HR technology and artificial intelligence (AI): changing the mindset from replacement to augmentation

You may have seen the controversial marketing campaign in London over the summer in which artificial intelligence (AI) providers directly raised concerns that they would replace people’s jobs.

The provider ran ads across London, using slogans such as: AI doesn’t need to take holidays or sick days on Mondays.

This direct reference to fears of AI taking jobs immediately met with backlash.

This really hits home because this fear of replacement is very real for many workers.

AI, like other modern technologies, can provide tremendous benefits, but only if society believes in it and is willing to adopt it.

So, what can be done to change the narrative? How can businesses empower their workers to take advantage of this new technology?

To better understand ethical AI leadership and technology change management, we hosted a webinar with HR Director Lizzy Barry, HR Consulting Director Dan Grace, and Senior L&D Advisor Vanessa Aradia.

In this blog, I’ve summarized some of their conversations about how businesses can shift mindsets away from fear.

Understanding human emotions

To kick off the discussion, Vanessa touched on the emotional element of change, reflecting on past technological innovations and the current AI landscape, saying:

“If we strip away the buzzwords and headlines, what we’re really talking about is human emotion.

“How are people feel about AI?

“For most people, it’s a combination of fascination, exhaustion and fear, and that’s completely reasonable.

“Every major leap in technology has elicited the same response, namely uncertainty about its impact on our jobs, our identities, and our values.

“I do polls, and when you listen to real employee concerns, they rarely have to do with the technology itself, but rather trust, transparency and fairness.

“Will I be left behind? The business world needs to address this problem head-on.

“I encourage you to be honest about AI limitations, provide visibility into how AI decisions are made, and create opportunities for hands-on experimentation.

“That’s how fear gives way to ability.

“We’re not only improving our team’s skills technically, we’re also building their people skills.

“If we help our employees feel safe, curious and confident, any technical challenge can be overcome.

“As we know, this story of human adaptation is not something new – it has been happening since the days when horsepower meant horses.”

Shows practicality

Lizzy added to Vanessa’s point, sharing how she helps manage AI adoption at IRIS, explaining: “It’s actually really exciting at IRIS! We’ve done things like AI hackathons and given employees the opportunity to play around with tools they may have never used before.

“We often pose a challenge: can you use AI to produce this? How do you look at the results and find out whether they are correct?

“Being able to start using AI and seeing what it can do is often a very clear way to allay some of those fears, because we can quickly see that AI isn’t perfect and doesn’t always deliver the well-designed end results we need.

“Even if the output looks good, we know that AI can hallucinate or have built-in errors and assumptions that we need to check.

“Certainly, getting caught up in this really helps in supporting people and helps make them feel confident in using it for those improvements, rather than worrying that it’s going to replace us tomorrow.”

Get support from leadership

During the webinar, Dan shared his experience implementing AI tools both internally at IRIS and with customers: “I’m going to really play around with the word augmentation, because it’s so important.

“I not only help implement AI tools internally at IRIS, but also help support customers in determining what is right for them.

“One of the questions we always get: does this replace me?

“Some of the messages we always convey to the people we include in these changes is that these tools are there to improve and help provide better service.

“It’s not a replacement, rather we just want to offer a better service for customers and colleagues – the aim is to try to improve and be as good as we can.

“Ultimately, change does come with a shift in roles and priorities – this is unavoidable.

“But what matters most is doing the right thing for our clients, employees and colleagues, implementing the best tools and staying ahead.

“I found that when implementations fail, it’s not because of the people using the tools.

“This usually occurs due to hesitation in providing tools and leadership that does not accept and implement them effectively.

“Most people, almost everyone I know, have used AI tools, either in their personal or work lives.

“If you look at some statistics, ChatGPT is one of the fastest growing apps.

“People use these tools in everyday life and, in fact, you can’t even use Google now without these tools giving you some kind of AI search option.

“AI is everywhere, so if your leadership and strategy don’t support these tools, then the first challenge will fail.

“You really need to convince leaders that using these tools to help your workforce is the right move to help support the business, customers and employees.

“However, we should not use these tools just for the sake of using them – they require careful thought, and ensuring that it is the right move.”

Giving people the tools they need to succeed

The world doesn’t stop when we catch our breath.

Change is inevitable, but it is HR’s job to take their workforce along the journey, empowering them with the tools they need to thrive.

If you want more guidance, good news! Our no-nonsense practical sessions are now available to watch on demand.

In this webinar, you will learn how to:

• Turn employee fears into technology adoption with ethical leadership
• Build AI-enabled organizations to amplify human potential
• Create a practical governance framework for data privacy, security, and corporate policies
• Develop employee training and AI literacy programs
• Change your HR function from reactive to strategic

This session will give you the framework and tools to confidently lead through AI transformation, without losing the human touch that makes your organization special.

Webinar: Beyond the Hype – Ethical AI Leadership and Change Management for HR and Payroll

Watch here