Dive Brief:
- Companies and workers aren’t aligned on artificial intelligence timelines, according to recent research from Adecco Group. A study found that while 45% of leaders said they expect AI agents to be integrated into workflows within a year, less than a third of workers (30%) agreed.
- Meanwhile, only 36% of leaders said their talent strategy clearly shows how AI will create new workplace opportunities instead of supplanting employees, per the report. Furthermore, just 39% of leaders are directly including workers in role redesign.
- When it comes to creating future-capable organizational structures, only 22% of leaders said they were highly confident their companies would be able to keep up with quickly changing technologies.
Dive Insight:
The report surveyed 2,000 C-suite executives across 13 countries and highlighted how quickly AI agents have “moved from experimentation to board-level priority,” Adecco said.
However, the research emphasized a growing gap between what organizational leaders expect AI to deliver and what their companies are currently able to do. In fact, just under a third of leaders (31%) said that corporate leadership knew enough about AI to appreciate the complex balance of risk and opportunity.
“AI may move at software speed, but organizational trust moves at human speed,” Denis Machuel, Adecco Group CEO, said in a statement. “Companies that ignore that gap will struggle to turn pilots into performance. The winners will be those that pair technology with transparency, accountability and a clear path for people to adapt. Business leaders have a fundamental responsibility to ensure people and technology can work in harmony.”
While 70% of employees said they were ready to work with AI agents, only 39% of leaders were confident their employees were up to the task, per the report. Adecco said this disconnect suggests a lack of communication between leadership and employees, as well as a misalignment in terms of adoption and workforce readiness.
The report also said that organizational implementation of AI agents was as much about leadership and talent management as it was about technology.
Creating a future-ready workforce will require clear communication from leadership, especially when it comes to explaining how AI will improve overall business and create opportunities, the report said. In addition, Adecco recommended involving employees as early as possible in terms of role changes and career shifts.
Ensuring that leadership is aligned with workforce preparedness is especially critical because AI is often used to accomplish lower-level tasks that used to be given to junior employees, reports find. A study from learning platform D2L in partnership with Morning Consult found that as a result, some organizational talent acquisition strategies prioritize hiring fewer entry-level workers and more mid-level workers.