IBM employs approximately 350,000 people, and if its latest artificial intelligence technology has anything to say about it, that figure won't be fluctuating much anymore. The tech giant's "predictive attrition program" is charged with identifying which employees are most likely to bail in the near future, giving managers the opportunity to remedy any issues that might be driving them towards the exit door. And according to the firm, the program is great at its job, reaching an accuracy rate of 95 percent. So far, this has translated to a savings of roughly $300 million USD in employee retention expenses. The AI program is part of IBM's goal of reinventing human resources, keeping workers on solid career paths by identifying their skills and utilizing them in the best way possible. Artificial intelligence has already replaced 30% of IBM's human resources department. CEO Ginni Rometty told CNBC that a successful company knows how to take care of each employee. "You have to know the individual," she said. "Skills are your renewable asset, and you need to treat them like that."
IBM: More than 100 years of a tech titan:
- Since 1973, five IBM employees have earned a Nobel Prize.
- IBM has built a chess machine that beat a world champion and a trivia-answering machine that bested two Jeopardy! champions.
- Despite an assortment of theories, no one knows how IBM acquired the nickname "Big Blue."