Waters Corporation (WAT)
Lab instruments and service, 7,900 employees. Read October 19, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025, filed February 23, 2026. Ranked 40 of the 104 Healthcare companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
21%
End of 2028
47%
Employees, annual report
7,900
Leading staffing pattern
Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
- Now21%
- End of 202739%
- End of 202847%
- End of 203051%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 49%
- Becomes checking a model's work 40%
- Handed over with lighter checks 7%
An instruments maker whose filing states 7,900 employees with 39% in the U.S. and 1,200 in research, and nothing by business, so instruments lead by revenue with the service business read apart.
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: 21% now, 39% at the end of 2027, 47% at the end of 2028, 51% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 51% desk work, 17% people work and 32% 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 49% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 40% becomes checking a model's work and 7% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
7,900 employees as of December 31, 2025 (stated). Stated: approximately 39% of employees are located in the United States.
The filing: “The Company employed approximately 7,900, 7,600 and 7,900 employees at December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively, with approximately 39% of the Company's employees located in the United States.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing | 70% | By segment revenue (c): instrument systems and chemistry consumables (63% of revenue) are analytical instruments and columns (NAICS 3345), designed and made by a workforce with about 1,200 in research and development, with no count by business, as Agilent's were read. |
| Electronic and Precision Equipment Repair and Maintenance | 30% | By segment revenue (c): Waters Service and TA Service, 37% of revenue, maintain and repair installed instruments, read at precision equipment repair as Agilent's service was, with no count stated. |
What the filing says about the workforce: Approximately 7,900 employees at December 31, 2025 (7,600 a year earlier), about 39% in the United States; about 1,200 in research and development; not unionized.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments 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.
- Medtronic plc (MDT, 95,000 employees)19% now, 43% by 2028
- Emerson Electric Co. (EMR, 71,000 employees)20% now, 48% by 2028
- Danaher Corporation (DHR, 60,000 employees)19% now, 45% by 2028
- GE HealthCare Technologies Inc. (GEHC, 54,000 employees)19% now, 50% by 2028
- L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX, 45,000 employees)18% now, 48% by 2028
- Rockwell Automation, Inc. (ROK, 26,000 employees)21% now, 57% by 2028
- Garmin Ltd. (GRMN, 23,000 employees)19% now, 49% by 2028
- AMETEK, Inc. (AME, 22,500 employees)18% now, 42% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
18 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing says issues and uncertainties in the development, deployment and use of AI in its operations and products may harm its reputation or bring regulatory action or legal liability; it names AI in 18 sentences.
- “These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the Company, including, and without limitation: certain risks related to the BDS Business Acquisition, including, without limitation: ¡ failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the BDS Business Acquisition, including as a result of delay in integrating the businesses o...”
- “Issues and uncertainties related to the development, deployment and use of AI in the Company's business operations and products may result in harm to the Company's reputation, regulatory action or legal liability.”
- “Issues and uncertainties related to the development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence in the Company's business operations and products may result in harm to the Company's reputation, regulatory action or legal liability.”
- “The Company continues to integrate artificial intelligence ("AI"), including generative AI, into its business operations and products and research further uses and opportunities for AI development.”
- “As AI is a rapidly developing technology that is still in the early stages of being researched and understood, the development, deployment and use of AI presents novel risks and challenges that have the potential to adversely impact the Company's business.”
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 202412median 4
- Fiscal 202518median 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 | 7,900 | 2026-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 7,600 | 2025-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 7,900 | 2024-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 8,200 | 2023-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 7,800 | 2022-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | 7,400 | 2021-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-31 | 7,500 | 2020-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-31 | 7,200 | 2019-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-31 | 7,000 | 2018-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 6,900 | 2017-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2015-12-31 | 6,600 | 2016-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2014-12-31 | 6,200 | 2015-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-31 | 6,000 | 2014-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-31 | 5,900 | 2013-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2011-12-31 | 5,700 | 2012-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2010-12-31 | 5,400 | 2011-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2009-12-31 | 5,200 | 2010-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2008-12-31 | 5,000 | 2009-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2007-12-31 | 5,000 | 2008-02-29 | 10-K |
| 2006-12-31 | 4,700 | 2007-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2005-12-31 | 4,500 | 2006-03-06 | 10-K |
| 2004-12-31 | 4,200 | 2005-03-15 | 10-K |
| 2003-12-31 | 3,900 | 2004-03-12 | 10-K |
| 2002-12-31 | 3,600 | 2003-03-21 | 10-K |
| 2001-12-31 | 3,500 | 2002-03-28 | 10-K405 |
| 2000-12-31 | 3,200 | 2001-03-27 | 10-K |
| 1999-12-31 | 3,000 | 2000-03-30 | 10-K405 |
| 1998-12-31 | 2,800 | 1999-03-31 | 10-K |
| 1997-12-31 | 2,640 | 1998-03-31 | 10-K405 |
| 1996-12-31 | 1,865 | 1997-03-31 | 10-K405 |
Limits of this reading
- No count by business: the split between instruments and service is by segment revenue (c); the research count stays inside the instruments pattern.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001193125-26-062604, 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.
The report on Waters Corporation, $29
This page as a document to keep, with what it does not show: the share within reach at every date on three paces and two reliabilities, a typical workforce of this shape at the stated headcount role by role and task by task (the industries' staffing, never the company's roster), where to start, what changes for the people and what they would learn, every sentence in the filing that names AI, the headcount by year, the companies read with the same leading pattern, the method and a citation line. To print or save as a PDF, open again in your browser for a year.
See the report, $29See the sample first: Walmart's report is free
Questions about this company
- How much of Waters Corporation's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 21% now and 47% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Waters 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 Waters Corporation employ?
- 7,900 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states. About 39% in the U.S.
- What kinds of work make up Waters Corporation's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 2 industry staffing patterns, the largest Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing; by those patterns the work is about 51% desk work, 17% people work and 32% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Waters Corporation's annual report say about AI?
- 18 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 0, 12 and 18 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 19, 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.