'People with AI skills are in demand. So you better be paying attention to creating a workplace that accommodates their interests': academic explains why training and flexibility are key for AI-era retention
As AI adoption accelerates in Canadian workplaces, new data is revealing both opportunities and risks for HR leaders.For example, nearly three in 10 employed Canadians are now using AI tools at work, yet almost half (44%) of those users have not received any formal training.
Similarly, ADP research finds that 43% of workers surveyed use AI frequently on the job, while an almost equal amount (42%) use it rarely or not at all.
These findings line up with an issue emerging in Canada: employees are outpacing their organizations in adopting new technologies, according to Wendy Cukier, professor and academic director of the Diversity Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University.
“One of the big risks in companies is that people are not getting formal training,” she says.
“There aren't the formal policies, and a lot of employees are getting ahead of their employers in terms of the use of the technology … they're self-directed, motivated, figuring out how to do their jobs more effectively.”
Engagement and connection: not as contradictory as they seem
ADP reports that employees who use AI daily or nearly daily report the highest levels of engagement, motivation, and commitment to their work. However, these same workers are also the least likely to feel connected to their colleagues and employers.
While the report emphasizes this “contradiction”, Cukier explains that the reality is more simply explained: those who are heavy users of AI tend to be independent, self-motivated, and entrepreneurial, just by the nature of the type of work they are doing.
“People who are using the AI are in roles where they have a lot of autonomy and they're very self-directed,” she says.
“Those characteristics are not necessarily the same characteristics as people who derive a lot of satisfaction and crave interactions with other people. So I think it's a mistake to think … AI is driving people away from relationships.”
New way to measure employee engagement
The distinction is important for HR professionals to understand, says Cukier; this data may indicate a significant shift in how engagement and employee success is measured in organizations.
Engagement has traditionally been linked to social connection and teamwork, she explains, but research is revealing that a significant portion of high-performing employees prefer independent work, especially when empowered by AI tools.
“Most employers are looking for social and emotional intelligence and so on. The reality is those notions are quite gendered, ethnically-defined and neurotypical,” Cukier points out.
“There are a lot of ‘norms’ around interpersonal relationships, teams, collaboration, and so on, that can actually exclude really creative, entrepreneurial, smart people who are more independent-minded.”
Cukier identifies the potential for AI use to increase productivity – and the associated need to acknowledge a different type of top performer that technology is elevating in organizations. This idea relates to the recent push by many employers to get workers back to in-person work with mandated office time, Cukier adds.
“AI is enabling people to do more with less, and if there's a huge focus on productivity,” she says, adding that top AI-users may derive satisfaction from problem-solving and innovation rather than interpersonal relationships.
“Some organizations are really pushing the back to work mandate because they think the ‘being in-office personal relationships’ are really important. But maybe they're wrong.”
AI user intent to leave: skills and marketability matter
ADP’s research found that 30 percent of daily AI users are actively looking or interviewing for new jobs, compared to just 13 percent of those who have never used AI.
Cukier explains that rather than interpreting these findings as a shortcoming of the employer to fix, it is rather evidence of the marketability of AI-related skills; while AI users may be highly engaged and skilled, they are also more marketable and aware of their value in the labour market.
This can lead to increased turnover, particularly among younger workers and those in high-demand fields.
“It's not so much AI is disrupting relationships, AI is reducing attachment to the workplace,” Cukier says, explaining that high engagement doesn’t necessarily mean employees will stay, especially when their skills are highly sought after.
“The conventional wisdom is always, ‘Engaged employees are happy employees, are retained employees,’ and this data is not consistent with that old model.”
For HR, this means recognizing that the most innovative and tech-savvy employees may always be in demand elsewhere, Cukier adds – and organizations need to continually demonstrate their value proposition to retain top talent: “Every day people are reassessing their attachment to their organizations. And that's just a reality.”
Data from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Future Skills Centre and Environics Institute similarly notes that employees familiar with AI are among the most worried about their jobs becoming automated, with nearly half (44%) of those concerned also being “very familiar” with AI in the workplace.
Cukier emphasizes the importance of aligning work environments with the needs of different employees; she advocates for flexibility, allowing employees to choose how they work best, whether independently with AI tools or collaboratively in teams.
“What I think we have now is the opportunity to tailor the work environments to people's preferences and get maximum performance with the right combination of organization, technology, and personalization,” she says.
“People with AI skills are in demand. So you better be paying attention to creating a workplace that accommodates their interests if you want to retain them, because people with AI skills are going to beat out people without AI skills.”
