How Generative AI Adds Value to the Future of Work
这篇Upwork的文章深入探讨了生成式人工智能(AI)在重新塑造工作价值方面的变革力量,强调了自动化和创新不仅改变了工作岗位,还在各个行业提高了生产力和创造力。文章着重讨论了对劳动力市场的细微影响,强调了技能发展和道德考虑的重要性,并对人工智能与人类合作的未来提供了前瞻性的视角。
Authors: Dr. Ted Liu, Carina Deng, Dr. Kelly Monahan
Generative AI’s impact on work: lessons from previous technology advancements
In this study, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the initial impact of generative AI (artificial intelligence) on the Upwork marketplace for independent talent. Evidence from previous technological innovations suggests that AI will have a dual impact: (1) the displacement effect, where job or task loss is initially more noticeable as technologies automate tasks, and (2) the reinstatement effect, where new jobs and tasks increase earnings over time as a result of the new technology. Take for example the entry of robotics within the manufacturing industry. When robotic arms were installed along assembly lines, they displaced some of the tasks that humans used to do. This was pronounced in tasks that were routine and easy to automate. However, new tasks were then needed with the introduction of robotics, such as programming the robots, analyzing data, building predictive models, and maintaining the physical robots. The effects of new technologies often counterbalance each other over time, giving way to many new jobs and tasks that weren’t possible or needed before. The manufacturing industry is now projected to have more jobs available as technologies continue to advance, including Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality, and AI, which transform the way work is completed. The issue now at hand is ensuring enough skilled workers are able to work alongside these new technologies.
While this dynamic of displacement and reinstatement generally takes years to materialize, as noted above in the manufacturing example, the effects of generative AI may be taking place already on Upwork. For the platform as a whole, we observe that generative AI has increased the total number of job posts and the average spend per new contract created. In terms of work categories, generative AI has reduced demand in writing and translation, particularly in low-value work, while enhancing earnings in high-value work across all groups. In particular, work that relies on this new technology like Data Science and Analytics are reaping the benefits. The report highlights the importance of task complexity and the skill-biased nature of AI's impact. Skills-biased technology change is to be expected as the introduction of new technologies generally favors highly skilled workers. We observe this on our platform as high-skill freelancers in high-value work are benefiting more, while those in low-value work face challenges, underscoring the need for skilling and educational programs to empower freelancers to adapt and transition in this evolving work landscape.
Understanding the lifecycle of work on Upwork and the impact of gen AI
Generative AI has a growing presence in how people do their work, especially since the public release of ChatGPT in 2022. While there’s been extensive discussion about the challenges and opportunities of generative AI, there is limited evidence of such impact based on transaction data in the broader labor market. In this study, we use Upwork’s platform data to estimate the short-term effects of generative AI on freelance outcomes specifically. The advantage of the Upwork platform is that it is in itself a complete marketplace for independent talent, as we observe the full life cycle of work: job posts, matching, work execution, performance reviews, and payment. Few other instances exist where a closed-system work market can be studied and observed. Thus, the results of this study offer insights into not only the online freelance market, but also the broader labor market.
How technological progress disrupts the labor market is not a new topic. Acemoglu and Restrepo (2019) argue that earning gain arises from new tasks created by technological progress, which they term the “reinstatement effect,” even if the automation of certain tasks may have a displacement effect in the labor market initially. What this means is that there may be a dynamic effect going on: the displacement effect (e.g., work loss) may be more noticeable in the beginning of a new technology entry, but as new jobs and tasks are being created, the reinstatement effect (e.g., rates increase, new work) will begin to prevail. In the broader labor market, such dynamics will likely take years to materialize. But in a liquid and active independent work marketplace like Upwork, it’s possible that we’re already observing this transition happening.
Existing studies such as this provides a useful conceptual framework to think about the potential impact of generative AI. It’s likely that in the short term, the replacement of generative AI will continue to be more visible, not just at Upwork, but also in the broader labor market. Over time and across work categories, however, generative AI will likely spur new tasks and jobs, leading to the reinstatement effect becoming stronger and increasing rates for those occupations with new tasks and a higher degree of task complexity. We’ve already seen evidence of new demand as a result of gen AI on our Upwork platform, with brand new skill categories like AI content creator and prompt engineer emerging in late 2022 and early 2023. We test this hypothesis of both work displacement and reinstatement, and provide insights into how generative AI affects work outcomes.
Impact of generative AI on work
To understand the short-term impact of generative AI on the Upwork freelance market, we capitalize on a natural experiment arising from the public release of ChatGPT in November 2022. Because this release was largely an unanticipated event to the general public, we’re able to estimate the causal impact of generative AI. The essential idea behind this natural experiment is that we want to compare the work groups affected by AI with the counterfactual in which they are not. To implement this, we use a statistical and machine-learning method called synthetic control. Synthetic control allows us to see the impact that an intervention, in this case, the introduction of gen AI, has on a group over time by comparing it to a group with similar characteristics not exposed to the intervention. The advantage of this approach is that it allows us to construct reasonably credible comparison groups and observe the effect over time.
The units of analysis we use are work groups on the Upwork platform; we analyze variables such as contract number and freelancer earnings. Instead of narrowly focusing on a single category like writing, we extend the analysis to all the major work groups on Upwork. Moreover, we conduct additional analysis of the more granular clusters within each major group. The synthetic control method allows for flexibility in constructing counterfactuals at different levels of granularity. The advantage of our comprehensive approach is that we offer a balanced view of the impact of generative AI across the freelance market.
Generative AI’s short-term impact on job posts and freelancer earnings
Looking at the platform as a whole, we observe that generative AI has increased the total number of job posts by 2.4%, indicating the overall increased demand from clients. Moreover, as shown in Figure 1, for every new job contract, there is an increase of 1.3% in terms of freelancer earnings per contract, suggesting a higher value of contracts.
Figure 1 Effect of Generative AI on Freelancer Earning per Contract
The Upwork platform has three broad sectors: 1. Technological and digital solutions (tech solutions); 2. Creative & outreach; 3. Business operations and consulting. We have observed both positive and negative effects within each of the sectors, but two patterns are worth noting:
The reinstatement effect of generative AI seems to be driving growth in freelance earnings in sectors related to tech solutions and business operations. In contrast, within the creative sector, while sales and marketing earnings have grown because of AI, categories such as writing and translation seem disproportionately affected more by the replacement effect. This is to be expected due to the nature of tasks within these categories of work, where large language models are now able to efficiently process and generate text at scale.
Generative AI has propelled growth in high-value work across the sectors and may have depressed growth in low-value work. This supports a skills-biased technology change argument, which we’ve observed throughout modern work history.
More specifically and within tech solutions, data science & analytics is a clear winner, with over 8% of growth in freelance earnings attributed to generative AI. This makes sense as the reinstatement effect is at work; new work and tasks such as prompt engineering have been created and popularized because of generative AI. Simultaneously, while tools such as ChatGPT automate certain scripting tasks (therefore leading to a replacement effect), it mainly results in productivity enhancements for freelancers and potentially leads to them charging higher rates and enjoying higher overall earnings per task.
In terms of contracts related to business operations, we observe that accounting, administrative support, and legal services all experience gains in freelance earnings due to generative AI, ranging from 6% to 7%. In this sector, customer service is the only group that has experienced reduced earnings (-4%). The reduced earnings result for customer service contracts is an example of the aggregate earnings outcomes of AI, related to the study by Brynjolfsson et al (2023), who find that generative AI helps reduce case resolution time at service centers.
A potential outcome of this cut in resolution time is that service centers will need fewer workers, as more tasks can be completed by a person working alongside AI. At the same time, the reinstatement effect has not materialized yet because there are no new tasks being demanded in such settings. This may be an instance where work transformation has not yet been fully realized, with AI enabling faster work rather than reinventing a way of working that leads to new types of tasks. A contrasting case is the transformation that happened with bank tellers when ATMs were introduced. While the introduction of these new technologies resulted in predictions of obsolete roles in banks, something different happened over time. Banks were able to increase efficiency as a result of ATMs and were able to scale and open more branches than before, thereby creating more jobs. In addition, the transactional role of a bank teller became focused on greater interpersonal skills and customer relationship tasks.
When taken together, the overall gains in such business operations work on Upwork are an encouraging sign. These positions tend to require relatively intensive interpersonal communication, and it seems the short-term effects of generative AI have helped increase the value of these contracts, similar to what we saw in the banking industry when ATMs were introduced.
As of now, the replacement effect of AI seems more noticeable in creative and outreach work. The exception is sales and marketing contracts, which have experienced a 6.5% increase in freelance earnings. There is no significant impact yet observed on design. For writing and translation, however, generative AI seems to have reduced earnings by 8% and 10% respectively. However, as we will discover, task complexity has a moderating effect on this.
High-value work benefit from generative AI, upskilling needed for low-value work
Having discussed the overall impact of generative AI across categories, we now decompose the impact by values. The reason we’re looking at the dimension of work value is that there may be a positive correlation between contract value and skill complexity. Moreover, skill complexity may also be positively correlated with skill levels. Essentially, by evaluating the impact of AI by different contract values, we can get at the question of AI's impact by skill levels. This objective is further underscored by a discrepancy that sometimes exists in the broader labor markets – a skills gap between demand and supply. It simply takes time for upskilling to take place, so it’s typical for demand to exceed supply until a more balanced skilled labor market takes place. It is worth noting, however, freelancers on the Upwork platform seem more likely than non-freelancers to acquire new skills such as generative AI.
For simplicity, let’s assume that the value of contracts is a good proxy for the level of skill required to complete them. We’d then assume that high-skill freelancers typically do high-value work, and low-skill freelancers do low-value work. In other words, our goal is also to understand whether the impact of generative AI is skills-biased and follows a similar pattern from what we’ve seen in the past with new technology disruptions. Note that we’re focusing on the top and bottom tails of the distribution of contract values, because such groups (rather than median or mean) might be most susceptible to displacement and/or reinstatement effects, therefore of primary concern. We define high-value (HV) work as those with $1,000 or more earnings per contract. For the remaining contracts, we focus on a subset of work as low-value (LV) work ($251-500 earnings).
Figure 2 shows the impact of AI by work value, across groups on Upwork. As we discussed before, writing and translation work has experienced some reduction in earnings overall. However, if we look further into the effect of contract value, we see that the reduction is largely coming from the reduced earnings from low-value work. At the same time, for these two types, generative AI has induced substantial growth in high-value earnings – the effect for translation is as high as 7%. We believe the positive effect on translation high-value earning is driven by more posts and contracts created. In the tech solutions sector, the growth in HV earnings in data science and web development is also particularly noticeable, ranging from 6% to 9%. Within the business solutions sector, administrative support is the clear winner.
There are two takeaways from this analysis by work value. First, while we’re looking at a sample of all the contracts on the platform, it’s possible that the decline of LV work is more than made up for by the growth of HV work in the majority of the groups. In other words, except for select work groups, the equilibrium results for the Upwork freelance market overall seem to be net positive gains from generative AI. Second, if we assume that freelancers with high skills (or a high degree of skill complexity) tend to complete such HV work (and low-skill freelancers do LV work), we observe that the impact of generative AI may be biased against low-skill freelancers. This is an important result: In the current discussion of whether generative AI is skill-based, there exists limited evidence based on realized gains and actual work market transactions. We are one of the first to provide market-transaction-based evidence to illustrate this potentially skill-biased impact. Finally, additional internal Upwork analysis finds that independent talent engaged in AI-related work earn 40% more on the Upwork marketplace than their counterparts engaged in non-AI-related work. This suggests there may be additional overlap between high-skill work and AI-related work, which can further reinforce the earning potential of freelancers in this group.
Figure 2
Case study: 3D content work
To illustrate the impact of generative AI in more depth, we have conducted a case study of Engineering & Architecture work within the tech solutions sector. The reason is that we want to illustrate the potentially overlooked aspects of AI impact, compared with the examples of data science and writing contracts. This progress in generative AI has the potential to reshape work in traditional areas like design in manufacturing and architecture, which rely heavily on computer-aided design (CAD) objects, and newer sectors such as gaming and virtual reality, exemplified by NVIDIA's Omniverse.
Based on activities on the Upwork platform, we see that there is consistent growth of job posts and client spending in this category, with up to 12% of gross service value growth year over year in 2023 Q3, and over 11% in job posts during the same period. Moreover, applying the synthetic control method, we show a causal relationship between gen AI advancements and the growth in job posts and earnings per contract. More specifically, there is a significant increase in overall earnings because of AI, an average 11.5% increase. Additionally, as shown by Figure 3, the positive effect also applies to earning per contract. This indicates a positive impact on freelancer productivity and quality of work, due to the fact that we’re measuring the income for every unit of work produced. This suggests that gen AI is not just a facilitator of efficiency but also enhances the quality of output.
Figure 3 Effect of Generative AI on Freelancer Earning per Contract in EngineeringIn a traditional workflow to create 3D objects without generative AI, freelancers would spend extensive time and effort to design the topology, geometry, and textures of the objects. But with generative AI, they can do so through text prompts to train models and generate 3D content. For example, this blog by NVIDIA’s Omniverse team showcases how ChatGPT can interface with traditional 3D creation tools.
Thus, the positive trajectory of generative AI in 3D content generation we see is driven by several factors. AI significantly reduces job execution time, allowing for higher productivity. It facilitates the replication and scaling of 3D objects, leading to economies of scale. Moreover, freelancers can now concentrate more on the creative aspects of 3D content, as AI automates time-consuming and tedious tasks.
This shift has not led to a decrease in rates due to the replacement effect. In fact, this shift of workflow may create new tasks and work. We will likely see a new type of occupation in which technology and humanities disciplines converge. For instance, a freelancer trained in art history now has the tools to recreate a 3D rendering of Japan in the Edo period, without the need to conduct heavy coding. In other words, the reinstatement effect of AI will elevate the overall quality and value proposition of the work, and ultimately enable higher earning gains. This paradigm shift underscores generative AI's role in not just transforming work processes but also in creating new economic dynamics within the 3D content market. Fortunately, it seems many freelancers on Upwork are ready to reap the benefits: 3D-related skills, such as 3D modeling, rendering, and design, are listed among the top five skills of freelancer profiles as well as in job posts.
A dynamic interplay: task complexity, skills, and gen AI
Focusing on the Upwork marketplace for independent talent, we study the impact of generative AI by using the public release of ChatGPT as a natural experiment. The results suggest a dynamic interplay of replacement and reinstatement effects; we argue that this dynamic is influenced by task complexity, suggesting a skill-biased impact of gen AI. Analysis across Upwork's work sectors shows varied effects: growth in freelance earnings in tech solutions and business operations, but a mixed impact in the creative sector. Specifically, high-value work in data science and business operations see significant earnings growth, while creative contracts like writing and translation experience a decrease in earnings, particularly in lower-value tasks. Using the case study of 3D content creation, we show that generative AI can significantly enhance productivity and quality of work, leading to economic gains and a shift toward higher-value tasks, despite initial concerns of displacement.
Acemoglu and Restrepo (2019) argue that the slowdown of earning growth in the United States the past three decades can partly be explained by new technologies’ replacement effect overpowering the reinstatement effect. But with generative AI, we’re at a point of completely redefining what human tasks mean, and there may be ample opportunities to create new tasks and work. It's evident that while high-value types of work are being created, freelancers engaged in low-value tasks may face negative impact, possibly due to a lack of skills needed to capitalize on AI benefits. This situation underscores the necessity of supporting freelancers not only in elevating their marketability within their current domains but also in transitioning to other work categories.
To ensure as many people as possible benefit, there’s an imperative need to provide educational resources for them to gain the technical skills, and more importantly skills of adaptability to reinvent their work. This helps minimize the chance of missed opportunities by limiting skills mismatch between talent and new demands created by new technologies. Upwork has played a significant role here by linking freelancers to resources such as Upwork Academy’s AI Education Library and Education Marketplace, thereby equipping them with the necessary tools and knowledge to adapt and thrive in an AI-present job market. This approach can help bridge the gap between low- and high-value work opportunities, ensuring a more equitable distribution of the advantages brought about by generative AI.
Methodology
To estimate the causal impact of generative AI, we take a synthetic control approach in the spirit of Abadie, Diamond, and Hainmueller (2010). The synthetic control method allows us to construct a weighted combination of comparison units from available data to create a counterfactual scenario, simulating what would have happened in the absence of the intervention. We use this quasi-experimental method due to the infeasibility of conducting a controlled large-scale experiment. Additionally, we use Lasso regularization to credibly construct the donor pool that serves the basis of the counterfactuals and minimize the chance of overfitting the data.
Moreover, we supplement the analysis by scoring whether a sub-occupation is impacted or unaffected by generative AI. The scoring utilizes specific criteria: 1. Whether a certain share of job posts are tagged as AI contracts by the Upwork platform; 2. AI occupational exposure score, based on a study by Felten, Raj, and Seamans (2023), to tag these sub-occupations. We also use data smoothing techniques through three-month moving averages. We analyzed data collected on our platform from 2021 through Q3 2023. We specifically look at freelancer data across all 12 work categories on the platform for high-value contracts, defined as those with a contract of at least $1,000, and low-value contracts, consisting of those between $251 and under $500.
The main advantage of our approach is that it is a robust yet flexible way to identify the causal effects on not only the Upwork freelance market but also specific work categories. Additionally, we control for macroeconomic or aggregate shocks such as U.S. monetary policy in the pre-treatment period. However, we acknowledge the potential biases in identifying which sub-occupations are influenced by generative AI and the effects of external factors in the post-treatment period.
About the Upwork Research Institute
The Upwork Research Institute is committed to studying the fundamental shifts in the workforce and providing business leaders with the tools and insights they need to navigate the here and now while preparing their organization for the future. Using our proprietary platform data, global survey research, partnerships, and academic collaborations, we produce evidence-based insights to create the blueprint for the new way of work.
About Ted Liu
Dr. Ted Liu is Research Manager at Upwork, where he focuses on how work and skills evolve in relation to technological progress such as artificial intelligence. He received his PhD in economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
About Carina Deng
Carian Deng is the Lead Analyst in Strategic Analytics at Upwork, where she specializes in uncovering data insights through advanced statistical methodologies. She holds a Master's degree in Data Science from George Washington University.
About Kelly Monahan
Dr. Kelly Monahan is Managing Director of the Upwork Research Institute, leading our future of work research program. Her research has been recognized and published in both applied and academic journals, including MIT Sloan Management Review and the Journal of Strategic Management.
automation
2024年02月23日
automation
3 Non-Obvious Ways to Advance Your HR CareerLet us take a look at 3 non-obvious ways to advance your HR career with William Taylor. (a VP at Workforce.com with 7 years of experience helping major companies develop better workforce management and HR practices)
Summary
Work in human resources on a small team at a small company. – More
Focus on strategy by automating administrative work. – More
Understand how HR impacts your company’s bottom line. – More
When it comes to most HR career advice, the conversation is often dominated by talks of SHRM vs. HRCI accreditation, postgraduate study opportunities, or job hopping to get ahead.
While these are all legitimate pathways to career growth, you’re probably already aware of them. They also lean further towards how to get a pay raise rather than how to become better at HR. So here are three ways you may not have thought about that can boost your HR expertise and advance your career.
1. Do HR at a smaller company
Running HR at a small company gives you the ability to take more ownership, see how every part of HR operates, and take part in more strategic initiatives.
This is often discouraged because many processes aren’t built out at smaller companies, but this is precisely why it’s a great opportunity. You get to be the one that builds out HR from the ground up.
What constitutes a small company is hard to define, but an excellent place to start is somewhere smaller than where you currently are. Other good rules of thumb are fewer than five people in the HR department or less than 1,000 total employees.
2. Give yourself time to work on strategic HR
Probably the biggest complaint about career advancement is that there isn’t time to work on strategic HR initiatives because HR is bogged down in busy work. This is a fair assessment. Some of the biggest culprits are collecting onboarding documentation, updating employee details, and fielding payroll queries.
Don’t accept this reactive approach to HR.
Get rid of the paper onboarding, let staff add their own availability and PTO, and allow them to access payroll details like their direct deposit information and electronic pay stubs.
By automating these processes, HR is no longer the middleman between front-line staff and an outdated HRIS. Instead, HR actually has time to pursue valuable strategic initiatives like employee retention and talent development.
3. Understand the commercials of your company
For most people, advancing their careers often involves promotions to more senior positions. While your technical HR skills help you on this journey, a firm understanding of how your company operates financially becomes probably the most essential tool in your toolbox as you develop seniority.
The most crucial part for HR is understanding budgets. Both overall and team budgets, as well as HR budget metrics, like labor spend, cost of employee turnover, etc. This will help you justify the value of HR initiatives and show their impact on the bottom line.
Secondly, you need to understand the business you’re in. Learn who your customers are, how your service or product solves their problems, and what role each team plays in that process. Doing so will help you make better decisions in HR, but it will also help to make other teams respect you.
Both of these are essential if you ever want to become a CHRO.
Next steps
You’re probably not going to be able to do everything listed. Moving to a smaller company is a big step, but eliminating busy work to free up time for strategic HR and understanding your company’s commercials are two steps you can begin immediately.
Schedule, engage, and pay your staff in one system with Workforce.com.
SOURCE Workforce
automation
2024年01月17日
automation
Top 7 Recruitment Strategies for 2024Hear from the HR leaders delivering breakthrough experiences for their people and get the latest insights and advice from our team of XM Scientists. Nicole Parish and Ruth D'Alessandro working at Qualitrics for many years are introducing us the top 7 recruitment strategies for 2024.
As the disrupted world of work evolves, so do the challenges and opportunities for recruiters. We explore the top 7 recruitment strategies - from employer branding to AI and data-driven decision making - to help you attract and hire the best talent in 2024.
The challenges for recruiters and HR teams over the last four years have been immense. The Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath, the almost overnight switch to remote working, workplace disruption, global instability, talent shortages, The Great Resignation, balancing hybrid working with business outcomes, and the explosion of AI technology have tested even the most experienced human resources specialists.
And HR departments themselves, especially those in the tech sector, have been hard hit since the spring of 2022, with lots of layoffs further stretching the teams. As a result of high recruiter unemployment, these teams may be short-handed, and unable to take on more responsibility.
This is where recruitment strategies need to help people work smarter, not harder. The key to staying competitive in talent acquisition and recruitment is understanding the important new trends and where HR technology slots in to be friend, not foe.
Free eBook: Employee lifecycle feedback
1. Get your employer branding right
Employer brand has historically been seen as a ‘nice to have’, but is now moving into the ‘must have’ space - highlighting how recruiters need to be employer brand focused, even if they don’t have an employer brand team.
Employer branding is how a company markets itself to both internal and potential employees. If you were to ask employees what it’s like to work for a company, they’re unlikely to talk about the products, goods and services – instead they’ll highlight management, conditions, culture, and values.
What if you could capture all the above in a single, comprehensive document to present to job seekers that says,‘what can we offer you as an employee?’ You can. It’s called an EVP (employer value proposition) and it’s your shop window to show that you’re a desirable employer.
An EVP outlines:
Opportunities
What the people are like
Organization’s prestige
What the work is like
The rewards
The very best EVPs focus on the ‘Give and Get’ concept: while they outline what the organization offers, they’re brutally honest about what employees are expected to do in return. This ‘warts and all’ transparency naturally sorts applicants by attracting the right, passionate, resilient candidates who embrace challenge, and putting off casual applicants who might be a fit for the job, but who might find a mismatch between their expectations and what the company provides. When a company aligns great employer branding with an enviable EVP, it’s a recipe for attracting and retaining top talent.
2. Go all out with recruitment marketing
While employer branding and your EVP defines who you are as an organization, what makes you different and the value you can give candidates in return for their commitment and hard work, recruitment marketing is how you get that message out there.
It’s a marketing process that begins before candidates even apply for a job: using specific campaigns to attract and nurture talented people so that they apply for specific jobs in specific locations as they become open.
There’s a trifecta of stages in the recruitment marketing process:
Awareness: moving from “I haven’t heard of this brand” to “this brand seems interesting”
Interest: then moving from “this brand seems interesting” to “I might apply for a job there”
Consideration: finally, moving from “I might apply for a job there” to “I have applied for a job there”
And some of the ways to get your recruitment marketing rolling include:
Attractive job ads
Bright, bold design, screaming your brand and littered with snappy, search-optimized copy will ensure your ads get found in searches, and that they catch the eye and pique interest.
Content marketing
Great content that informs, educates and entertains, offering more than advertising, will bring your brand to life. Ideally create your own content, or use materials that are already circulating in the organization to publish blogs, articles and listicles that add value for readers.
Social media campaigns
Nearly everyone’s scrolling through the likes of TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, X, Facebook, and Snapchat, so it follows that social media is a powerful recruitment marketing tool. But your postings have to be engaging and authentic, catching the trends and memes of the moment, not boring corporate job ads.
Build multi-purpose content and then activate it everywhere you can! Identify the channels and types of content you can produce, then ensure each piece of content you create can be used in all of those spaces in some way. Niche job boards, popular job fairs, your careers page, college recruiting. You’ll maximize your inputs and create a seamless brand look and feel.
3. Create the best candidate experience
Today’s candidate that you turn down may be tomorrow’s candidate, or maybe tomorrow’s client, so it pays to treasure every candidate, successful or not, and keep that positive connection going.
Candidate experience is the sum of all the interactions a candidate has with you as a potential employer, across the whole recruitment cycle, from job ad to interview to hire (or not) and beyond. It’s crucial that you manage every candidate well. For those who join your company, it sets the tone for their employee experience – how engaged they’ll be and how well they’ll perform. For those who are not successful, you’ll leave a good impression that may make them want to reapply and recommend you to other people.
There are three areas where you can make a real impact on your candidates’ experience:
Application process
Communication
Feedback
Application process
All too often, the application process can be long-winded and clunky. For example, you have candidates’ resumes – they don’t need to keep retyping all their information into open text boxes over and over again. Similarly, you don’t need to have the same briefing call in person with every candidate before their interview – consider sending a pre-recorded video with all the necessary information, then giving candidates space to digest it before a follow up. Focus on efficient hiring and streamlining decision-making at critical milestones along the candidate journey.
Communication
One of the most dispiriting things for prospective candidates about job applications is spending several hours of their lives filling in application forms, crafting covering letters, maybe attending interviews – and then hearing nothing. And the chances are the candidates won’t have a good word to say about the brands that couldn’t be bothered to contact them.
Communicating well and often with candidates instantly sets you apart as a good employer. And with the availability of information technology and automation, there’s really no excuse not to send even an automated email or message to keep people updated about their application.
You can go a step further and make it easy for qualified candidates to contact you. Maybe appoint a designated contact person for questions or concerns, or even set up a Slack stream for candidates to chat with current employees while their application is processed.
And although it’s not fun to do, it’s also essential that you let your unsuccessful job seekers know when the position has been filled.
Feedback
For a lot of candidates, one of the most important aspects of any recruiting process is the feedback they receive — whether they’re successful or not. And the reason for this is simple: it helps them to identify where they can improve. And for the organization, as well as helping them decide whether to hire someone, it helps them understand how their interview and recruitment process is performing.
Interview feedback should:
Be concise and actionable
Cover the whole hiring process
Be collected in a timely way
And – importantly - don’t forget to ask candidates how they felt about the recruitment process – this is essential for identifying gaps in your candidate experience so you can close them, and meet the expectations of every job seeker who engages with your organization.
4. Use your hiring manager and hiring team
You already have powerful advocates for your recruiting process – your hiring manager and their teams. Their networks may give more access to appropriate talent than recruiters, and carry more weight. The hiring manager is often a candidate’s ‘go to’ professional to be convinced that they’re a great fit for the job. Conversely, some hiring managers tend to micromanage their recruiters, wanting more and more candidates, without appreciating quite how influential they themselves are for attracting them – if only they can direct their energies in the most useful way.
Here are some ideas for making your hiring managers and their teams useful:
Screen-record a short fireside chat with the manager and their team, talking about the new role and how it fits in their organization. Upload it to LinkedIn to create engaging content and attract more qualified candidates for very little work.
Get the hiring manager to make a short LinkedIn video about the job, and what they're like as a manager. Bonus points if they talk about how they’re developing based on feedback in their engagement scores!
Ask the hiring manager and the team to share the job on their professional networks, using EVP-aligned messaging about the role, the company, and the team
If you have a Brand Ambassador program, enroll the hiring manager or hiring team members in it, so they can be proactive about sharing company news, professional developments, team photos to show how they function – and the open job
Encourage the hiring manager to publicly celebrate their team or team wins where appropriate, (and if that's their management style)
Interact with the job posts made by the recruiter, hiring manager or a member of the team to drive better engagement from the LinkedIn algorithm.
All these things can bring additional value to the attraction phase of the recruiting process, and also add value to the recruiter’s communications (for example, use that same fireside chat in an In-Mail or a nurture campaign during the recruitment process).
These actions won’t take up much of a hiring manager’s time, but they’ll create:
Greater engagement with their jobs
Resources that can be used any time they recruit for that job
Higher candidate engagement through the recruitment process, resulting in better offer acceptance rates and higher new employee engagement
Increased brand influence
Speedier hiring.
And the best part? The hiring manager and their team can do all of these things in less than 20 minutes a week and with zero budget.
5. Nurture your talent communities
What is a talent community? In short, anyone showing an interest in your organization is your talent community, and they need nurturing in robust and meaningful ways. A talent community provides two-way communication and information sharing between recruiter, potential candidates, and sometimes current employees who act as brand ambassadors.
A talent community doesn’t form on its own. It needs to be created, nurtured and maintained, usually digitally, via social media, messaging and email newsletters. It’s your opportunity to build awareness and provide transparency into critical parts of the employee experience that applicants want to know about before they join your company, thereby avoiding late-stage withdrawals. And unsuccessful candidates receive short, nurturing emails that are consistent and useful.
At Qualtrics, we treat everyone as part of our talent community. We send a monthly global newsletter aligned to our EVP, and then segmented newsletters once a quarter to align with our focused areas of talent. We think this is best practice because it provides options for candidates to opt out, gives consistency, and ensures our EVP (and its Give and Get) are at the root of our relationship with the candidate.
6. Embrace automation to make candidate experience better…
Recruiters love to hold the reins for everything, but that can sometimes become too much, so AI and automation are your friends here. HR technology such as candidate relationship management systems (CRM) can help:
Identify and engage with passive, qualified candidates
Surface ‘good fit’ candidates for job opportunities
Screen suitable candidates
Track applicants with an applicant tracking system (ATS)
Update applicant status
Schedule interviews
Perform background checks
Keep in touch with talent communities
7.…but don’t lose the human touch
CRM systems can have so much automation that it’s easy to forget that, ultimately, you are dealing with real people. so, best practice is based on emphasizing the human experience:
Bring some humanity into the process
Everyone deserves basic courtesy. While most people accept a ‘thanks for applying’ to an initial application, once people have been through some interview rounds they deserve to be ‘courteously declined’. Providing feedback, suggestions for developing skills or experience, and/or an honest assessment of the candidate’s chances of being considered for another role, all make the process much more human.
Acknowledge every candidate
65% of people say they rarely, if ever, receive communication about their application status. Candidates with poor recruitment experiences are more likely to leave negative ratings on employer sites such as Glassdoor. Communicate personally and regularly with every applicant.
Keep the door open
Only around 25% of talent managers stay in touch with unsuccessful candidates. Yet a good CRM system can make much of this contact for you when all your candidates are added to it as a talent database.
How Qualtrics can help with your recruitment strategy
We know that candidate experience doesn’t just impact the quality of your recruitment strategy and hiring – it impacts your employer brand, the employee experience for those who get hired, and even organizational performance.
We’ll help you design and improve your candidate experience, to attract the best candidates and grow your talent pipeline, and tighten up processes around sourcing, recruiting, and interviewing talent – saving money.
You’ll receive insights into every candidate experience touchpoint that matters:
any stage of the candidate journey to see what went well and the actions you need to take to improve the experience
the data you need for every stage of the candidate’s experience, while making sure you’re not causing survey fatigue
total control over how often, when, and how your candidates are contacted, based on your preferences
We know that candidate experiences differ from role to role and organization to organization. That’s why Qualtrics® Candidate Experience Management Software is built to flex and contribute to any successful recruiting strategy.
SOURCE Qualtrics
automation
2024年01月17日
automation
How to Build Your HR Technology Stack for 2024In the AI age, you should use HR technology to ensure seamless integration and compatibility with your overall HR strategy for 2024. These are what Beqom is aiming for.
Jan.17,2024 As organizations navigate the complexities of the evolving workforce in 2024, the strategic use of technology in Human Resources (HR) has become critical. This blog explores the crucial role of HR systems to deliver on corporate objectives, automate and streamline processes, improve the employee user experience, and reduce the administrative burden on HR.
We also take a look at essential criteria for HR when evaluating technology solutions and delve into the nuanced landscape of trying to rely on HR suites versus a best-of-breed approach.
What is an HR tech stack?
The term "HR tech stack" refers to the comprehensive suite of tools and software applications that HR professionals use to manage various aspects of human resources. Just as a chef carefully selects and organizes different ingredients and methods to create a masterpiece, HR leaders curate and integrate diverse solutions to optimize HR processes, enhance employee engagement, and contribute strategically to business success.
An HR tech stack typically includes a combination of software for recruitment, onboarding, performance management, learning and development, employee engagement, compensation management, and more. These tools work synergistically to streamline HR workflows, drive efficiency, and enable data-driven decision-making. The selection of tools depends on the unique needs and objectives of the organization, reflecting its high-level philosophy for HR technology adoption.
The evolution of HR tech stack in modern businesses
The journey of HR tech stacks has undergone a significant evolution in tandem with the changing of the modern workplace. In the early stages, HR systems primarily focused on automating administrative tasks and maintaining employee records. However, as organizations recognized the strategic importance of HR in achieving business objectives, the HR tech stack evolved into a dynamic ecosystem designed to address complex challenges and leverage opportunities.
Key phases in the evolution have included:
Automation of administrative tasks
Early 2000s: The initial phase saw the adoption of HR information systems (HRIS) to automate routine administrative tasks, such as payroll processing and time tracking. Basic Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) emerged to simplify recruitment processes.
Introduction of integrated suites
Mid-2000s to early 2010s: Integrated HR suites gained prominence, offering a unified platform for various HR functions. These suites aimed to streamline processes and enhance data consistency by providing a centralized platform for HR activities.
Focus on employee experience and engagement
Late 2010s: With the increasing emphasis on the employee experience, HR tech stacks expanded to include tools for talent management (recruiting, onboarding, learning, etc.), compensation and benefits, performance management, and employee engagement. Mobile applications and self-service portals became integral to fostering a positive workplace culture.
Rise of specialized best-of-breed solutions
Present day: The current phase witnesses a shift towards specialized best-of-breed software. Businesses are recognizing the value of choosing tools that excel in specific HR functions, providing depth and flexibility in their HR tech stacks, while delivering an improved employee experience.
Significance of the evolution
The evolution of HR tech stacks mirrors the broader transformation in HR's role—from a predominantly administrative function to a strategic partner driving company success. Modern HR tech stacks are not just about automation; they represent a strategic investment in technologies that empower HR professionals to make informed decisions, enhance employee engagement, and contribute meaningfully to achieving business objectives.
Crafting a high-level philosophy for HR technology
As organizations embark on the journey of leveraging technology in their Human Resources (HR) functions in 2024, it's helpful first to establish a high-level philosophy to guide your choices. As with most business decisions, it’s best to start with the "why" and articulate the overarching goals HR seeks to achieve for the company.
Aim for strategic alignment
Why do it? Your high-level systems philosophy must align seamlessly with the organization's overall strategic objectives. HR digital solutions should not be implemented in isolation but as a strategic enabler, contributing to the achievement of broader business goals like diversity, profit margin, market share, and so on.
How to do it. HR leaders should collaboratively engage with organizational leadership to understand key business objectives and challenges. The technology philosophy should then be crafted to align with and support these goals.
Enhance the employee experience
Why do it? A key focus of HR technology should be on enhancing the overall employee experience. By delivering value to employees, providing user-friendly interfaces, fostering collaboration, and enabling self-service capabilities, HR can create an environment where employees thrive.
How to do it. Conducting regular employee feedback surveys, analyzing pain points in HR processes, and understanding employee needs will inform the technology approach. The goal is to implement solutions that make work more meaningful and enjoyable for employees.
Drive efficiency and agility
Why do it? HR technology should be a catalyst for operational efficiency and agility. By automating repetitive tasks, streamlining workflows, and providing real-time insights, HR contributes to the organization's ability to adapt swiftly to changing market dynamics.
How to do it. Assessing current HR processes, identifying bottlenecks, and evaluating the capability and adaptability of existing systems will guide the decision-making process. The aim is to implement an HR platform that not only addresses current needs but also scales as the organization evolves.
Enable data-driven decision-making
Why do it? A high-level philosophy should emphasize the importance of leveraging data for informed decision-making. HR technology should provide the tools and analytics necessary to transform raw data into actionable insights, empowering HR professionals to make strategic decisions.
How to do it. Assessing the company's data maturity, identifying critical HR metrics, and understanding the capabilities of offerings in the market to support strategic decision-making at all levels will guide the choice of technology that aligns with this philosophy.
Cultivate a culture of continuous improvement
Why do it? The philosophy behind HR technology should embrace a culture of continuous improvement. Solutions should not be static but evolve to meet changing organizational needs, staying abreast of industry trends and workplace regulations, and driving innovation.
How to do it. Regularly evaluating the effectiveness of existing technology, staying informed about emerging HR tech trends, and fostering a culture of innovation within the HR team contribute to a philosophy that embraces ongoing improvement.
In essence, the high-level philosophy behind the HR tech stack should be a strategic roadmap, guiding the business towards success. It is the articulation of what HR aims to achieve and why technology is a critical enabler in achieving those objectives. Crafting this philosophy involves aligning with corporate goals, prioritizing employees, driving efficiency and agility, leveraging data, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. As companies embark on the transformative journey of HR technology adoption, a well-defined and thoughtfully considered high-level philosophy will serve as the North Star, ensuring that technology becomes a powerful ally in achieving organizational excellence.
The growing importance of technology in HR
As Josh Bersin has framed it, we are now entering a post industrial economy. The industrial revolution over the last 150 years has created massive amounts of automation and productivity-enhancing advancements. The result is that employees no longer are just replaceable commodities, needed for menial tasks. They are more skilled and specialized than ever before, and that trend is only going to continue with the blossoming of artificial intelligence. Now, says Bersin, “every company is in the people business.” HR is more important than ever, and the HR tech stack plays a key role in shaping today’s high performing organization in many ways, including:
Efficiency and productivity
In the fast-paced business environment of 2024, efficiency is key. Technology enables HR professionals to automate repetitive tasks and streamline complex processes. Whether in recruiting (resume screening, scheduling interviews, managing employee records), compensation (salary planning, merit increases, pay equity) or performance management (goal-setting, collecting feedback, performance reviews)—to name a few examples—the use of technology not only saves time but also allows HR teams to focus on strategic initiatives that contribute to the overall productivity of the organization.
Data-driven decision-making
Technology provides HR with tools to collect, analyze, and interpret data, and to make predictions. This data-driven approach enables HR professionals to make informed decisions regarding talent acquisition, employee engagement, compensation strategy, and workforce planning. Harnessing the power of workforce analytics can lead to more effective strategies and better outcomes for the business.
Remote work and collaboration
With the rise of remote work, HR technology facilitates seamless collaboration between dispersed teams. Virtual onboarding processes, digital communication tools, feedback platforms, self-service tools, and remotely administered systems are among the essential components that enable HR to adapt to the changing dynamics of the modern workplace.
Impact of technology on different areas of HR
Virtually every aspect of HR can be improved and accelerated through the use of digital solutions. It is up to HR leaders to determine what areas can have the most impact on the organization’s success and prioritize accordingly.
Recruitment and talent acquisition
Technology streamlines the recruitment process by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) for resume screening and predictive analytics for identifying top talent. Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) automate the hiring pipeline, reducing time-to-fill and ensuring a more efficient recruitment process.
Learning and development
HR software facilitates personalized learning experiences through e-learning platforms and Learning Management Systems (LMS). This not only enhances employee skills but also ensures that training programs align with organizational goals and industry trends.
Compensation management and pay equity
Technology can play a pivotal role in transforming compensation management, which is a critical core function. These solutions empower HR professionals to create transparent pay structures, conduct market analysis, design flexible compensation strategies, support data-driven pay decisions at all levels, and administer rewards efficiently. Advanced pay equity tools can ensure ongoing fair pay and legal compliance.
Collaboration and coaching
Integrated collaboration platforms facilitate seamless communication among dispersed teams, enhancing the employee experience and contributing to increased productivity. Support for manager coaching takes collaboration one step further and aids in employee-manager alignment.
Goal-setting and tracking
Software provides automation for setting and tracking individual and team goals, speeding up the cascading of high level goals throughout the organization, fostering real-time evaluation and progress tracking, and promoting a more dynamic performance management process.
Continuous feedback and recognition
Automated feedback and recognition tools contribute to a positive workplace culture by ensuring timely acknowledgment of employee achievements, fostering a sense of appreciation and motivation, as well as supporting continuous improvement.
360-degree feedback
Performance management tools enable the automation of 360-degree feedback processes, providing a holistic view of employee performance from various perspectives within the enterprise.
Performance appraisal and calibration
Automation in performance appraisal processes, including calibration features, ensures consistency and fairness in evaluating employee performance across the organization, and saves enormous amounts of time.
Impact on the business, employees, and HR staff
HR technology has something to benefit everyone in the organization.
Business impact
Implementing HR technology positively affects the bottom line. Improved efficiency, better talent management, and data-driven decision-making contribute to overall business success. The adaptability of HR tech to changing market demands ensures that businesses stay competitive and agile, and attract and retain needed talent.
Employee experience
From recruitment to retirement, HR technology enhances the employee experience. Self-service portals, mobile applications, and digital communication tools empower employees, providing them with the tools they need to thrive in the workplace. This, in turn, contributes to a positive workplace culture, motivation, productivity, and loyalty.
HR department and staff
HR professionals benefit from technology by automating administrative tasks, allowing them to focus on strategic HR functions. Access to real-time data also equips HR staff with the insights needed to make informed decisions. This shift from transactional to strategic roles enhances the value HR brings to the organization.
Risks of not embracing technology in HR
Conversely, failure to keep up with the advances in HR technology can put your company at a competitive disadvantage. Organizations that fail to embrace HR digital solutions risk falling behind competitors who leverage these tools for strategic advantage. The ability to attract and retain top talent often hinges on the adoption of modern HR practices and technology. Employees want to work for a company with efficient processes, and increasingly, for companies that practice transparency and workplace equity.
Manual processes are prone to errors and inefficiencies, both of which are costly. Without the aid of technology, HR departments may struggle with accuracy in record-keeping, compliance issues, and inefficient workflows, hindering the overall effectiveness of HR operations.
Building a tech stack for HR
So how to best approach technology adoption for HR?
Assess organizational needs. Before implementing an HR solution, HR executives should conduct a thorough assessment of the organization's needs. Understanding specific pain points, goals, and desired outcomes is essential for choosing the right solutions. What are the company’s objectives and what would be needed to accomplish them?
Identify critical areas. These are areas where you can gain the most strategic benefit, and where you therefore do not want to compromise on functionality. What is mission critical, what is core to realizing your strategy and achieving your goals? In other words, what is most worthy of investment?
Consider integration and scalability. A well-rounded tech stack should be easily integrable with existing systems and scalable to accommodate future growth. Seamless integration ensures data consistency and avoids silos, while scalability future-proofs the technology against evolving organizational needs.
Criteria for evaluating HR technology solutions
Here are some key areas to consider when evaluating technology solutions.
Functional coverage
First and foremost, technology solutions should be able to do what you need done. You should not have to compromise on your strategy to conform to system limitations. If a solution cannot really handle your needs, scan the market to see if there is an alternative that is a better fit for your needs.
Integration capabilities
Seamless integration with existing systems is crucial for data consistency and efficient workflows. HR professionals should prioritize technology solutions that support interoperability.
Scalability and global compatibility
Large organizations must choose solutions that are scalable to accommodate their size and adaptable to meet global complexities and diverse compliance requirements. Global compatibility supports consistency in HR practices across different regions.
User experience and accessibility
A user-friendly interface and accessibility across devices are critical considerations. HR technology should be intuitive for users globally, promoting widespread adoption and engagement. And remember that part of the user experience is delivering real value to the end users.
Data security and compliance
Given the sensitivity of HR data, security features and compliance with data protection regulations should be paramount. Robust security measures safeguard against data breaches and ensure confidentiality.
Vendor expertise and support
Every solution has people behind it who create, implement, update, and support it. Even the most intuitive systems need support to keep the technology improving and advancing, look for expertise and a commitment to innovation.
Comparing HR suites and best-of-breed solutions
It is often tempting to try to rely on your core HR suite to handle most or all of your HR software needs. However, the benefit of a single source supplier is limited compared to the possible benefits of a best-of-breed approach.
Limitations of HR suites
Some of the common problems encountered when trying to stretch an HR suite to cover every need include:
Lack of specialization. Comprehensive HR suites often provide a generalist approach, attempting to cover a broad spectrum of HR functions. While this may be suitable for some organizations, it can result in a lack of depth for specialized functions like compensation management and performance management.
Slower innovation. The sheer size and complexity of comprehensive suites can sometimes lead to slower adaptation to emerging technologies and industry trends. The bureaucratic processes involved may hinder the swift integration of innovative solutions that could benefit the organization.
Complex implementation. Implementing extensive HR suites can be intricate and resource-intensive, requiring substantial time and effort. The complexity of these systems may lead to challenges in user adoption and ongoing maintenance.
Advantages of a best-of-breed HR tech approach
What is driving companies to seek best-of-breed solutions within their HR tech stack? Some reasons include:
Specialization. Best-of-breed solutions excel in specific HR functions, providing advanced features and customization options tailored to the organization's unique needs. This specialization ensures that each component of the HR tech stack is functionally rich and optimized for maximum efficiency.
Faster innovation. Specialized providers often innovate more rapidly, adapting to industry trends and technological advancements with agility. This proactive approach allows organizations to stay at the forefront of HR technology, driving continuous improvement.
Flexibility and integration. Best-of-breed solutions offer flexibility and can be seamlessly integrated with other systems. This allows organizations to build a tailored tech stack that aligns precisely with their requirements, avoiding the constraints of a one-size-fits-all solution.
A best-of-breed HR technology success story
One large multinational bank was facing an increasingly complex and competitive landscape including new non-traditional players, increasing regulation, artificial intelligence, and automation. These challenges made it crucial for them to attract, retain, and leverage their human capital to its fullest potential.
They wanted to give employees and line managers a uniform and engaging experience, and establish a culture of continuous improvement, and so were seeking best of breed solutions for key HR processes to complement their core SAP HCM solution.
beqom enabled crowdsourced real-time continuous feedback, regular check-ins, and agile goal setting, supporting managers in providing timely and helpful coaching. With pulse surveys, structured 360 feedback and insightful analytics, the solution measures the entire employee experience at every touchpoint.
With beqom they can align personalized rewards with real-time performance data, as well as with feedback, skills, behavior, and goals, to provide meaningful and effective rewards. The bank was able to consolidate all compensation processes, including salary and promotion increases, short and long-term incentives, and cash awards, across more than 30 countries.
And, their compensation budget can be continuously monitored as performance ratings are submitted and their cost impact calculated. All in all, it’s a real success story that shows the power of HR technology to transform an organization.
Moving forward with your HR technology stack
In today’s dynamic workplace, technology solutions will play a pivotal role in empowering HR professionals to deliver value for the organization. To find out how best-of-breed solutions can transform your HR processes and help you build a high-performing organization, take a positive first step and contact us at beqom.
SOURCE Beqom
automation
2024年01月17日
automation
New Data from Inspira AI Predicts: Nine out of 10 Office Jobs Gone Forever as a Result of AI报告显示2045年将有90%的白领工作因AI的发展而永久消失,同时AI不仅会取代现有的工作,它还将占据大部分新创造的岗位。 根据Inspira AI的最新研究报告揭示了一个惊人的预测:到2045年,将有90%的白领工作因AI的发展而永久消失。这不仅仅是一次技术革命,更是对我们传统工作方式的全面挑战。 报告指出,与蓝领一线工作相比,办公室工作的自动化更为简单和经济高效。因此,白领岗位将会受到更广泛的影响。这种变化速度之快,影响之广,远超过我们之前的想象。它预示着社会结构和社会规范将经历迅速而广泛的变化,全球性的重大转型已经在眼前。 Inspira的CEO Izzy Traub强调,目前公众对于人工智能相关的工作流失的讨论,大多数估计过低。事实上,AI不仅会取代现有的工作,它还将占据大部分新创造的岗位。这是一个不容忽视的事实。 面对这样的挑战,作为职场人,我们需要重新思考和规划我们的职业生涯。技能的适应和升级变得至关重要。我们必须对人工智能的发展保持敏感,并积极探索如何在AI时代保持自身的竞争力。 现在是时候行动了。我们需要对未来的工作环境有一个清晰的认识,并思考如何在这个由AI主导的新时代中找到自己的位置。让我们共同面对挑战,拥抱变化,准备好迎接未来。
LOS ANGELES Inspira AI, a company pioneering new AI cognitive frameworks, has today released a paper that maps out shocking job losses in the white-collar sector.
The paper predicts that nine out of 10 white collar employees will be out of work by 2045, with no new jobs to replace them. In just over two decades, forecasts suggest the world will experience swift and extensive changes in social structures and societal norms, leading to a significant transformation globally.
Inspira CEO, Izzy Traub, commented on the data, “There has been a lot of public chatter about AI-related job losses forecasted in the 40-50% range. These forecasts take into account new jobs that will be created. What is not taken into consideration is that AI will also take most of these new jobs as well. The job displacement predictions are skewed far too low, at least for knowledge work. The scary truth is that AI will result in massive job losses for office workers, far more extensive than people realize.”
The newly released paper makes the case that automation of office work will take place far faster and broadly than jobs that require manual labor. The argument is that office work requires only the automation of computer processes, while manual labor requires expensive and hard-to-build robots. Automating office work is easier and less costly, and thus office jobs will be impacted more extensively.
Dr. Jo Ann Oravec, a professor at University of Wisconsin, is a contributor to the paper and the author of Good Robot Bad Robot (Springer Nature, 2022). She commented, “predictions about technological futures can never be entirely correct, but Inspira’s efforts are based on solid thinking and will certainly stimulate a new level of insight in business, academics, and public policy. Projections of the impacts of AI are often bold but have little to back them up, unlike Inspira’s pioneering approaches. The world is in for changes of such magnitude that we best prepare ourselves. The work that Inspira is doing is groundbreaking and is sure to have a profound impact on countless lives”.
Download the paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=4663704
About Inspira
Inspira AI Corp is an A.I. SaaS company pioneering new cognitive frameworks and conversational agents for workforce optimization.
automation
2023年12月14日
automation
微软首席人力官Kathleen Hogan:员工如何充分利用人工智能
Kathleen Hogan Chief People Officer at Microsoft [Photo: courtesy of Microsoft]
微软首席人力官 Kathleen Hogan表示,人工智能对我们工作方式的影响将比个人电脑更大。
AI是我们时代的决定性技术,创造了一个巨大的范式转变,它将改变我们的工作方式,影响力甚至超过了个人电脑的引入。我们曾经有一个大胆的愿景,“每个办公桌上、每个家庭里都有一台电脑”,而今天,我们希望在“每个人的口袋里都放一个副驾驶”。
当然,AI的影响也伴随着挑战。我们必须解决关于工作流失、算法偏见以及组织快速培养技能的真实担忧。但最终,我相信AI的潜力太大,不能采取观望态度。
领导者需要创造正确的环境,让AI获得积极的势头。这将需要准备和有意识的方法,以便这些新的AI工具不仅帮助员工提高生产力,而且帮助他们茁壮成长。我建议关注这三个方面,以更快实现这些好处:培养基于敏捷的文化、重新想象我们的工作方式、投资于更深层次的人类技能。
培养基于敏捷的文化
为了充分利用AI的承诺,团队必须保持敏捷。
即使是那些多年来一直在内部使用AI进行数据分析、预测建模和任务自动化的公司,生成性AI也代表着一个重大转变。通过能够理解人类语言、导航大量文档知识并创造内容,更多职能的员工现在可以使用这些AI工具。
一个基于敏捷的文化还将加速组织建立推动AI价值的更广泛基础和最佳实践的能力。我相信,在AI时代培养这样的文化意味着拥抱适应性领导力,领导者必须愿意深入未知。
重新想象工作方式
20世纪80年代和90年代的机器人自动化进步使制造业生产力翻了一番。这不是仅仅通过给工人提供更高效的工具实现的——公司通过重新思考生产技术和重新设计工作流程,优化人与机器之间的流程,实现了机器人自动化的全部价值。
同样,要充分利用AI采用的价值,领导者需要重新想象工作是如何完成的。这始于将工作分解为更小的任务,以确定AI能做什么,以及或者比人类做得更好。除了自动化一些重复或乏味的工作任务,我们还需要确定AI可以如何协助员工处理更复杂和微妙的任务,如研究、写作和分析。
这个想法是让领导者利用这段时间,不仅是自动化流程,而且是与AI一起重新想象流程,寻找新的工作方式。这将最终帮助人们更聪明地工作,而不是更努力地工作,给他们带来更多的精力,并发现更有意义和更令人满意的工作。
关注人类技能
生成性AI已经被训练了大多数人类语言,所以任何人都可以使用它。但就像任何新技术一样,仅仅给人们新工具而不提供使用它们的技能是不够的。
而且,尽管这似乎与直觉相反,人类技能与技术技能一样重要,以有效使用AI。这包括分析判断力、灵活性、情商、创意评估、智力好奇心、偏见检测和处理能力,以及委派任务的能力。
事实上,我们现在发现,基本的管理技能是发掘AI副驾驶的全部潜力的关键。就像委派给人类员工一样,与副驾驶合作需要能够清晰地沟通,设置背景和参数,定义期望,分析结果,并提供反馈。
一个好的起点是根据学科开发AI技能培训和实践。随着我们从自动驾驶AI转向副驾驶AI,对人们来说,仍然扮演飞行员的角色,用批判性的视角评估他们从AI工具中获得的输出是必要的。这包括验证准确性和评估偏见。最终,飞机的船长有责任成功着陆。
我相信,解锁AI的全部潜力是领导者的责任。AI的创新正在以惊人的速度发生。当我们导航AI对工作场所的影响时,组织领导者必须立即开始培育正确的环境,以确保没有人被遗留在后面。仅仅将AI工具放在员工手中是不够的。当我们培养基于敏捷的文化、重新想象我们的工作方式,以及建立获得AI最佳效果所需的人类技能时,我们可以帮助我们的组织和员工在这个新时代中茁壮成长。
对我来说,能够成为这个令人难以置信的时刻的一部分,既令人兴奋又令人振奋。
英文原文来自:https://www.fastcompany.com/90982077/microsofts-chief-people-officer-heres-how-workers-can-get-the-most-out-of-ai