Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB)
Paper and personal care products, 36,000 employees. Read October 2, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025, filed February 12, 2026. Ranked 19 of the 21 Consumer Defensive companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
14%
End of 2028
23%
Employees, annual report
36,000
Leading staffing pattern
Converted Paper Product Manufacturing
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
- Now14%
- End of 202721%
- End of 202823%
- End of 203023%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 76%
- Becomes checking a model's work 18%
- Handed over with lighter checks 5%
The filing states one total, the North American share and the manufacturing share, nothing by segment, so the whole workforce takes the converted paper pattern by description (c).
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 14% now, 21% at the end of 2027, 23% at the end of 2028, 23% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 23% desk work, 9% people work and 67% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 76% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 18% becomes checking a model's work and 5% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
36,000 employees as of December 31, 2025 (stated). About 35% in North America and the rest in about 55 countries; no U.S. count.
The filing: “As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately 36,000 employees in our consolidated operations, including employees of our IFP Business reported as discontinued operations.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Converted Paper Product Manufacturing | 100% | A maker of diapers, tissue, adult and feminine care and professional paper products (Diapers 41% of revenue, Consumer tissue 25%, Adult care 12%, Professional 11%, Feminine care 10%); the filing states no count by segment, so one pattern by description (c). |
What the filing says about the workforce: About 36,000 employees in consolidated operations including the IFP Business; about 35% in North America and the rest in about 55 countries; about 50% directly in manufacturing and distribution operations.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Converted Paper Product Manufacturing, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Smurfit Westrock plc (SW, 97,000 employees)14% now, 24% by 2028
- International Paper Company (IP, 62,602 employees)14% now, 24% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
3 sentences in the filing name AI. Three sentences: AI adoption intensifying cybersecurity risks, AI and machine learning among innovations that may become critical to understanding consumers, and AI developments in intellectual property.
- “Furthermore, the rapid evolution and increased adoption of artificial intelligence technologies may intensify our cybersecurity risks.”
- “Our ability to develop new products is affected by whether we can successfully anticipate consumer needs and preferences, develop and fund technological innovations (including advancements such as artificial intelligence, machine learnings and augmented reality, which may become critical in understanding consumer preferences in the future), and receive and maintain necessary patent and trademar...”
- “Also, if we fail to perfect or successfully assert our intellectual property rights (including in response to developments in artificial intelligence technologies), we may be less competitive, which could adversely affect our business, financial results and financial condition.”
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20210median 0
- Fiscal 20220median 0
- Fiscal 20230median 1
- Fiscal 20243median 4
- Fiscal 20253median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 36,000 | 2026-02-12 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 38,000 | 2025-02-13 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 41,000 | 2024-02-08 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 44,000 | 2023-02-09 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 45,000 | 2022-02-10 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | 46,000 | 2021-02-11 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-31 | 40,000 | 2020-02-13 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-31 | 41,000 | 2019-02-07 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-31 | 42,000 | 2018-02-08 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 42,000 | 2017-02-08 | 10-K |
| 2015-12-31 | 43,000 | 2016-02-11 | 10-K |
| 2014-12-31 | 43,000 | 2015-02-18 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-31 | 57,000 | 2014-02-14 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-31 | 58,000 | 2013-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2011-12-31 | 57,000 | 2012-02-29 | 10-K |
| 2010-12-31 | 57,000 | 2011-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2009-12-31 | 56,000 | 2010-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2008-12-31 | 53,000 | 2009-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2007-12-31 | 53,000 | 2008-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2006-12-31 | 55,000 | 2007-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2005-12-31 | 57,000 | 2006-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2004-12-31 | 60,000 | 2005-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2003-12-31 | 62,000 | 2004-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2002-12-31 | 63,900 | 2003-03-14 | 10-K |
| 2001-12-31 | 64,200 | 2002-03-18 | 10-K |
| 2000-12-31 | 66,300 | 2001-03-23 | 10-K |
| 1999-12-31 | 54,800 | 2000-03-24 | 10-K |
| 1998-12-31 | 54,700 | 1999-03-26 | 10-K |
| 1997-12-31 | 57,000 | 1998-03-26 | 10-K |
| 1996-12-31 | 54,800 | 1997-03-21 | 10-K |
| 1995-12-31 | 55,341 | 1996-03-26 | 10-K |
| 1994-12-31 | 42,707 | 1995-03-24 | 10-K |
| 1993-12-31 | 42,131 | 1994-03-24 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The count includes the employees of the IFP Business reported as discontinued operations, as the filing states it.
- No U.S. count: 35% in North America; about 50% in manufacturing and distribution, a counted function recorded in the notes.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001628280-26-007567, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Questions about this company
- How much of Kimberly-Clark Corporation's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 14% now and 23% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Kimberly-Clark Corporation's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Kimberly-Clark Corporation employ?
- 36,000 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states.
- What kinds of work make up Kimberly-Clark Corporation's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 1 industry staffing pattern, the largest Converted Paper Product Manufacturing; by those patterns the work is about 23% desk work, 9% people work and 67% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Kimberly-Clark Corporation's annual report say about AI?
- 3 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 0, 3 and 3 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 2, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.