With the AI revolution well underway, the technology is being touted by corporations and experts alike as being a game-changer that will completely revamp how people work. Microsoft’s Work Trend Index 2023 asserts that people are welcoming this change as the pace of work has increased exponentially.
The study surveyed 31,000 people in 31 countries and analysed trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals and labour trends from the LinkedIn Economic Graph. It found that people are drowning in data, emails, meetings and notifications, leaving less time for creative work.
This “digital debt” can be alleviated by AI, according to the report, freeing people to focus more on creative work, and in turn, fuel innovation. Let’s take a look at the key findings from the report.
Digital Debt is costing us innovation
The influx of data, emails, meetings, and notifications has surpassed human capacity, leading to digital debt. Nearly two-thirds of people say they struggle with the time and energy to do their job, and this affects innovation and strategic thinking. Lack of innovation or breakthrough ideas is also a concern for 60% of leaders. The lack of focus time, search for information, and constant communication have an opportunity cost, as 68% of people do not have enough uninterrupted focus time during the workday.
Communication takes up the larger part of an employee’s work hours (Image: Microsoft)
Inefficient meetings are the number one productivity disruptor, followed by too many meetings. People find it challenging to brainstorm and catch up in virtual meetings, unclear next steps and hard to summarise what happens. AI-powered intelligent meeting recaps, transcripts, and recordings can engage people with meetings at their convenience.
The data suggests that there is an urgent need to make meetings better, and people’s motivation for meetings is receiving information that will help them do their job better. Radically rethinking the workday, identifying productivity disruptors, and leveraging AI can help reclaim time and energy for the creative work that leads to innovation.
There’s a new AI-employee alliance
Despite concerns that AI will replace jobs, a survey shows that employees are more eager to use AI to ease their workload than they are afraid of losing their jobs. About 70% of respondents said they would delegate as much work as possible to AI to lessen their workload, while only 49% were worried about losing their jobs to AI.
Business leaders are 2x more likely to choose ‘increasing employee productivity’ than ‘reducing headcount (Image: Microsoft)
The data shows that people are looking to AI to help in almost every aspect of their work, from administrative tasks to creative work. Business leaders are also more interested in using AI to increase productivity than to cut headcount. When asked to imagine work in 2030, respondents said they would value changes that saved them time, like producing high-quality work in half the time, learning new skills faster, and understanding the most valuable ways to spend their time and energy.
What people want that AI can deliver (Image: Microsoft)
The survey suggests that the more people understand AI, the more they see its promise to help with the most meaningful parts of their jobs. As companies begin to adopt AI, they should be intentional and programmatic, identifying evangelists to lead the charge and deploying it where people need the most relief based on the organisation’s pain points and challenges.
Every employee needs AI aptitude
The shift to AI as a copilot requires a whole new way of working and a new “AI aptitude,” according to the report. “Skills like critical thinking and analytical judgment, complex problem solving, and creativity and originality are new core competencies – and not just for technical roles or AI experts,” the report adds.
‘Analytical judgment,’ ‘flexibility,’ and ‘emotional intelligence’ top the list of skills leaders believe will be essential for employees in an AI-powered future (Image: Microsoft)
Leaders surveyed as part of the study said that it’s essential that employees learn to use AI, how to write prompts, how to evaluate creative work, and how to check for bias. Learning to work iteratively with AI will be a key skill for every employee, per the report.
“We’re in the next phase of change with the introduction of generative AI, and it’s already starting to reshape the labour market,” said Karin Kimbrough, chief economist at LinkedIn. “While it’s still early days, this shift will expand opportunities, create new roles, and augment productivity.”