As AI continues to change the workplace and work, Simon Kent looks at the impact on retention and why HR needs to be pro-active to ensure any change is positive.
To start by stating the obvious – AI is changing the way work is done. Across diverse sectors, throughout admin positions and upwards, more employees are being expected to work alongside AI – if not being displaced by the technology entirely. The trend will continue as AI agents are implemented to take on more work and make more decisions within the workplace.
So if AI disrupts how work is done and the jobs available, what impact will this have on retention? By replacing certain positions with AI or by bringing AI in alongside those jobs will career paths and the promise of employee development continue to exist in the same way?
Pros and cons
Professor Nick Kemsley of Henley Business School believes AI has the potential to impact both positively and negatively: “On paper, increasing use of AI has the potential to be of benefit in a number of ways,” he says, “removing lower level or analytical work to increase human value, productivity and increasingly – although not talked about enough – helping leaders make sense of ever more complex and ambiguous environments.” This, argues Kemsley should help with talent management, supporting onboarding and career path relevant learning. It even offers organisations the potential to provide early careers and new joiners with higher value and value-adding roles than might previously have been the case.
The responsibility is on HR leaders to show how roles will evolve, reassure people about their value and invest in re-training to avoid unnecessary exits.”
But Kemsley also sounds a note of warning – the impact of AI will depend on what organisations are seeking to achieve from its use. “Leveraging the human benefits will require organisations to adopt a better balance between minimising costs and maximising shareholder dividends or improving work content and employee experience,” he says. “Ultimately, we must rely on leaders to decide whether AI is utilised to upgrade the whole work system or simply as a cost reduction tool.”
So can the introduction of AI deliver the best of both worlds – being good for employees and good for the bottom line? Kevin Fitzgerald, UK Managing Director at Employment Hero believes there’s good news for all as AI integrates into the workplace: “Despite negative headlines and speculation around AI-led job losses, the technology can enable employees to grow and develop new skillsets,” he says. Data from the company’s latest Work That Works report backs this up with employees who use AI regularly rating their own productivity as 17% higher. But again, this impact depends on how AI is introduced – the same report revealed a decline in employee productivity by up to 50% in organisations where the technology is implemented poorly.
The next frontier for business transformation
Interestingly Fitzgerald notes: “It’s important to reaffirm the human impact and purpose of AI by reassuring the workforce when the technology is being implemented and managing a smooth transition of processes – it’s ultimately a balance between innovation and inclusion. While AI is undeniably the next frontier in business transformation, businesses must avoid a one size fits all, top-down approach that alienates employees.”
While the technology may be ready, businesses must ensure that their employees are too.”
Fitzgerald pushes for what he call a ‘human-centric approach’ to AI implementation. Introduce the technology at a base level, integrate into the day-to-day habits of employees, and it will breed confidence among employees and allow them to do their best work. “Supported by ongoing staff training, the technology can also give employees the freedom to upskill and future-proof their careers,” he adds. “While the technology may be ready, businesses must ensure that their employees are too.”
Cathal McCarthy, CSO at Kore.ai warns about the risk of short-term disruption across the workplace and within career paths: “As AI takes on repetitive tasks, especially in areas like customer service and administration – where nearly three-quarters of UK enterprises are already deploying AI tools – employees in those roles may feel their jobs are under threat,” he agrees. Cathal can see how this may impact on early-career talent, creating uncertainty and thereby leading to higher attrition if organisations don’t provide clear pathways for progression. “The responsibility is on HR leaders to show how roles will evolve, reassure people about their value and invest in re-training to avoid unnecessary exits,” he says.
But McCarthy also says AI can give HR the ability to make work more interesting and the workplace better for employees. He indicates that 70% of large UK organisations are already using AI to automate processes like operations, compliance and risk management with AI Agents being used as assistants to employees.
Through this implementation in some instances HR functions have been transformed. Cathal quotes AMD as having experienced an 80% reduction in time to resolve HR inquiries with 50% of employee inquiries deflected to self-service. In Canada an energy supplier company cut HR response times to just seven seconds, achieving a 90% containment rate. “These shifts not only make HR more efficient – they allow people to focus on work that feels impactful and satisfying, which is critical for retention,” McCarthy says.
With innovation comes disruption…. And disruption drives action.”
Alexia Pederson, SVP International at O’Reilly believes the impact of AI on jobs is nothing new and should be expected. She notes that all important innovations have changed the kinds of jobs that are in-demand across every technology cycle. “Web developers grew popular with the advent of tools and languages that allowed people to build their own websites,” she notes. “Cloud engineers were in vogue when the cloud became the ubiquitous way companies operated their systems. And with the emergence of generative AI, now prompt engineers have moved to the fore.
“With innovation comes disruption,” she says, “and I love to say that disruption drives action.”
Pederson says there will be even more new roles appearing as AI technology develops, but that doesn’t mean the old roles are going to be obsolete. “AI can be a huge productivity tool for any number of positions,” she says. “That’s why training is so important. Your employees need to understand what AI technology can do besides acting as an interesting search engine. Your teams have to learn to work with AI to enhance, and even expand upon, what they’re already accomplishing. Give them the learning tools and the context for how AI can enable their roles, and you’ll be rewarded with success.”
New skills, new careers
While the future may depend on how AI is used and implemented the need for human skills and human employees is not diminishing. A recent survey from Kore.ai found that with over half of enterprises already using AI in HR, the next wave of valuable skills required by businesses will be in areas like human-AI interaction (33%), data analysis (28%), and data management (27%). Cathal McCarthy is in no doubt that these skills will offer employees satisfactory careers and jobs in the future.
“AI allows organisations to personalise career development, learning pathways, and even day-to-day support,” he says. “For example, AI Agents can give employees instant access to HR services in multiple languages, or help design training that builds on an individual’s strengths and goals. AI can also help us spot gaps in diversity and inclusion, making it easier to create fairer, more representative workplaces.”
And it is these kind of impacts which can ultimately be harnessed in order to keep employees within the workplace: “When employees see that their employer is investing in their growth and shaping roles around their strengths, they’re more likely to stay,” asserts McCarthy. “In fact, research suggests companies that better match people to roles using AI are seeing higher retention and stronger cultures over time. For HR teams, this is a chance to move beyond process administration and truly design more attractive, engaging roles.”
