Simon Blanchette

AI Pushes Deloitte to Redefine Roles and Rethink Career Paths

john.sawaya@mcgill.ca — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 20:41:35 +0000

As Deloitte rewrites job titles for more than 180,000 U.S. employees, Simon Blanchette, a lecturer at ��Թ�’s Desautels Faculty of Management, says the shift reflects broader pressures facing Canadian employers as AI transforms workplace responsibilities.

Canadian employers risk 'doing layoffs with extra steps' without AI workforce planning

john.sawaya@mcgill.ca — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 20:37:20 +0000

Simon Blanchette, Faculty Lecturer, says Canadian organizations implementing AI without strategic workforce planning are doing layoffs with extra steps, because they're losing expertise, and they're not really planning for what's going to come after.

Replacing entry-level work can decimate a company’s talent pipeline

john.sawaya@mcgill.ca — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 20:33:53 +0000

In an office environment, AI can perform many of the tasks that have traditionally been done by interns and junior employees. While that might seem like an efficiency gain, companies could lose out in the long run. The introduction of AI creates an inverse-pyramid within companies, according to Simon Blanchette, a management lecturer at ��Թ� Desautels.

Guardrails can help ensure safe, fair and transparent AI

john.sawaya@mcgill.ca — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 20:26:48 +0000

The genie is out of the bottle. AI is here, and isn’t going away. But that doesn’t mean we can’t build guardrails to prevent it going off the tracks, writes Simon Blanchette in The Conversation.

“Guardrails are the systems, norms and checks hat ensure artificial intelligence is used safely, fairly and transparently,” says Blanchette, a lecturer at ��Թ� Desautels. “They allow innovation to flourish while preventing chaos and harm.”

Structure of Canadian economy could provide some insulation against AI job losses

john.sawaya@mcgill.ca — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 20:24:51 +0000

The conversation around AI and automation has taken a sharper turn. A US Senate report released by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in Fall 2025 cautioned that over the coming decade, AI and automation could destroy 100 million jobs in the United States.

But will Canada experience something similar? Maybe not, according to Simon Blanchette, a lecturer at ��Թ� Desautels. “As an economy, Canada and the US are structured very differently,” Blanchette told HR Reporter.