"Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski projects that the "buy now, pay later" provider's headcount will decrease by about one-third by 2030, from 3,000 employees today to under 2,000. The CEO points to AI taking over a growing share of white-collar work as the culprit. He says that the jobs that endure will be the ones grounded in human relationships, rather than repetitive work that AI can easily replace."
"On an episode of the 20 VC podcast that aired this week, Siemiatkowski said he expects his workforce to shrink, but not because of layoffs. Instead, Klarna is relying on "natural attrition" of about 20% each year, as employees choose to leave their jobs and are not replaced. In his words, employees spend an average of "five years" at Klarna before deciding to leave."
"Between attrition and layoffs, the fintech company has already whittled down its workforce from around 7,000 employees in 2022 to about 3,000 today. Siemiatkowski openly tied that shift to an aggressive internal rollout of generative AI, which he argues lets the company "do much more with less." What's more, Klarna froze most hiring outside engineering starting in 2023, relying on AI tools to absorb work previously handled by humans."
Klarna expects headcount to fall from about 3,000 to under 2,000 by 2030, citing AI taking over white-collar work. The company has already reduced staff from roughly 7,000 in 2022 to about 3,000 through layoffs and natural attrition. Klarna anticipates roughly 20% annual attrition as employees leave after an average tenure of five years. The company implemented generative AI internally, froze most hiring outside engineering in 2023, launched a customer service chatbot equivalent to over 700 agents, and debuted on the NYSE at a $15 billion valuation. Klarna plans to rely on AI and natural attrition rather than further mass layoffs to achieve the target headcount.
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