Large Corporations Call Them “Low-Value” Talent. Are They Really Low-Value?

Bill Winters, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, announced a plan to cut approximately 8,000 jobs, referring to the affected employees as “low-value talent.” Meta has laid off thousands, redirecting the saved costs into AI infrastructure. Cloudflare’s CEO Matthew Prince openly stated, “With AI, we no longer need the same number of employees.”

The logic of large corporations is simple: there is no reason to continue paying salaries for tasks that can be automated with AI. Therefore, they cut jobs.

But here’s a question:

Is the “low-value” talent for large corporations also considered “low-value” for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)?

The answer is no. In fact, it’s the opposite. The talent released by large corporations represents skills that local SMEs have previously found “out of reach.” And now, the market price for that talent has dramatically decreased.

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What’s Happening—A Look at the “Collapse of Talent Prices” in Numbers

Let’s summarize:

• Standard Chartered: Approximately 8,000 job cuts, primarily affecting back-office roles, data entry, and routine analytical tasks.
• Meta: Layoffs in the thousands, mainly targeting low performers, but also including project managers and data analysts.
• Cloudflare: The CEO explicitly stated, “We are reassessing our hiring plans due to increased productivity from AI.”

What these companies are letting go of are not “useless people” but rather “people whose cost-performance has become unviable compared to AI.”

Talent that previously earned between 8 million and 15 million yen annually at large corporations is suddenly entering the market—all at once. With the supply-demand balance disrupted, it’s natural that prices will fall.

Looking at the freelance market, changes have already begun. For instance, the monthly rate for freelancers specializing in data analysis and BI tool development was generally between 800,000 and 1,200,000 yen in 2023. However, by 2025, projects in the 500,000 to 700,000 yen range are becoming more common, as former employees of large corporations flood the market.

Moreover, for contract work or spot contracts, it has become realistic to engage someone for 100,000 to 200,000 yen a month for 1 to 2 days of work.

What used to cost 3 million yen annually for external consulting for business improvement can now be managed with a 50,000 yen AI tool plus a 150,000 yen contract, bringing the total down from 2.4 million yen to under 600,000 yen annually.

This is not a theoretical figure; it is already structurally feasible.

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Why SMEs Can “Pick Up” Talent—The Asymmetry Between Large Corporations and SMEs

This is the crux of the matter.

The reason large corporations cut jobs is that “they can be replaced by AI.” However, this premise is based on the condition that “the operations of large corporations are highly standardized and divided.”

In large corporations, the scope of work for a single employee is narrow. They may only handle data entry, report generation, or specific dashboard management. This makes them easy to replace with AI.

SMEs are different. One person handles sales, creates invoices, and manages customer relations. Because operations are not standardized, they cannot be replaced solely by AI. What is needed is a person who can “master the use of AI.”

Here lies the reversal structure.

Those who have been “replaced by AI” in large corporations know how to use AI tools. They know how to organize data. They can design workflows. Skills that are deemed unnecessary in large corporations because “AI exists” become essential skills in SMEs for “leveraging AI.”

The same talent is considered a “cost” in large corporations and a “weapon” in SMEs.

This asymmetry is the structural change that deserves the most attention right now.

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What Specifically Should Be Done—3 Steps to Start with 50,000 Yen

Let’s move beyond abstract discussions. Here are three actionable steps that local SMEs can take starting tomorrow.

Step 1: Implement One AI Tool for Under 50,000 Yen

First, choose one of your company’s “repetitive tasks” and implement an AI tool.

• Automating Customer Support: Use the ChatGPT API (around 20,000 yen per month) to automate FAQ responses. About 60% of inquiries can be answered with standard responses.
• Data Aggregation and Report Generation: Use Microsoft Copilot (4,500 yen per person per month) to semi-automate Excel aggregation tasks.
• Automatic Generation of Meeting Minutes and Daily Reports: Use voice recognition AI (a few thousand yen per month) to reduce meeting minutes preparation from 10 minutes to 1 minute.

With 50,000 yen a month, you can definitely implement one of the above options. The key is to start with “only one task” rather than a full company-wide implementation.

Step 2: Hire Freelancers from Large Corporations for “4 Hours a Week”

Use crowdsourcing or freelance matching services to find former back-office professionals from large corporations.

Target candidates might include:

• Former operations staff from banks or financial institutions → Capable of designing workflows.
• Former project managers from IT companies → Able to organize tool implementation.
• Former data analysts from manufacturers → Capable of identifying issues from numbers.

For a 4-hour per week, 16-hour monthly contract, the market rate is around 100,000 to 150,000 yen. Talent that would have commanded 250,000 to 300,000 yen a month until 2024 is now available at this price range.

The important thing is to utilize them on a “spot basis” rather than a “full-time hire.” What SMEs need is not a resident expert but an “external brain” that can organize operations a few times a month, adjust AI tool settings, and provide direction for improvements.

Step 3: Eliminate One Dependency

Combine AI tools and external talent to eliminate just one task that relies heavily on a specific person.

For example:

In a local manufacturing company (30 employees), the creation of estimates relied solely on one veteran employee. When that employee was absent, estimates would be delayed by three days, resulting in an estimated monthly loss of 500,000 yen in sales opportunities.

They brought in a freelancer from a major SIer for 120,000 yen a month to organize the estimation logic in a spreadsheet. They also created a system using the ChatGPT API to automatically generate rough estimates from past data.

As a result, the time taken to create an estimate was reduced from 45 minutes to 8 minutes per item. Even in the absence of the veteran employee, other staff members could now handle the task. The initial implementation cost was 250,000 yen in the first month (50,000 yen for tools + 200,000 yen for labor), and from the second month onward, only the 50,000 yen tool cost remained.

The monthly opportunity loss of 500,000 yen has been eliminated, and it now operates at a running cost of 50,000 yen. This is the power of “systematization.”

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The Divergence Between Companies That Cut Jobs with AI and Those That Leverage AI for Talent

Having read this far, some may wonder, “In the end, won’t AI make people unnecessary?”

No.

Large corporations cut jobs with AI because their operations are too fragmented, resulting in a large number of “people who can only do that specific task.” AI excels at “replacing narrow tasks,” so those who only possess narrow skills are replaced.

SMEs are the opposite. One person performs multiple roles. AI has not yet been able to replace someone who can handle multiple roles. However, it can double or triple the productivity of those who can.

Large corporations “reduce people” with AI. SMEs “empower people” with AI.

This difference will define the competitive edge over the next five years.

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Reasons to Act Now—This Window Won’t Last Long

Finally, a word of caution.

The situation of “excellent talent from large corporations being available at low cost” will not last.

There are two reasons:

1. Talent Will Adapt: Laid-off talent will find new positions within six months to a year. If they establish their brand as freelancers, their rates will rise again.
2. Demand from SMEs Will Catch Up: As more SMEs realize this structure, competition for talent will increase. It’s a race against time.

Right now is the moment when large corporations have just begun their AI-related layoffs. The market is flooded with talent, and prices are dropping in this “buyer’s market.”

This window will likely peak between late 2025 and early 2026. After that, excellent talent will once again become a rare commodity.

With a 50,000 yen AI tool and a 150,000 yen external talent, the total comes to 200,000 yen a month. That’s 2.4 million yen a year.

With this, SMEs can obtain “systems for business improvement” and “corporate-level insights” that they could not access even with an annual budget of 5 million yen.

Now is the time for SMEs to act while large corporations are cutting jobs with AI.

The question is simple. Is your company going to be on the side that “picks up” this wave or on the side that “misses out”?