Introduction
In the rapidly evolving world of work, the experience of employees is becoming a paramount concern for organizations worldwide. The employee experience, as defined by WeWork, is all about how it feels to work at a company: from the day someone finds out about the organization to the day they leave it behind and every major milestone in between. It includes the big-picture stuff, like career progression and whether an employee feels aligned with the company’s vision, as well as more specific aspects of working for a company, such as job perks, their relationship with managers and their access to technology and workspaces that meet their needs.
The importance of a positive employee experience cannot be overstated. Teams that value their relationship with the company and who feel positively about their interactions with their managers, colleagues and the physical workplace itself are more engaged, more productive and happier. Organizations that take the lead in cultivating a better employee experience will find it easier to recruit the best talent and be better able to inspire and motivate the talent they already have. A positive employee experience can boost employee retention, unlock productivity and create new advocates for the business.
As we move further into the era of digital transformation, a new player is emerging on the scene that has the potential to revolutionize the employee experience: Generative AI. This technology, which uses machine learning algorithms to generate new data similar to the data it was trained on, holds immense potential for enhancing the employee experience in ways we are only beginning to understand.
In this article, we will explore the top five strategies for leveraging Generative AI to enhance the employee experience. We will see real-life examples of companies that have successfully implemented these strategies and discuss the future potential of this exciting technology. So, let’s embark on this journey of discovery together and explore how we can make the workplace a more engaging, productive and fulfilling place with the help of Generative AI.
Understanding Generative AI
Generative AI, a subset of artificial intelligence, is a game-changer in the realm of technology and creativity. It’s a type of AI that uses machine learning algorithms to generate new data similar to the data it was trained on. This technology has the potential to create anything from a piece of music to a work of art, or even a scientific hypothesis, based on patterns it identifies in the data it has been fed.
The power of Generative AI lies in its ability to learn and create. For instance, if you feed it a dataset of classical music, it can generate a brand new piece of music that sounds like it was composed by Beethoven himself. Similarly, if you train it on a dataset of paintings, it can create a new painting in the style of Van Gogh or Picasso. This is not just copying or mimicking; it’s creating something entirely new based on learned patterns and structures.
Generative AI is already making waves in the creative industries. According to a Harvard Business Review article, generative AI applications such as ChatGPT and Midjourney are disrupting content creation in significant ways. They present three scenarios for this disruption:
- People use AI to augment their work, leading to greater productivity.
- Generative AI creates a flood of cheap content that drives out human creatives.
- Human-made creative work demands a premium.
The “creator economy,” currently valued at around $14 billion per year, is being reshaped by generative AI. Internet platforms such as Substack, Flipboard and Steemit enable individuals not only to create content, but also become independent producers and brand managers of their work. While many kinds of work were being disrupted by new technologies, these platforms offered people new ways to make a living through human creativity.
Generative AI is not just about creativity; it’s also about problem-solving. It can be used to generate hypotheses for scientific research, create new architectural designs, or even come up with new recipes. The possibilities are endless.
But what does this mean for the workplace? How can we enhance Employee Experience with Generative AI? Let’s explore this in the next section.
The Importance of Employee Experience
The employee experience is a critical factor in the success of any organization. It’s not just about making employees happy or content; it’s about engaging them in ways that lead to improved business outcomes. According to a Gallup report, organizations have more success with engagement and improve business performance when they treat employees as stakeholders of their own future and the company’s future. This means focusing on concrete performance management activities, such as clarifying work expectations, getting people what they need to do their work, providing development and promoting positive coworker relationships.
The report also reveals that the majority of the U.S. workforce (65%) is not engaged. These employees are indifferent and neither like nor dislike their job. They represent a risk and that risk can tilt either way — good or bad. Many employees who are not engaged want a reason to be inspired. They are the “show me” group that needs an extra push to perform at their best.
Approaching engagement as a business strategy yields clear and better results. Business or work units that score in the top quartile of their organization in employee engagement more than double their odds of success (based on a composite of financial, customer, retention, safety, quality, shrinkage and absenteeism metrics) when compared with those in the bottom quartile. Those at the 99th percentile have nearly five times the success rate of those at the first percentile.
Engaged employees make it a point to show up to work and do more work — highly engaged business units realize an 81% difference in absenteeism and a 14% difference in productivity. Engaged workers also are more likely to stay with their employers. In high-turnover organizations, highly engaged business units achieve an 18% difference in turnover. In low-turnover organizations, the gains are even more dramatic: Highly engaged business units achieve a 43% difference in turnover.
Engaged employees are more present and productive; they are more attuned to the needs of customers; and they are more observant of processes, standards and systems. When taken together, the behaviors of highly engaged business units result in a 23% difference in profitability.
Creating a culture of engagement requires more than completing an annual employee survey and then leaving managers on their own, hoping they will learn something from the survey results that will change the way they manage. It requires an organization to take a close look at how critical engagement elements align with their performance development and human capital strategies.
In the next section, we will explore how to enhance Employee Experience with Generative AI, a crucial aspect of the workplace.
Top 5 Strategies to Enhance Employee Experience with Generative AI
As we move forward into an era where AI is becoming an integral part of our work environment, it’s essential to understand how it can be leveraged to enhance the employee experience with Generative AI. Here are the top five strategies:
- Overcome The Global Shortage Of Talent With Baby Boomers exiting the workforce and inadequately prepared Millennials entering the job market, enterprises are facing a skill shortage. An AI-enabled resource management solution helps hiring and resource managers easily track the skills of their employees to counteract the effects of talent shortages and provide employees with opportunities for training and the chance to take on new responsibilities.
- Mitigate Employee Burnout As remote work continues, employees are facing burnout and disengagement due to increased workload and distractions. With AI-enabled project management software, managers can easily predict burnout based on factors such as time spent on projects and resource utilization rate. When managers can track allocated work time versus actual resource utilization in real time, they’re better prepared to strategically mobilize benched or underutilized resources and reduce the workload on overworked resources.
- Improve Employee Time-Tracking An AI-enabled time tracking system opens a transformative approach to improve employee experience and efficiency. AI and machine learning (ML) can be used to automatically harvest time data from users and systems, assemble a near-perfect timesheet and reduce employee interaction to just a few seconds of review, instead of the typical drudgery. This revolutionizes time tracking as we know it today and presents a paradigm shift in the business world’s most essential task.
- Use Self-Driving AI To Make Better Decisions AI-powered self-driving technology is vital for creating an environment tailored to specific employees to optimize their productivity and keep them happy in their positions. Self-driving software automatically harvests data, looks for any exceptions, brings those to the forefront and presents recommendations for business leaders to make proactive decisions.
- Fuel The Employee Experience With AI Self-driving technology powered by AI has great potential to improve the employee experience by automating routine tasks, eliminating human errors, delivering advanced business analytics and helping create a better work-life balance. As an integral part of all digital transformation programs, AI is poised to become the game-changer for creating a work environment that will drive better employee satisfaction.
These strategies are not just theoretical; they are already being implemented in real-world settings. For instance, Microsoft is leveraging Generative AI to revolutionize the employee experience. In a video discussion, Rajamma Krishnamurthy, Principal Software Engineer and Microsoft Digital AI leader, discusses the potential of generative AI to improve various experiences and the ethical considerations for IT leaders before they inject AI into their solutions.
In the following sections, we will discuss each of these strategies, providing real-life examples of companies that have successfully implemented them and discussing the future potential of this exciting technology.
Strategy 1: Overcoming the Global Shortage of Talent with Generative AI
The global shortage of talent is a pressing issue for many enterprises. As Baby Boomers exit the workforce and Millennials, who may not be adequately prepared, enter the job market, companies are grappling with a significant skills gap. Generative AI can play a pivotal role in addressing this challenge.
AI-enabled resource management solutions can help hiring and resource managers track the skills of their employees effectively. This not only helps counteract the effects of talent shortages but also provides employees with opportunities for training and the chance to take on new responsibilities. For instance, AI pre-screening of candidates before inviting the most suitable in for interviews is an increasingly common practice at large companies which make thousands of hires each year and sometimes attract millions of applicants.
Companies like Pymetrics provide tools which use a series of “games” based on principles of neuroscience to assess candidates before they are asked in for an interview. It works by assessing cognitive and emotional features of the candidate, while specifically avoiding demographic biases based on their gender, socioeconomic status, or race. This is done by matching candidates’ performance against that of existing employees who have succeeded in the roles that are being recruited for. If it finds that they may not be a particularly good fit for that role, it might recognize another role they would be suitable for and recommend they instead apply for that one.
Another company providing these services is Montage, which claims that 100 of the Fortune 500 companies have used their AI-driven interviewing tool. It enables businesses to carry out on-demand text interviewing, automated scheduling and reduce the impact of unconscious biases on the recruitment process.
Strategy 2: Mitigating Employee Burnout with Generative AI
Employee burnout has been a hot topic over the last few years. With the advent of remote work and the increased workload and distractions that come with it, employees are facing burnout and disengagement at an alarming rate. Generative AI can play a crucial role in mitigating this issue.
According to a recent survey, 58% of workers believe that artificial intelligence can help alleviate burnout and improve job satisfaction. The report, based on a survey of 6,400 workers from around the world, explains that almost a third of employees are feeling the strain and burnout that results from layoffs and hiring freezes. These have come as a result of a grim economic landscape, thanks, in part, to inflation.
As the use of generative AI becomes widespread through tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Bing Chat and Google Bard, interest in automating tasks through technology grows. The report, created by UiPath, says workers from Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X together comprise the “automation generation,” which is particularly receptive to the potential of automation and improving job performance through the use of AI tools.
Generative AI tools, like AI chatbots and art generators, can help support employees and modernize operations. The surveyed workers that support the implementation of AI in the workplace believe these tools would provide more flexibility in their work environment, more time to focus on critical tasks and more opportunities to learn new skills.
Employees understand the task at hand; in the U.S. alone, 50% of the respondents believe that increased productivity could help them keep their jobs. Because of this, 44% of the workers want to contribute to the creation and adoption of AI tools in the workplace.
Strategy 3: Improving Employee Time-Tracking with Generative AI
Time tracking is an essential aspect of any business. It helps in understanding how much time is spent on various tasks, which in turn aids in productivity analysis, project management and resource allocation. Generative AI can significantly improve this aspect of the workplace.
AI technology has become incredibly helpful for companies trying to boost productivity. There are many invaluable applications that use AI to bolster efficiency, lower costs and help companies improve the quality of their products and services. One of the biggest benefits of AI in the workplace is that it can help improve time management. Employees using these tools can help improve organization efficiency considerably.
AI can help in tracking and optimizing team performance. Tim Stone of IBM has mentioned that AI technology is the future of time management within organizations. He points out that a growing number of companies are using AI to assess how much time teams and individual employees spend on any given task. They can use this data to cut out certain tasks that waste a lot of time.
AI technology is also essential for automating certain functions. There are many different types of tasks that can be automated. For example, certain marketing processes can be automated with Salesforce technology, which relies heavily on AI. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator have also evolved over the years due to AI, which helps users automate many repetitive tasks through the use of actions and scripts.
A time-tracking app can significantly improve your work and show you where you’re losing time. When it comes to important projects, you can’t afford to lose time on useless things and every minute counts, so installing one of these is highly valuable. A great project management time-tracking software will always notify you about what’s coming next, what you need to do to get the project tasks on time and whether you may be missing an appointment or a meeting with clients.
Strategy 4: Improving Employee Wellness with Generative AI
Employee wellness is a critical aspect of the workplace that directly impacts productivity, engagement and overall job satisfaction. Generative AI can play a significant role in enhancing employee wellness, especially in the current scenario where remote work and increased workload are leading to employee burnout and disengagement.
AI-powered technology can help business leaders make data-driven decisions without having to worry about collecting and analyzing accurate and up-to-date data manually. Just like how a self-driving car automatically perceives its surroundings to drive forward safely, self-driving software automatically harvests data, looks for any exceptions, brings those to the forefront and presents recommendations for business leaders to make proactive decisions.
In professional services firms and project-based businesses, this could mean an automation solution can do all the heavy lifting, analyze real-time data and deliver live recommendations on the best possible choices — everything with minimum human intervention.
Self-driving technology has great potential to improve the Employee Experience with Generative AI by automating routine tasks, eliminating human errors, delivering advanced business analytics and helping create a better work-life balance. As an integral part of all digital transformation programs, AI is poised to become the game-changer for creating a work environment that will drive better employee satisfaction.
AI can also help in managing a diverse employee base working across regions, business functions and contract types. AI-powered self-driving technology is vital for creating an environment tailored to specific employees to optimize their productivity and keep them happy in their positions.
Strategy 5: Fostering Innovation and Creativity with Generative AI
Innovation and creativity are the lifeblood of any successful organization. They are the driving forces behind new ideas, improved products and services and overall business growth. Generative AI can play a significant role in fostering innovation and creativity in the workplace.
AI-powered technology can help business leaders make data-driven decisions without having to worry about collecting and analyzing accurate and up-to-date data manually. Just like how a self-driving car automatically perceives its surroundings to drive forward safely, self-driving software automatically harvests data, looks for any exceptions, brings those to the forefront and presents recommendations for business leaders to make proactive decisions.
In professional services firms and project-based businesses, this could mean an automation solution can do all the heavy lifting, analyze real-time data and deliver live recommendations on the best possible choices — everything with minimum human intervention.
Self-driving technology powered by AI has great potential to improve the employee experience by automating routine tasks, eliminating human errors, delivering advanced business analytics and helping create a better work-life balance. As an integral part of all digital transformation programs, AI is poised to become the game-changer for creating a work environment that will drive better employee satisfaction.
Although enterprise-wide AI adoption across all functions will happen gradually, using advanced timesheet software is a good place to start and get a quick-hit win on improving employee experiences that drive engagement and productivity.
The Future of Employee Experience and Generative AI
The future of HR is both digital and human as HR leaders focus on optimizing the combination of human and automated work. This is driving a new priority for HR: one which requires leaders and teams to develop a fluency in artificial intelligence while they re-imagine HR to be more personal, human and intuitive.
As we enter the new era, it’s the combination of AI and human intelligence that will transform work and workers as we know it. For many companies, the first pilots of artificial intelligence are in talent acquisition, as this is the area where companies see significant, measurable and immediate results in reducing time to hire, increasing productivity for recruiters and delivering an enhanced candidate experience that is seamless, simple and intuitive.
One company that has delivered on this is DBS Bank. The DBS Talent Acquisition team created JIM (Jobs Intelligence Maestro), a virtual recruitment bot powered by artificial intelligence used to conduct candidate screening for those applying to be wealth planning managers, a high volume job in the consumer bank.
Following the introduction of JIM in May 2018, DBS talent acquisition was able to:
1) shorten the screening time from 32 minutes per candidate to 8 minutes per candidate
2) improve completion rate of job application from 85% to 97% and
3) respond to 96% of all candidate queries through JIM, allowing recruiters to spend more time sharing the culture and values of DBS with candidates.
The demand for uniquely human skills will grow, according to the Future of Jobs Report from the World Economic Forum. The World Economic Forum projects that 75 million current jobs will be displaced as artificial intelligence takes over more routine aspects of work. However, 133 million new jobs will be created and skills in both emotional intelligence and technical intelligence, like technology design and programming, will be important.
Gartner estimates that artificial intelligence will create more jobs than it eliminates. The focus for the future will be on deciding how to use AI to help workers do their jobs better. PwC forecasts 20% of executives at U.S. companies with artificial intelligence initiatives report that they will roll out AI across their business this year and expect AI investment to both re-imagine jobs and work processes as well as grow profits and revenue.
As we head into the future — with AI moving from consumers’ lives into the workplace – upskilling non-AI workers to learn how to work with AI is becoming increasingly important. Developing an AI ready workforce involves five key initiatives:
- Identify the business problem to solve using artificial intelligence and start collecting data on the current state of the problem and the key KPI you want to impact with AI.
- Build a cross-functional team of key stakeholders to educate them on the business benefits of using AI to solve key business problems.
- Implement learning opportunities for key job roles impacted in HR by AI (such as those in Recruiting, New Hire On-Boarding and Corporate Learning).
- Identify new jobs and skills needed as AI is leveraged in the workplace.
- Change performance management and development skills needed in HR roles to include a fundamental understanding of how to use artificial intelligence across the employee life cycle.
As employees depend on the insights of AI to do their jobs, developing an AI ready workforce will be a competitive advantage.
Conclusion
Generative AI is poised to revolutionize the way we work and interact with technology. Its impact on productivity could add trillions of dollars in value to the global economy. For instance, generative AI could add the equivalent of $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion annually across the 63 use cases analyzed by McKinsey & Company source. This would increase the impact of all artificial intelligence by 15 to 40 percent.
Generative AI is expected to have a significant impact across all industry sectors. For example, in the banking industry, the technology could deliver value equal to an additional $200 billion to $340 billion annually if the use cases were fully implemented. In retail and consumer packaged goods, the potential impact is also significant at $400 billion to $660 billion a year.
Generative AI has the potential to change the anatomy of work, augmenting the capabilities of individual workers by automating some of their individual activities. Current generative AI and other technologies have the potential to automate work activities that absorb 60 to 70 percent of employees’ time today.
The era of generative AI is just beginning. Excitement over this technology is palpable and early pilots are compelling. But a full realization of the technology’s benefits will take time and leaders in business and society still have considerable challenges to address. These include managing the risks inherent in generative AI, determining what new skills and capabilities the workforce will need and rethinking core business processes such as retraining and developing new skills.
Generative AI is a step change in the evolution of artificial intelligence. As companies rush to adapt and implement it, understanding the technology’s potential to deliver value to the economy and society at large will help shape critical decisions.
