Corporate America is convinced: Fewer employees means faster growth.⁠ ⁠ U.S. public companies have reduced their white-collar workforces by a collective 3.5% over the past three years, according to employment data-provider Live Data Technologies. Over the past decade, one in five companies in the S&P 500 have shrunk.⁠ ⁠ The cuts go beyond typical cost-trimming and speak to a broader shift in philosophy. Adding talent, once a sign of surging sales and confidence in the future, now means leaders must be doing something wrong.⁠ ⁠ New technologies like generative artificial intelligence are allowing companies to do more with less. But there’s more to this movement. From Amazon in Seattle to Bank of America in Charlotte, N.C., and at companies big and small everywhere in between, there’s a growing belief that having too many employees is itself an impediment. The message from many bosses: Anyone still on the payroll could be working harder.⁠ ⁠ In a note to employees, Amazon Chief Executive Andy Jassy wrote that the “once-in-a-lifetime” rise of AI will eliminate the need for certain jobs in the next few years. And earlier this year, he told his staff that not every new project requires 50 people to do it.⁠ ⁠ Procter & Gamble said this month that it would cut 7,000 jobs—or 15% of its nonmanufacturing workforce—to create “broader roles and smaller teams.” Estée Lauder and dating-app operator Match Group recently said they had each jettisoned around 20% of their managers. ⁠ ⁠ All of the shrinking turns on its head the usual cycle of hiring and firing. Companies often let go of workers in recessions, then staff up when the economy picks up. Yet the workforce cuts in recent years coincide with a surge in sales and profits, heralding a more fundamental shift in the way leaders evaluate their workforces. U.S. corporate profits rose to a record high at the end of last year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ 🎨: @eddie_guyco