In recent years, a perfect storm of accelerating factors has roiled the corporate landscape. From the shockwaves of the pandemic to the ever-widening income gap between executives and their employees, there’s an evident and growing strain on the relationship between labor and management.
If ‘The Great Resignation’ and ‘Quiet Quitting’ hadn’t tipped us off already, when high profile executives like Tim Gurner callously argue for increased layoffs as a means to discipline “arrogant” employees, it becomes painfully clear that we’re teetering on the brink of a labor relations crisis.
Confluence of Dissent: Workers Find Their Voice
The upheaval of 2023 goes beyond mere distrust and dissatisfaction within traditional sectors; it has infiltrated knowledge-based industries that once deemed themselves invulnerable. This year, tech giants like Amazon and Google confront an internal revolution as white-collar workers, empowered by hashtags and virtual meetings, speak out on issues ranging from environmental commitments to workplace surveillance.
Simultaneously, blue-collar workers like the United Auto Workers (UAW) continuously expanded their strikes, and over 75,000 healthcare workers went on strike against Kaiser Permanente. This unprecedented surge in labor activity is not confined to one side of the employment spectrum; it’s a collective outcry, signaling a crisis of faith between workers and leadership across industries.
This confluence of dissent represents a seismic shift in the labor landscape, weaving together traditionally disparate threads of labor activity into a tapestry of universal discontent. It’s no longer just about fast-food workers fighting for $15 an hour or healthcare professionals demanding better conditions; it’s also about software engineers questioning the eroding boundaries of work and life and the ethical ramifications of their work.
Both manual and knowledge workers are united in questioning managerial decisions, reflecting a broader existential reckoning about the nature of modern work.
In this context, Tim Gurner’s controversial endorsement of layoffs as disciplinary action isn’t an outlier but a symptom of an overarching sentiment among some business leaders. This prevailing mindset exacerbates the mistrust that is now as rampant in Silicon Valley’s open-plan offices as it is on the assembly lines.
Yet, as exemplified by UPS’s recent successful negotiation with the Teamsters Union, this downward spiral is not irreversible. Avoiding the brink requires a renewal of concerted communication and effort between employers and employees—a principle that grows ever more critical in our era of relentless change.
In the turbulent labor landscape of 2023, businesses stand at the cusp of redefining their relationships with employees. The strong reactions to Mr. Gurner’s comments unmask a pervasive sentiment among workers: they feel like expendable assets rather than valued contributors. And it’s here, perhaps, that Artificial Intelligence can play a transformative role.
Not Just Automation: AI Helps Bridge the Divide
Amidst the ever-changing landscape of work in 2023, Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents itself as more than a mere tool for task automation or process optimization. Its application has profound implications for bridging the widening divide between management and employees, going beyond operational efficiency to improve the very fabric of organizational culture and ultimately the bottom line.
In the past, soliciting employee feedback often felt like a performative gesture—a way for management to show they were listening, but the results were largely inactionable and quickly forgotten. At worst, the entire exercise was considered a nuisance, more burdensome than beneficial.
However, recent advancements in AI technologies have the power to rewrite this narrative.
Employees are reservoirs of untapped intelligence. Listening to them isn’t just a symbolic gesture; it’s a business imperative. Modern business leaders are increasingly realizing the utility of converting dialogue with employees into actionable data, equipping them with the compass and map to navigate the complexities of a modern enterprise.
This transition from anecdotal conversations to data-backed insights is where AI becomes indispensable.
Advancements in AI and analytics have given rise to a new breed of employee engagement surveys, specifically designed to capture nuanced perspectives and long-form unstructured insights. Far from the rote questions of yesteryears, these tools penetrate deeper layers of employee sentiment, attitudes, and concerns.
AI synthesizes this voluminous data, offering a strategic lens to discern patterns, identify root causes, and initiate data-driven dialogues aimed at bridging divides between employer objectives and expectations and employee aspirations.
Johannes Sundlo, in his FullStackHR newsletter, aptly states that the ideal future integrates the strengths of humans and AI. “Humans supply wisdom, values, and creativity. AI provides information and analysis.” When the collective wisdom of employees is leveraged through AI, what ensues is an unprecedented alignment of organizational goals with employee well-being.
As we navigate the uncertainties that define work in 2023, AI offers a compelling route to a new paradigm. This paradigm values outcomes over hours logged, quality over quantity, and holistic well-being over short-term productivity gains.
More importantly, it fosters an environment of trust, dialogue, and mutual respect between employees and employers, which is possibly the most potent weapon against the workforce challenges that currently besiege us.
The Best Organizations Embrace Respect, Trust, and Open Communication
The best organizations understand that leadership doesn’t have to be authoritative or intimidating to be effective. Cultivating a culture based on respect, trust, and open communication is often far more conducive to long-term success.
Strikes are simply a means for workers to speak with one voice and be heard. With the UAW and Kaiser Permanente strikers earning victories, and the Writers Guild of America before them, workers across industries will take note and continue to push for their voices to be heard.
The UAW strike alone cost at least $9 billion – a cost that could have been well avoided had leaders listened to their workers. How much better for business leaders to take a proactive approach to addressing worker concerns?
We’ve all read the stories glorifying the likes of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Elon Musk and how they menaced and intimidated employees in their pursuit of great technological breakthroughs and the attainment of unimaginable wealth.
This cannot be confused with a blueprint for management success, in fact quite the contrary.
It is important to understand that these people are the exception that proves the rule, succeeding in spite of the toxic cultures over which they presided. A collaborative approach and a collaborative effort, working with workers to understand and address their concerns, will lead to happier and healthier employees, and a stronger and better business.
By changing our lens to view employee feedback as an opportunity rather than a burden, we open up new avenues for boosting both engagement and productivity. And in the end, isn’t that the ultimate win-win? A workforce that is happier and healthier is also one that is more engaged and productive, driving a more robust bottom line.
What’s not to like about that?
Henry Nothhaft, Jr. is President of organizational diagnostics company, EssentialDx. He is a serial entrepreneur and a veteran of the SaaS industry with 15 years of experience in the development and commercialization of AI.