A tech CEO whose company reduced its workforce from more than 1,000 employees to just 120 has said that even high-performing workers may struggle to retain their jobs if they lack skills across multiple areas.
(Also read: US founder moves from Los Angeles to town of 6,000, says her kids are growing up like it's the '80s)
Robert Vis, CEO of communications infrastructure company Bird, told Business Insider that artificial intelligence (AI) is making employees with diverse skills and the ability to work independently increasingly valuable.
"The profile that we were very focused on was people with high agency," Vis said. "If you're high agency and you're full stack, then AI leverages you to basically be your best self."
Company reduces workforce from over 1,000 to 120
The Amsterdam-founded company reduced its headcount over roughly three years while automating several operations and prioritising employees capable of handling multiple responsibilities.
{{/usCountry}}The Amsterdam-founded company reduced its headcount over roughly three years while automating several operations and prioritising employees capable of handling multiple responsibilities.
{{/usCountry}}Vis explained that technical expertise alone was no longer sufficient for certain positions, particularly in engineering.
"If you're an engineer and you're extremely good at just code but you have no product sense, that wouldn't work at Bird," he said.
The company assessed employees based on their performance, ability to work across disciplines and willingness to operate independently.
"If you had very high performance but you were not multidisciplinary, you would not stay," Vis said.
AI changing how companies hire employees
According to Vis, AI allows employees to take on responsibilities traditionally handled by separate departments, including design, customer support, sales and accounting.
"It's not like you need zero designers, but you need less, and it enables entire teams to be able to output good design within a framework that a design team sets," he explained.
However, Bird continues to employ specialists in areas requiring specific expertise, including revenue accounting and security engineering.
Other business leaders have expressed similar views. Figma CEO Dylan Field has suggested that AI is encouraging generalist skills, while Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar has highlighted the growing importance of combining domain expertise with technological capabilities.
CEO warns against using AI solely for layoffs
Bird reported $165 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2025 following extensive automation.
(Also read: US entrepreneur turns to AI for productivity, ends up with 156 tasks on daily to-do list)
The company also announced $450 million in debt financing led by JPMorgan, Capital One and Citi.
Despite the workforce reduction, Vis cautioned companies against treating AI simply as a way to eliminate jobs.
"I don't think people should be looking to reduce their employee base," he said.
Instead, he encouraged businesses to identify repetitive tasks that could be automated without placing additional pressure on remaining employees.