticed.

They're now rehiring human agents after their AI-only approach failed. The $40 million in savings evaporated when customers revolted.

Salesforce? After cutting 4,000 jobs, Benioff admitted AI now handles 50% of customer conversations. Fifty percent. Not ninety. Not eighty. Half. Which raises an uncomfortable question: why did you fire 4,000 people if you still need humans for half the work?

And here's the kicker, according to Forrester Research published in October 2025: 55% of companies that laid off staff for AI now regret it. More than half. That's worse odds than a coin flip.

What Actually Works (With Numbers That Don't Lie)

Let's talk about businesses that got it right.

Tawuniya Insurance had 45-minute wait times and a customer satisfaction score of 51 out of 100. They implemented AI—but they didn't fire everyone. Instead, they used AI to augment their human team.

The results? Wait times dropped from 45 minutes to 56 seconds. First call resolution hit 80%. And customer satisfaction soared from 51 to 83.

They didn't eliminate jobs. They made their people more effective.

Then there's Aire Serv, an HVAC company. They added AI call answering for after-hours calls—you know, when someone's heat goes out at 11 PM and they're calling competitors because you're closed.

After-hours bookings jumped from 58 to 208. That's a 259% increase. Their overall booking rate hit 90%. And they didn't fire a single technician, because here's the thing: AI can answer the phone, but it can't fix your furnace.

The cost? They cut their answering service from $400 per month to $50 while capturing calls they were previously missing.

The Real Question for Your Business

You're not HP. You don't have 58,000 employees and $55 billion in revenue and a billion-dollar AI budget.

You've got 5, 10, maybe 50 people. You know most of your customers by name. You can't afford to get this wrong and then quietly rehire six months later when customer satisfaction craters.

So stop asking "Should I copy HP's playbook?"

Start asking "How can AI help my existing team serve MORE customers?"

That's not semantics—it's the difference between success and becoming another statistic in Forrester's regret survey.

The Augmentation Strategy (Not the Replacement Strategy)

According to data published in May 2025, AI usage among small businesses jumped from 39% to 55% in one year—a 41% increase. And here's what matters: 85% of small and mid-sized businesses using AI expect clear ROI within their first year, with an average return of 250%.

But here's the pattern: the businesses seeing those returns aren't copying HP. They're using AI to capture revenue they were missing:

• After-hours calls that went to voicemail
• Simple appointment scheduling that tied up skilled staff
• Common questions that could be answered instantly
• Lead qualification before your team gets involved

One e-commerce store implemented AI product recommendations—didn't fire anyone—and saw cart sizes increase 15% and retention improve 12% within six weeks.

A 12-employee kitchenware shop added AI inventory management and freed up 15 hours per week in manual work. They didn't fire anyone. The owner stopped doing spreadsheets and started growing the business.

See the pattern?

Your Move

Right now, as of December 2025, you're watching two different playbooks unfold in real-time:

The HP Playbook: Cut thousands of jobs, invest billions, cross your fingers that AI lives up to the hype, and hope you're not in the 55% who regret it later.

The Small Business Playbook: Invest $50 to $500 per month to capture calls you're missing, answer questions your team doesn't have time for, and book appointments while your technicians are actually doing the work that requires human expertise.

One requires you to bet your team's livelihoods on technology that even Salesforce admits can only handle half the work.

The other helps your existing team capture more of the revenue that's already calling you—and walking away when you don't answer.

You already know which one makes sense for a business your size.

The question is whether you'll implement it before your competitors do.

See how Julya captures the calls you're missing - No workforce reduction required.