Do you worry that AI will take over your role?

There has been much in the public arena about AI (artificial intelligence) and how it will transform the workplace over the coming decades.  Yet senior leaders, whilst recognising the benefits of increased productivity and quality results, have been slow to consider what methods they will use to measure its impact and what impact AI might have on employees who are fearful that their roles may become obsolete.

Employees are already using on-line tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Co-pilot to generate policies and reports while at the same time senior leaders are rushing to define their philosophy and what policies they should have in place around AI use recognising that it could well bring benefits of increased productivity and greater job satisfaction to some employees.

A recent article in the CIPD People Management magazine suggested that 40% of employees fear that AI technology will eliminate their roles giving them no future direction.  However, according to a recent Freshwater (software company) report, it seems that 55% of employees surveyed say that they are currently using software enhanced with AI, 72% say that they trust AI to bring value to their work and 81% trust AI even more because they believe the quality of work it brings in making the team look good. [1]  So instead of automating away jobs, AI is showing how it is boosting job performance for knowledge workers in every major function of business.

There is an important role that management and HR professionals could and should be playing as they consider the introduction and implementation of AI tools and systems.  It’s the role that they should play with any good change management, but more so with AI because it is still an unknown quantity.

Present the rationale and benefits of the AI changes:  What is your organisation’s stance on AI?  Are you embracing it, and have you identified areas of your business that would benefit from AI?  How are you planning to measure the effect and benefits?

 Acknowledge employees’ fears:  Being honest about the planned changes whether these will be incremental or a swift implementation of software and ways of working.  Making sure that senior leaders share the specific changes they plan publicly.  Provide space for employees to air their concerns with their line managers or through other channels.

Create an employee advisory group:  Employees should be part of the change and not be made to feel that the change is being forced upon them.   These influential representatives will be vital in helping to identify any ‘pockets of employees’ who are struggling with AI changes and will also be able to identify training needed for these groups, which senior leaders can then champion.

Please contact Hafton for a free consultation about supporting management’s approach to introducing AI in the workplace at info@haftonconsultancy.com  giving your name, business and contact number.

[1] Freshwater Global AI Workplace Report May 2024.   This was a global survey of 7,000 full-time employees.