It’s time to reconsider the view of GenAI’s place in the workplace of the future. Concerns about its potential to displace jobs and erode human roles have been well documented. And while it is undeniable that some positions will be impacted, to look at GenAI exclusively through this fearful lens is to negate its potential to make many roles much more meaningful and fulfilling.
Harnessing GenAI in the right way will not only offer huge opportunities for businesses but can also help enhance job satisfaction and elevate the capabilities of people. We need to establish ways to bring the best out of machines and humans working together, rather than focusing on how one can outperform the other. This shift to a more collaborative outlook on GenAI—embracing its potential to augment human ability and output rather than replace humans entirely—has two key benefits.
Firstly, it frees people up to focus on more creative processes like idea generation or strategic planning. Even more importantly, by equipping employees with skills in GenAI, companies can help their people to embrace future ways of working. This is not just about helping people to get better—ultimately, it is about transforming what they can do and their market value, as well as their sense of security and purpose in their roles.
A complete overhaul
The efficiency case for AI has already been made. A recent survey of staff at the Boston Consulting Group found that not only did AI-assisted employees complete tasks 25% faster, but that their work was also 40% higher in quality than their colleagues without the technology.
And while it’s true that greater focus must be made on these efficiencies AI enables, it’s also the case that taking full advantage of them represents a significant leadership challenge for business. With GenAI specifically, it is not a case of a simple tech upgrade. This is a disruptive force that mandates a complete overhaul of all departments.
We must confront the intricacies of this change management challenge head-on, creating environments where individuals are empowered to maximize the technology’s potential, transforming the overall creative output of the teams they are part of.
In a large company, one department can collectively perform hundreds of different tasks. At Reckitt, there are around 2,000 marketers performing around 300 separate tasks.
Particularly for the more repetitive elements of tasks like planning or report writing, we found that it made more sense to use GenAI for roughly one-third of those tasks. By doing so, marketers have more time to focus on the creative, strategic, and productive elements of their role.
Product development and creativity
As well as the automation of repetitive tasks, GenAI’s ability to transform unstructured data into ground-breaking ideas is revolutionary for product development.
Earlier this year, Reckitt carried out a series of GenAI pilots in partnership with the Boston Consulting Group. They found that by using GenAI, teams can reduce concept development time by up to 60%, with the quality of ideas significantly improving too.
This level of efficiency is game-changing, not just for marketing departments but for all creative teams. As well as boosting productivity, this has the potential to shape both individual roles and the ways in which people work together.
Moreover, GenAI also has the power to stimulate creativity and produce content more efficiently. Again, marketing departments make a great case study here: By using GenAI to adapt assets for full-funnel use and localize them across countries, Reckitt’s pilot found an approximate 30% reduction in the time needed to adapt ads to make them region-specific, with increased consistency in asset quality.
The impact of all these efficiencies on the employee experience and output is huge. Google estimates that this technology will save the average British worker 100 hours a year—and this figure is likely to be even higher in creative departments like marketing, where the nature of much of the work (strategy development, written recommendations) lends itself neatly to the support GenAI offers.
Future-proofing the workforce
It’s clear that the conversation around GenAI has moved beyond the initial speculation and fearmongering. Business leaders are recognising that GenAI is not necessarily an enemy of employment but an essential tool for freeing human creativity.
But perhaps the most exciting part of embracing GenAI is the impact equipping people with the skills of tomorrow’s economy has on their sense of fulfillment at work.
This is particularly important at a time when the nature of the relationship between leaders and employees—who in many instances are concerned about their job security or their place in the workforce—is changing.
When offered the opportunity to work more with GenAI and get better at using it, people are genuinely excited. There’s a feeling that by doing so, they are preparing for the future and enhancing their own skills and market value.
Today, the job of leaders is to articulate and model these benefits to their teams, making clear the power of GenAI to empower individuals and create a workforce that is more innovative, efficient, and resilient than ever.
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