AI Use Being Measured As A KPI – How Do People Feel About It?
An AI leader-board on the office wall, everyone looking at it furtively now and then. Discussions over the water cooler about what tasks you’ve found AI to be super efficient at. And those that are best done entirely by a human. Your manager has been pushing for more up-take and it has crept into your KPI. Why? Because, rightly or wrongly, it is being used to assess employees for promotion.
Does it sound familiar? Absolutely.
The BBC ran an article on 9 September, titled “Should Promotion Depend On How Workers Use AI?” That’s a loaded question depending on your perspective on workplace practices and how they should be governed.
The reality is, though, that management can generally set criteria for promotion depending on their company needs, or current trends. Whichever suits the current business climate. However, companies do need to take note of people’s feelings and views as that can affect business. Morale can have a real impact on production. Also, forced take-up of AI can bring unintended consequences. The Financial Times, for instance, reported in May this year that Amazon decided to ditch their AI leader-board when it became apparent that staff were assigning unnecessary tasks to AI simply to get a high ranking.
Duolingo’s CEO said in April that they had also backtracked when staff had asked them if they were wanting employees to use AI for the sake of AI. CEO Luis von Ahn reportedly said that they should do their job the best they can and that AI can help with that but that they wouldn’t force people to use it. This signified a change from their previous stance.
When it comes to promotion, it used to be about recognition of talent and experience. But AI has moved the goalposts significantly. Someone who has say, two years experience but is adept at AI is more likely to be promoted than their colleague who has eight years expertise but is still finding their feet with using AI efficiently.
Many in the workforce feel that promotion should be assessed not purely on uptake of a new tool, but also on the value and experience they bring to the role. Gone are the days when KPI’s were about measuring judgement and good decisions – now being AI-savvy alone might get you to the next level.
Some professionals are shoring up their defences by starting side hustles and learning new skills. Ones that are not dependent on the use of AI for promotion and a good role. Others, though, are improving their skills at getting bots to do tasks efficiently for them in order to hold onto their job and carry on progressing in their career.
Whichever way the trend goes in the future, one thing is certain; technology keeps changing the way people work and do business. Hindsight is 20/20, as the saying goes, and while many see AI being used in KPI’s as a positive development, others feel that not all that is gold glitters/
Whatever your view, though, AI uptake and use will continue to have an impact on how employees are assessed as it is entrenched in the HR practices of many businesses.
Discussion
Do you think AI takeup should be the central reason for promoting an employee? Should it even factor in such a decision?
Does your company encourage high use of AI for productivity?
What do you predict will happen in terms of AI in HR practices in five years time?
If you run your own business, what stance would you have on AI in general? How much shuold it be used and in what scenarios?
What industry do you feel has been the least impacted by use of artificial intelligence so far?
If employees use AI so effectively that they can take on more work each week, should they get a salary increase for doing so?
Should AI agents ever be used as supervisors who have humans reporting to them?
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