Majority of employees see opportunity for AI to improve workplaces: survey

A large majority (80 per cent) of global employees see a significant opportunity for artificial intelligence in creating a workplace that’s more engaging and empowering, according to a new survey by the Workforce Institute at Kronos Inc.

The survey, which polled almost 3,000 employees in Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand and the United States, also found respondents would welcome artificial intelligence if it simplified or automated time-consuming internal processes (64 per cent), helped better balance their workload (64 per cent) or ensured managers made better choices affecting individual employees (57 per cent).

Read: Does artificial intelligence have a place in human resources?

Globally, 88 per cent of respondents from generation Z said they believe artificial intelligence could improve their job in some way, while just 70 per cent of baby boomers reported feeling the same way. Among Canadian respondents, 50 per cent of respondents from generation Z said they hope the technology will bring more fairness to performance reviews.

According to the survey, 61 per cent of global employees said they’d feel more comfortable if their employer was more transparent about what the future might hold when it comes to artificial intelligence in the workforce. In Canada, 66 per cent of respondents reported having no knowledge of their organization’s plans for the technology.

“Organizations are making significant investments in benefits, technology and innovative workplaces, yet employees are working more than ever and engagement has remained stagnant for decades,” said Joyce Maroney, executive director at the Workforce Institute at Kronos, in a news release. 

While emerging technologies always generate uncertainty, this survey shows employees worldwide share a cautious optimism that artificial intelligence is a promising tool that could pave the way for a game-changing employee experience if it is used to add fairness and eliminate low-value workplace processes and tasks, allowing employees to focus on the parts of their roles that really matter.”

Read: Employers, policy-makers urged to rethink future of work