Assessing employees’ artificial intelligence (AI) skills to determine bonuses, promotions, and even job security is quickly becoming common in the modern workplace.
“At Accenture, AI is now the way we work. If you want to be promoted, you have to use AI in the same way we do to get work done at Accenture,” Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said on the Rapid Response podcast in March.
Major companies including Disney, Meta, JPMorgan, and KPMG have also introduced “AI leaderboards” to monitor and rank how employees use the large language models (LLMs) and AI platforms available to them. According to media reports, external. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has already dismissed engineers who failed to complete AI training, at the request of CEO Brian Armstrong, external.
These developments highlight the pressure business leaders face to generate a return on their AI investments. This is particularly significant because 94% of companies have yet to achieve substantial value from AI, according to a report by McKinsey consultants, external.
Employees are also feeling pressure to develop AI skills amid a challenging job market. In the UK, job vacancies have fallen to their lowest level in five years.
At the same time, 75% of 1,881 UK job seekers surveyed by recruitment firm Gi Group in July said they would still apply to an organization that uses AI proficiency to evaluate employee performance. Around 22% said they would feel uncomfortable with that approach.
“When you’re in the ocean and see a huge wave approaching, you can take out your surfboard and ride it for as long as possible, or let the wave take over. But you cannot stop the wave,” Trevithick says.
However, the growing influence of AI in the workplace has left Pamela, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, deeply concerned about the culture at her major consulting firm.
The US-based senior executive says that, although her company has not formally required employees to use AI, AI adoption is clearly influencing who receives recognition and career opportunities.
“The ground is moving beneath us, and we have to prove our value. AI fluency and adaptability are becoming key performance outcomes. No one is explicitly saying, ‘Learn AI,’ but performance reviews reward employees who use it effectively,” Pamela says.
She says this shift is making AI proficiency increasingly important alongside traditional work experience and creating what she describes as a “two-tier workforce.”
“Even when employees have the same job title and seniority, their value can be judged differently depending on whether they view AI as a threat or a tool. That gap widens quickly once company leaders recognize the difference,” Pamela says.
“AI fluency is outpacing traditional qualifications every day. Someone with 15 or 20 years of experience but limited AI skills can be overtaken by someone with three years of experience who works faster and more effectively with AI tools.”
She adds: “If you are not visibly using AI, your promotion timeline may slow down. It becomes harder to stand out, gain recognition, and secure a place on the shortlist for advancement.”
Source: www.bbc.co.uk