Few workers would dispute that artificial intelligence is coming and it's here to stay, but when it comes to how workers think AI will affect their jobs, they're far from unanimous.
In fact, a new report from the ADP Research Institute found that 85% of those surveyed (including 35,000 workers across 18 countries) believe AI will impact their jobs within the next two to three years, but they are split almost in half on the extent of that impact: 43% believe AI will help their job function, and 42% say AI will replace at least some of their jobs.
When asked to assess the extent to which AI will impact their jobs, respondents tended to avoid extreme opinions: Those with a positive outlook on AI's impact were 1.3 times more likely to say AI will be useful “sometimes” rather than every day, and those who expect their job to be replaced were more than twice as likely to expect AI to replace “some” functions rather than “most” functions.
“Everyone thinks AI will impact jobs, but the reality is that it hasn't happened yet, so no one knows,” said John F. Kennedy, chief economist and head of ESG at ADP and director of ADPRI. Working People Richardson presented his findings during a panel discussion in New York City on June 10, as ADP leaders rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite to celebrate the organization's 75th anniversary.
Richardson noted that unlike other technologies in the workplace, many employees are already exposed to AI outside of work, particularly through generative AI. This is giving employees preconceived ideas about AI's potential impact, but it's also creating a level of curiosity and interest among business leaders that's rarely seen with other tools.
“That's why change management, led by someone with an engineering and HR background, can capture the curiosity and interest, but also the ambivalence,” Richardson says, “and understand how to move from consumption to productivity.”
Before companies can roll out AI products, strategies or policies, executives need to understand what employees know about AI and what they think about its potential for work. ADPRI's survey shows that the differences in employee sentiment can be stark, said Ben Hanowell, ADPRI's director of talent analytics research and co-author of the report.
“We want AI to work, but to make this technology work we need to understand things from the perspective of the people who will use it,” Hanowell says.
“AI” has become an umbrella term that can mean different things depending on a worker's experience and industry: For example, a worker in a manufacturing plant might hear “AI” and think of robotics, while a worker in a digital marketing team might think of generative AI.
“It's a loaded word in the sense that it has so many different meanings,” he says.
Demographic differences also need to be considered: More than 20% of people over 55 say they don't know enough about technology to assess its impact on the future of work, compared with just 3% of 18-24 year olds, according to the ADPRI report.
“People operate on different wavelengths when it comes to perception,” Hanowell says. “You need to clearly communicate to your employees what 'AI' means.”
During the panel discussion, Richardson noted that this is a “huge” training opportunity that “leaves no generation behind.”
Workers should be able to confidently answer questions such as, “What is AI? How will it impact my job? How can I make the most of the skills I have now? What skills should I develop to harness AI's potential?” she said.
When it comes to skills, worker confidence appears to play a key role in shaping their outlook on AI's impact: Nearly 70% of those who believe AI will help them in their jobs believe they have the skills they need to advance in their careers in the next few years, while only 45% of those who believe AI will replace most jobs agree.
Just as leaders need to be specific and transparent in defining AI, they also need to be clear about the skills employees need to reap the benefits of AI, Hanowell said, and they should also detail the specific business problems employees can solve using AI.
As AI becomes more prevalent in the workplace, HR will be particularly influential in helping to create a “culture of continuous skills development,” Richardson said.
Richardson jokes that when she completed her PhD, she thought that was the end of her exams, but with AI and technology now rapidly transforming the world of work, workers must be prepared for continuing education.
“I envision a world where we have to constantly learn new skills,” she said. “As long as we have a workforce that's prepared for that, we'll be fine.”
The future of work beyond AI
For many workers, the pandemic has prepared them to continue learning in the face of change, Richardson said.
The pandemic has permanently changed the employee-employer relationship.
Flexible working is now considered a “basis” and employees are increasingly looking to their employers for support. For example, inflation has slowed but prices have not fallen.
“Who will solve the problem? [employees]”It really comes down to the company,” Richardson says. “The company is now the all-encompassing entity: health benefits, pay, flexibility, company culture, technology, training, career advancement. For many workers, the company is everything, and they want more of it.”
She said as the future of work materializes, leaders will be challenged to meet those expectations while also aligning them with business objectives.
“It's going to be hard to deploy this technology in a space where people want more,” she said.
And the pace of change is not likely to slow down.
Hanowell said ADPRI is particularly interested in studying the rise of “cross-metro work,” as employees increasingly work in different geographic locations than their managers and leaders. Meanwhile, Gen Z workers have been in the workforce for several years, and some are taking on management roles for the first time, creating a shift ripe for study.
“We're all witnessing transformation happening in real time, at lightning speed,” Maria Black, president and CEO of ADP, said before a panel discussion last month. With more than 1 million clients in 140 countries, ADP has a unique perspective on the changes in the workplace today, as well as those that have occurred over its 75 years in business, Black said.
“It's an exciting time for us,” Black said, “and an incredibly exciting time for the world of work.”
