Standard Chartered CEO walks back comment about 'lower-value human capital'

etgpao

Calling employees 'lower-value human capital' reveals a lot about a company's internal culture, regardless of the PR walkback. Even if AI can automate certain tasks, language like this completely destroys team morale and trust. Good leaders should view automation as a tool to empower their team, not just a weapon to cut costs.

stalfosknight

That phrase "lower-value human capital" fills me with rage.

madnewgrad26

That’s how all executives feel. Workers are beneath them, just chattel.

josefritzishere

I think he just proved that it's the C-suite who are lower-value human capital.

spiderxxxx

Imagine someone telling you that their cousin who convinced someone to off themselves and may hallucinate occasionally that they should be the person dealing with your customers. You'd flat out tell them to go f themselves. But if their 'cousin' was an AI you wouldn't bat an eye.

jeffrallen

Christ, what an asshole.

erulabs

Obviously a stupid thing for a leader to say about his own employees but I think getting emotionally upset about this statement is also pretty silly. Having employees represents deployed capital. Some of that "human capital" is lower value than others. Obviously AI will replace the lowest segments first. Call it heartless or accurate, you're correct either way, but these are not words that cut deep into the heart of heads of banks - its more or less their entire job to be heartless and accurate. I've worked for companies who have kind, sensitive, and inaccurate leadership. The result was everyone was out of a job, rather than just the low performers. Pick your poison.

shem73

“If someone calls you a resource, call them overhead”

rglover

Humans are humans. Not "capital." Not "resources." They're f*cking people . Business is business and you have to be mindful of costs. But good lord, is it that hard to understand that treating your employees with basic decency is positive for your company?

LogicFailsMe

Spoilers: walking back such comments is not actually a thing. You said it, own it, run with it, or GTFO. Tired of all this beta crap. But the only thing more beta is actually believing he misspoke. Oh the bootlickers are bootlicking today (not that there is ever a day when they're not). Look around you, SF bootlickers. That voice in your head telling you everyone but you is worth $20M or more and there's nothing you can do about it is right. They are. You're the loser beta. They're all enjoying life while you suffer. Downvotes, but you're still poor. Sad.

0gs

i still can't believe "labor capture" has not caught on as a resistance slogan yet.

iugtmkbdfil834

I am not always certain if the people who are ostensibly in charge recognize how much anger exists in the society already ( though I can only offer anecodotes ). There absolutely is zero need to antagonize them further in such a manner. Add to this other stressors, throw in midterms and you have a recipe for a disaster.

mschuster91

Yeah, fuck that guy. There used to be a time when such statements would warrant a visit from an angry mob with pitchforks, it's time for actions to have consequences again. Simply because if this kind of pressure is not relieved, eventually there will be a repeat of the infamous plumber's brother incident.

chanux

When I read it first, I appreciated the honesty, though probably unintended. The facade of fake niceness is tiring. This personally feels much better.