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Companies are looking to benefit from heavy investments in artificial intelligence, and many big-name companies are pivoting. Track employee usage As one way to do that.
Yet, while nearly all Fortune 500 companies currently track their overall use of AI; Connect performance review metrics to the use of AI “We haven’t necessarily been able to translate that into business outcomes yet,” Leslie Caputo, an organizational psychologist and senior vice president of global solutions for coaching platform EZRA, told HR Dive via email.
So should companies adopt the use of AI as part of their performance management process? While it can be a “great first step” to making AI part of the broader employee conversation, employers need to consider the many nuances inherent in implementing AI before making it part of the review process, Kate Jensen, a director analyst specializing in HR technology at Gartner, told HR Dive.
Risks of tracking AI usage
Using AI alone “doesn’t incentivize the right behavior,” Jensen said.
“The main thing employers can do is give the appearance of control over the huge bets they’re making,” Caputo said. “Companies are making huge investments in AI and are under pressure to deliver ROI. Usage numbers are the low-hanging fruit that executives can show the board and say, ‘Look, we’re implementing AI.'”
Possible to use only for tracking Enabling the spread of AI “Workthrop” Jensen and Caputo noted that the quality of output from AI tools is low and insight into what value AI brings is vague.
Employers also cannot ignore the potentially damaging messages sent to employees when performance reviews point to the use of AI.
“We’re seeing a lot of concern about AI replacing jobs, and I think using AI for performance metrics could lead to even more hesitancy to replace roles,” Jensen said.
It also “could be perceived as a form of surveillance,” Caputo said, and could make employees question whether they trust their employer’s judgment about when and how to use AI.
“This erodes the human ability to actually create value in the AI era, including curiosity, insight, and the willingness to push back against the output of bad AI,” Caputo said.
According to research, High dependence on AI leads to skills atrophyincluding more traditional “human” skills critical thinking etc. Jensen said the trend in overarching expectations for AI use could worsen.
Creating performance goals in the AI era
However, the use of AI can still play an important role in guiding the performance debate.
When the use of AI is discussed with intention and nuance, “it can really drive innovation and skill development,” Jensen says. For example, companies looking to improve their use of AI may want to set AI-related goals that are not punitively evaluated to encourage innovation, he added.
From there, leaders can establish a baseline and build expectations based on what they see as they see how employees are using AI in their roles. “It helps maintain the foundational skill level needed for these roles,” Jensen says.
“The differentiators that turned AI into real performance included insight, curiosity, connection, and humility,” Caputo said. “Smart companies will eventually move beyond just usage and tokens to measuring how employees make strong decisions about using AI.”
