Written and Collaborated by Mark Kamin, CEO and Marcus Cracknell, Associate Program Leader.
Part 1 – INTRODUCTION
Employee wellbeing is a fundamental pillar to having an engaged workforce and company culture where people love to work.
AI Technology, such as ChatGPT, is undoubtedly a transformative innovation that is poised to alter how we do business in the future, especially the “productivity” of a business. And yes, working with ChatGPT and AI-assisted software will save us a significant amount of time that can be used on things that we currently don’t have a technological innovation for.
But let’s look a little further down the road, for what we at Mark Kamin & Associates like to call the “unintended consequences” of any innovation such as Chat GPT.
Especially the unintended consequences on staff wellbeing.
Part 2 – WHAT’S SO
To illustrate what we mean by unintended consequences, let’s use a previous workplace innovation as an example:
By the end of the 1980’s the digital computer had mostly replaced typewriters. This resulted in the following unintended consequences:
Buying computers and related equipment
Installing software
Learning how to use programs
General training on how to operate the computers
Installing updates
Creating and sharing documents
Storing passwords
Repairs
Purchasing updated hardware
Dealing with viruses
etc…
The point is that each new technological innovation is like an iceberg. We often only see a fraction of its full size, and the bigger the innovation, the more we can’t see. The big question is, will the positive impact of a new innovation like ChatGPT, outweigh the unintended consequences we don’t foresee.
Well let’s look. Here we are, only about 40 years since the computer began to take over. Is the average person more or less busy? Do they have the experience of more or less time? What about their mental health, better or worse?
Speaking on a report published by The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Dr. John Philpott, Chief Economic Advisor of the Institute said that “people do not seem much happier about their working lives [and] many exhibit the symptoms of work-related stress”.
Note that this is despite the fact that we are working the lowest amount of hours in the last 150 years. Source: Huberman & Minns (2007) and PWT 9.1 (2019).
Mind’s 2021-2022 Mental Health in the Workplace Index Report found that 57% of surveyed respondents “experienced poor mental health while working at their current employer”.
All that said, whilst technological advancement is undoubtedly making us more productive, employee wellbeing is not being effectively dealt with by the extraordinary technological advancements of our times. At the end of the day, it is employee wellbeing, and ultimately engagement and work-culture that suffer.
The same lack of employee engagement and high levels of employee satisfaction are likely with the next phase of technology… AI.
Part 3 – THE DEFAULT CONTEXT
But why don’t people’s work experience and wellbeing improve out of an innovation like the computer? Afterall our efficiency and productivity are way up!
The answer lies in a mostly unconfronted phenomenon. Context.
It is not whether Chat GPT and AI assisted software are good or bad, it is the context inside of which they are used.
You only need to tune in to the current conversation about Chat GPT to discover the context inside of which it is being used:
“Getting MORE things done now.”
Despite the apparent benefits of ChatGPT and AI assisted software, without a shift in this context, we predict the following – more to handle, higher expectations on our productivity, and increased volume of work required on a daily basis. It is predictable that we’ll see the frequency of burnout, overwhelm, workplace depression and suicide become the new normal.
Part 4 – A NEW CONTEXT
So now what? How do you, as a leader in your organization (title or not) have implementation of any new technology result in a higher level of engagement and productivity from your people?
Again, to make it clear, all advances in technology have had the end result of reducing employee satisfaction.
The key to break the cycle is creating Context.
If you as a leader are able to stand for that the product or service you deliver makes a meaningful contribution to others, you have a chance to imbue your people with a context of meaning. People need to know that their lives matter. Their work life is critical to this. We consult and train our clients to build organizations within which people get the satisfaction of being part of a team doing something meaningful.
Contact
If you would like to find out how, as a leader, you can effectively make this happen inside your organization, feel free to contact Mark Kamin & Associates, Inc.
https://mka-world.com/contact/
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