Dive Brief:
- Companies that have integrated AI into their operations are fueling “massive productivity gains and accelerating their ability to grow and execute their strategies,” i4cp, an HR research firm, stated in a Jan. 23 media release.
- However, only 11% of companies have reached this stage of AI workforce readiness, according to the firm’s survey of HR and other business leaders from nearly 1,000 organizations. They’ve done so by actively scaling AI applications across the enterprise, often restructuring processes to embed AI into workflows, i4cp explained in an executive summary.
- What sets these companies apart: They “upskill[ed] their workforce on how to use GenAI to improve efficiency and effectiveness,” i4cp said.
Dive Insight:
There’s been no shortage of studies warning employers to prepare staff for changes AI is bringing to the workplace.
An October report from the Adecco Group noted that among workers using AI-based tools, about three-quarters relayed they’re more productive, saving an average of one hour a day. Yet, only a quarter of workers overall said they’d received training about applying AI at work.
The finding echoes concerns highlighted in the i4cp survey. Nearly 8 in 10 of the respondents reported that their organization’s’ workforce is unprepared to use GenAI, the firm stated.
The largest percentage (41%) of companies is still experimenting with GenAI, according to the findings. While these companies provide training on the technology, it’s likely they do so only for select employees, usually those involved with piloting the applications, i4cp said.
By contrast, companies with an AI-ready workforce upskill at all levels of the workplace, according to the survey.
For example, they are 2.5 times more likely to have trained their executive leaders on GenAI than companies that are still experimenting, and 3 times more likely to say their executives use GenAI, i4cp found.
Leaders at AI-ready companies also believe that additional training could improve productivity by more than 30%, the survey revealed. Companies in the experimental stage are more skeptical; they believe training would improve productivity by 10%-30%, i4cp said.
Workers recently weighed in on what they believe is impeding the process, including that AI is advancing faster than their company’s ability to train them, according to a January report from TalentLMS.
More than half of the 1,200 employees TalentLMS surveyed reported a “clear lack of guidelines” on AI tool usage. They also said their programs could be significantly improved, which may hasten the speed with which training can be delivered, TalentLMS said.
However, workers may be partly responsible for the slow-down in learning, the report noted. More than half said they multitask during training, a behavior that may prevent them from being fully engaged, TalentLMS noted.
Steven Kirz, an operational excellence senior partner at West Monroe, offered another insight. Think of AI as an intern that “performs tasks the employee could have done but that would have consumed valuable time,” he wrote in a Jan. 17 op-ed for HR Dive.
For example, AI can perform research, summarize meeting notes and outcomes, synthesize key points from interviews, or develop a test script for a new application based on business needs, Kirz said.
