This is a moment in time when we could really look at the technology that’s getting closer and closer to what humans can do and consider – how we could use AI to support our employee communities to work for us in better ways? What if we used the technology to do the ‘graft’ and free our headspace up to actually work on crafting more creative and strategic work? This is a game-changing technology that will help us be more human again.
The Gartner® report, “Predicts 2024: AI’s Impact on the Employee Experience”, explored how AI will play a role in the future of work. Implications are already being seen in the workforce, and predictions point towards a more digital employee experience.
We’ve identified four key trends, which we believe are covered in the report, that leaders need to consider to elevate their employee experience and retain talent.
1. AI will ‘graft’ so employees can ‘craft’
”By 2028, GenAI will be so tightly woven into personal and team productivity applications that it will scarcely merit comment by employees and will require little, if any, oversight.”1
The everyday use of AI is starting to allow workers to complete arduous and complex tasks more efficiently, freeing up their time to unlock creativity. For example, tools such as ChatGPT and Image Creator, can churn a few directional inputs into useful outputs within seconds, getting employees halfway there in forming strategies and visual ideas, even providing them with stimuli to spark new and different concepts.
Time gained from using AI can be repurposed to work more creatively, such as ideating with divergent and convergent thinking, cross-functional problem-solving sessions, prototyping, and testing MVPs by failing fast and iteratively improving. In summary, AI is a powerful enabler for human creativity and productivity.
2. How we utilise AI is a skills advantage
Employees who are trained and skilled at which AI products to utilise, when and how, will have a competitive advantage compared to those who aren’t trained. For example, it’s our directional inputs that AI takes in and produces outcomes based on – we need to become skilled at organising the information we input, with an awareness of each tool’s strengths and limitations.
In addition, AI are starting to play an active role in capturing meeting outputs. “By year-end 2025, AI agents will attend over 25% of virtual and hybrid meetings, causing a shift in attendance and engagement by humans.”1 Adapting to AI ‘robots’ in meetings is a new skill that employees need to adapt to, including how to speak to the AI, and utilise the outputs and actions it captures.
Employees should be mindful that AI can’t replace human complexity. Although fast and intelligent, AI outputs can’t imitate the experiences people have accumulated through their different walks of life. AI can’t replace fresh ideas, navigate the unknown, and approach people and ideas with human empathy. AI is much more likely to produce standardised outputs that can’t imitate human uniqueness. We must harness employee exploration to develop as problem solvers, while embracing the efficiency that AI unlocks.
3. AI watch outs
”By 2026, 50% of governments worldwide will enforce use of Responsible AI through regulations, policies and the need for data privacy.”1
We need to be very careful about this. Using AI in the workplace is a new but rapidly growing notion, but with that comes a need for contingency measures and regulation guardrails. There will be new challenges and risks – employers need to pre-empt these to create policies and regulations for.
AI is also not always accurate. The tools are still learning and need to be taught. For example, in the legal AI tech market, AI must be taught which clauses to detect in a contract based on different titles and wordings. Without this training period, the tools can’t be used. Examples of AI dangers include inputting confidential information, using AI information without fact-checking, not knowing where the source of information inputted is stored, trusting the AI, and not providing due diligence oversight.
4. AI roll-out should take an interdisciplinary approach
AI tools unlock employee potential, and there should be a coordinated effort across IT, HR, legal and business teams on the AI tools that should be holistically utilised and deployed.
When AI is implemented in silos, misalignment with business goals means AI initiatives don’t align with the organisation’s strategy due to lack of prioritisation. In the long term, this fragmented approach can create technical debt, where the independently deployed AI systems don’t integrate, becoming costly and complex. This can lead to duplicated efforts and security vulnerabilities as decentralised deployments are more complex to govern.
AI products should be selected and deployed deliberately, factoring in cross-functional value. As Gartner recommends, “Take an interdisciplinary approach to gaining value from AI, coordinating efforts with IT, HR, legal and business-facing leaders. However, where technology moves faster than collaboration, be willing to act autonomously to create the controls required to implement AI at pace and maximize value.”1
Organisations must slow down, be intentional about their vision, and select the right AI tools to help them advance on their goals overall, with longevity in mind, instead of independent quick fixes.
1Source: Gartner, Predicts 2024: AI’s Impact on the Employee Experience, Matt Cain, Stephen White, Nicole Greene, Christopher Trueman, Anushree Verma, Suzanne Schwartz.
Disclaimers and attribution
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
If you want to stay on top of the future of work and the best ways to deliver incredible employee experiences, sign up to our newsletter.
