What if the biggest barrier to AI transformation isn’t technology at all, but the fact that most organizations don’t actually understand how work gets done?

In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Vijay Swaminathan, co-founder and CEO of Draup, to explore what really breaks when AI meets industrial-age assumptions about jobs, roles, and headcount.

The conversation begins with a fundamental shift in strategic workforce planning. Once a headcount exercise buried inside HR, it is now being pulled into the center of enterprise strategy as organizations try to allocate work between humans, machines, contractors, and AI agents. Vijay explains why traditional job descriptions no longer reflect reality, how large portions of work remain hidden inside workflows and processes, and why this invisible layer holds the greatest opportunity for AI-driven productivity.

Together, Nirit and Vijay unpack how roles are fragmenting into builders, orchestrators, and synthesizers, why labor arbitrage is losing its power, and how leaders often underestimate the complexity of the human work that remains after automation. They also explore why metrics of power, control, and success built around headcount and org charts are starting to collapse, and what replaces them.

This episode is a deep dive into the uncomfortable truth behind AI transformation: before organizations can redesign jobs, they must first see the work itself. And that shift, from org charts to workflows, may be the hardest change of all.

If you’re trying to make sense of AI, skills volatility, and the future of workforce planning, this conversation offers a clear lens into what’s already changing beneath the surface.

https://youtu.be/zkSdBx8L8zM

Guest Information:

Vijay Swaminathan is the Co-Founder & CEO of Draup, an AI copilot that helps global enterprises make strategic talent decisions. A recognized thought leader in the talent space, Vijay brings deep expertise in product ideation, concept-to-product transitions, and platform enablement. His career is marked by a strong command of data analytics, operations research, and strategic management. Vijay has designed numerous quantitative models and heuristics focused on global talent dynamics, cutting-edge business analytics, and strategic business maneuvers. He is also the co-founder of Zinnov, a leading research & advisory firm, and TalentNeuron, which was acquired by CEB, a Gartner company (NYSE: IT). Previously, Vijay held senior positions at Hewitt Associates and KPMG Consulting.

Links:
https://draup.com/talent/ceo-newsletter/mastering-ai-readiness-for-hr-leaders

https://draup.com/talent/ceo-newsletter/the-hidden-work-in-hr-building-on-mits-project-iceberg 

https://draup.com/talent/ceo-newsletter/tech-talent-strategies-of-2025-draups-annual-report

https://draup.com/talent/ceo-newsletter/the-new-frontier-of-strategic-workforce-planning

Chapters:

00:00 – How AI Is Changing Strategic Workforce Planning
01:25 – What Does Strategic Workforce Planning Mean in the Age of AI?
05:35 – Why Job Descriptions No Longer Reflect Real Work
07:48 – How AI Exposes Hidden Work Inside Organizations
09:25 – Can AI Read Process Maps and Redesign Workflows?
11:02 – Why Companies Struggle to Document Real Tasks
12:58 – Builders vs Orchestrators: Who Actually Uses AI in Enterprises?
15:38 – Where Leaders Oversimplify AI Workforce Transformation
17:25 – Why Human Verification Gets More Complex With AI
20:09 – What Happens to Work in an AI-Driven Organization?
22:36 – Why AI Forces Companies Beyond the Org Chart
24:23 – Rethinking Headcount Models in the Age of AI
26:21 – Should Workforce Planning Focus on Workflows Instead of Jobs?