Professionals Australia extends its deepest sympathy to the hundreds of highly skilled Australian technology workers at Atlassian who will lose their jobs to AI, a development that will be a devastating blow for those workers and their families.
These are experienced professionals who have helped build one of Australia’s most successful technology companies from the ground up. They deserve respect, transparency and proper consultation when major decisions about their livelihoods and their future careers are made.
Professionals Australia’s research into the impact of AI in workplaces shows that technology professionals are not fearful of the technology itself. What concerns them is the way it is introduced without consultation, transparency or a genuine opportunity for workers to understand how it will affect their jobs and workplaces, as has happened at Atlassian today.
When organisations introduce major technological change that affects jobs and workplaces, workers must be properly consulted about what it means for them. Where jobs can be transformed or retained, that should remain the overriding priority as a principle.
While workers recognise that AI will transform how technology companies operate, that transformation cannot happen behind closed doors, with employees informed only after decisions about their roles have already been made.
Professionals Australia will work directly with affected employees to ensure they receive all redundancy entitlements, support and protections to which they are entitled.
It is critical to note that job cuts of this scale also place significant pressure on the employees who remain. Evidence from professionals working with AI systems shows that the technology often increases workloads rather than reducing them, with workers spending significant time correcting errors and checking outputs from systems introduced too quickly.
Employers must ensure the introduction of AI does not result in unsafe workloads or place workers at risk of burnout and psychosocial harm.
AI will reshape many professional roles in the years ahead, but workers must have a seat at the table when these decisions are made. Technology professionals are not obstacles to innovation. They are the people who build it, and their experience must be part of the conversation about how AI is introduced into workplaces.
As AI reshapes the technology sector, an increasing number of tech professionals are joining Professionals Australia to ensure that technology is implemented in ways that are safe, fair and accountable.
Please quote Professionals Australia Director, Paul Inglis
Contact details:
Darren Rodrigo - 0414 783 405
