AI (Artificial Intelligence), Best Workplaces, High-trust leadership
Here are the behaviors and practices that great companies are using to engage employees in AI transformation.
The rise of AI technology offers immense opportunity for business leaders — but with opportunity comes risk.
Almost 90% of leaders anticipate that deploying AI will drive revenue growth in the next three years, per McKinsey. However, businesses have a poor track record of achieving the transformation required to realize those opportunities.
Nearly 70% of corporate transformations fail, McKinsey says. That means your odds of being an AI success story are lower than you think.
Great Place To Work’s research shows that failing to train your workforce on AI tools is a big mistake. When employees say they receive training and development, they are 20% more likely to be engaged AI adopters, per a 2024 survey of 190,000 employees.
Other experiences that build trust in AI? Involving employees in the decision-making process and ensuring that every employee gets a fair share of company profits. When employees say they have a voice in decisions that affect them and that they are fairly compensated for the value they bring to the organization, they are 20% and 60% more likely, respectively, to adapt to AI quickly.
The practices that create and promote those experiences are the focus of a new report, titled, “Winning the AI Race: Strategies that Drive AI Adoption, Employee Performance, and Financial Growth.”
The report explores key challenges for AI transformation and how great workplace cultures are building trust and boosting agility for employees. The report shares:
- Key mistakes that undermine trust in AI initiatives
- Leadership behaviors that build trust in AI at great workplaces
- Examples from award-winning companies like the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For®
Download your copy of the report today.
Addressing the skills gap
Jobs are changing. By 2030, 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change, according to LinkedIn. Since 2022, there has been a 140% increase in the pace at which LinkedIn members add new skills to their profiles. In the U.S., nearly 20% of workers hired today have job titles that didn’t exist in 2000.
The catalyst? AI.
However, leaders make a mistake when they focus only on adding new talent rather than investing in training the employees already on their payroll.
In the first place, you might not have an accurate picture of how AI is already being used by employees. C-suite leaders estimate that only 4% of their employees use generative AI for at least 30% of their work, McKinsey reports. When you ask employees, the share of those who say they use AI for at least 30% of tasks is three times higher.
What’s more, training your employees on AI is a market inefficiency that offers a real competitive advantage. Per a Microsoft report, only 39% of people globally who use AI at work have gotten AI training from their company.
Examples from companies like Adobe, KPMG, Rocket Mortgage, DHL Express, Bank of America, ServiceNow, Slalom, Cadence, Hilton, and more reveal a proven playbook for HR and C-suite leaders rolling out AI technology in the workplace.
Learn directly from the best about their AI strategies at the For All Summit™ in Las Vegas, April 8-10.
A proven track record of business performance
This approach to AI has bigger implications for your company, too.
The findings in the report are built upon Great Place To Work’s 30+ years of studying the workplace, research used to create the Great Place To Work Model.
At the heart of the model is trust — a measure of the consistent experience of employees with their leaders, their colleagues, and the overall organization. In every industry, all around the world, companies that have higher scores in this model see stronger business performance.
The companies with the highest scores, those that make the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® List, outperform the market by nearly four times the average. Companies that invest in trust have stronger performance during economic downturns, and report higher levels of innovation.
The level of trust in your organization is a crucial indicator of AI performance.
“Trust tells workers their employer will use AI in a way that will make their workplace experience better and more equitable,” says Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work. “Consumers will look to see where people work to decide if they can trust their favorite brands. You can trust how a company uses AI if you know their employees trust them.”
What you can do to build trust
For leaders who are looking to build trust with employees amid the change and uncertainty of the AI era, the report has three recommendations:
1. Embrace transparency. Communicate how you expect jobs to change, what roles will be eliminated, and what roles might be added. Be clear when new roles will not necessarily be filled by those whose roles are eliminated.
2. Commit to developing your workforce. Invest in employees with skills training that allows them to compete for new opportunities within your company and grow their value in the labor market.
3. Build a magnetic, indispensable culture. Strive to offer employees an experience that makes them want to stay long-term and grow alongside the business. New AI technology offers the potential to unlock a new way of doing business, but the tactics that will succeed follow the same principles that have allowed great workplaces to weather market disruptions and global crises for the last 50 years.
Leaders have a choice. The data proves that trust-obsessed companies will dramatically outperform the competition. Great workplaces are going to win the AI race — period.
Join us in Las Vegas!
Register for the next For All Summit™, April 8-10, to connect with leaders and experts from great workplaces around the world.
