Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept; it is now embedded in the everyday mechanics of work. From recruitment and performance management to decision-making and productivity tracking, AI is reshaping how organisations operate and how employees experience the workplace.
At the fourth Human Resource Management forum hosted earlier this month by Liaison Group, HR leaders from across the country examined the evolving workplace and its demands on both employers and employees. At the heart of the discussions was a key question: is AI making the workplace better?
Hiring has traditionally been one of the most human-centric functions in any organisation. Yet today, many companies are relying on AI tools to screen CVs, rank candidates and even conduct initial interviews.
According to Joan Wainaina, Group Head of People and Culture at Liaison Group, this does not necessarily erode the human element.
‘I wouldn’t describe it as dehumanising the recruitment process. If anything, AI helps streamline the initial screening stage, which can significantly shorten hiring timelines and reduce uncertainty for candidates,’ she says.
‘It acts as a filtering tool to identify individuals who meet the core requirements. The more nuanced stages of interviews, such as assessments and onboarding, remain human-led, ensuring that the personal element of recruitment is preserved.’
Still, the reliance on algorithms raises concerns about whether organisations might be missing out on unconventional talent. Ms Wainaina acknowledges this risk but insists that the outcome largely depends on how AI is used.
‘Overall, the quality of hires remains strong. AI is only as effective as the criteria and data it is given, so organisations play a key role in defining what ‘good’ looks like. When configured thoughtfully, it can enhance consistency and efficiency. However, it is important to continuously review and refine these inputs to ensure that strong, non-traditional candidates are not inadvertently overlooked.’
Consequently, one of the most debated aspects of AI in recruitment is whether efficiency comes at the cost of fairness and candidate experience. Algorithms can process thousands of applications in seconds, but they can also replicate existing biases kept in historical data.
‘Ideally, there shouldn’t be significant trade-offs if AI is implemented responsibly. Fairness, bias mitigation, and candidate experience should remain guided by human oversight,’ Ms Wainaina says.
Even with AI streamlining recruitment, finding the right talent is a persistent challenge.
‘One of the key challenges is finding individuals with the right mindset, particularly adaptability, a willingness to learn, and the ability to translate theory into practical application. In today’s fast-evolving environment, continuous upskilling is critical. Younger talent also places high value on purpose, flexibility, and growth opportunities, which organisations must actively address to remain competitive,’ Ms Wainaina notes.
Additionally, the recruitment challenges are not just an HR issue, they have direct implications for business performance.
‘These challenges have a tangible impact on business performance. Hiring processes can be time-sensitive, especially for experienced roles where notice periods, buyouts, and competitive compensation come into play. Additionally, when key employees leave, there can be a temporary disruption in client relationships and service delivery, which may lead to short-term productivity gaps and increased operational strain,’ Ms Wainaina explains.
She points to a recent example within her industry: ‘Earlier this year, we experienced significant movement within the industry, with several highly skilled service managers leaving due to competitive salary pressures. Replacing this level of talent took close to three months, and during this time teams had to collaborate closely to maintain service standards. While the business remained resilient, it required deliberate effort and agility to manage the transition effectively.’
A generational reset
If AI is changing how work is done, generational shifts are changing why and where it is done.
Paul Kasimu, CEO of C-Suites Impact Consulting, argues that the workplace is undergoing a transformation rooted in context.
‘The first thing is the context, and it is everything. We are in the fifth industrial revolution. We have just come from the digital era, to the hyper-personalisation,’ he says.
This new era is defined by what he calls the ‘WWW of the workplace.’
‘Work has changed and the workplace is no longer the same. If you look at the five generations in the workplace, the baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, and now the Gen Z’s and Alpha is coming in. Different styles of how they are perceiving work. You can’t handle a millennial the same way you handle a Gen Z,’ Mr Kasimu says.
Leadership, too, is evolving. ‘The leader of today is a coach. You sell, you don’t tell. If you don’t connect, you are left.’
This shift is closely tied to how organisations currently define roles. ‘It’s the way organisations approach how they define work. The job descriptions move away from just describing jobs to outcomes. Which is why we are seeing more flexible working. People are saying, I’m at my best at 3am, so don’t force me to come to the office at 8 to 5.’
Another visible changes in today’s workplace is the declining employee loyalty. Shorter tenures, frequent job changes and rising attrition rates are becoming the norm. Mr Kasimu sees this as both a challenge and a warning. ‘One of the key measures of a stable organisation is attrition. Attrition, the way you keep up with talent. In fact, it’s how you attract, retain a highly performing workforce,’ he says.
‘For every talent that leaves, the cost of replacement, the cost of downtime, sometimes comes to two times of the annual cost of that particular position. If you have a top talent who you can’t keep, when they leave, they emotionally take away others in the organisation,’ he adds.
AI as collaborator, not competitor
Despite fears of job displacement, most experts agree that AI is more likely to augment human work than replace it.
‘AI the bigger point is where you remove the repetitive work. AI cannot replace the human aspect of work, but it also removes the operational, sometimes manual pieces of work. What the computer did 20 years ago, is now the next level of providing machine to work with man,’ Mr Kasimu says.
‘AI is a tool that helps people work better. But remove the machine part of people, and then you’ll have AI, but you’ll still have the soul of the organisation.’
At the same time, AI is rapidly advancing. ‘AI is also learning; it has not reached a point of sophistication where it can replace human beings. We need human beings to help AI to become even better. By 2030, the number one skill that needs to be in the workforce, across, irrespective of the domain expertise, is AI,’ He says.
Another of AI’s most powerful contributions to the workplace is its ability to turn data into insight.
‘If you look at data and analytics, we are moving away from descriptive. Descriptive data are like when leave is high, overtime is high, or there’s sickness. You go to diagnostic, the why. Then predictive, if you go on like this, this is going to happen. The fourth one is prescriptive, which is the so what,’ Mr Kasimu says
AI accelerates this entire process. ‘AI will help in that iteration where it can truncate the what into the why, into the so what predictive, and therefore do this.’
The generational AI challenge
While much of the conversation around AI focuses on technology, Wycliffe Osoro, Head of HR at Swissport, argues that the real challenge is human.
‘AI is not a technology problem, it’s a generational experience problem.When organisations are introducing AI, they are not introducing one change. They’re introducing four changes at the same time because all these generations are going to interact differently with AI,’ he says.
This complexity requires what he calls ‘generational intelligence.’
‘If you go and introduce this change and not have the generational intelligence to recognise the differences between the different age groups or different generations, then you’re going to lose it,’ he warns.
Mr Osoro says that Different groups respond differently: Gen Zs prefer digital learning journeys, millennials value rapid feedback, Gen X seeks structured autonomy, while older workers bring experience and mentorship.
‘Organisations tend to have one goal, and then that goal needs to be achieved by everyone. But when there’s standardisation, it bounces off. But if you want to personalise that, then you’re going to have the refraction, and it goes into the different pathways that are there.’ Mr Osoro says.
AI also promises efficiency, but its impact on productivity is not always straightforward.
Mr Osoro introduces the concept of ‘AI anxiety pivot’ the fear among employees that they may be replaced. This fear is already shaping behaviour. ‘Nearly half of the Gen Z workers and the millennials who use AI, they use it as shadow AI,’ he says.
Yet when used openly, the gains are significant. ‘The saving of that time is what has supported to save about an average of seven and a half hours per week. That’s almost a whole working day. And that then translates to about $18,000 per employee per year in recovered productivity.’
Mr Osoro believes that the winners of AI’s success will not be those who manage people better, but those who rethink work itself.
‘They’re not going to replace humans because there’s certain things that the AI agents will not be able to do. They’ll not be able to design things like a human being would do.’ Mr Osoro says
‘When you’re using technology, it takes away that bias of knowing who is going to get that favouritism,’ he adds.