Are You Experienced? Jimi Hendrix and N@W's Harold Ford on AI and the Employee Experience
🎤 This Week’s AIX Factor Podcast: David Foote, of the eponymous Foote Partners, joins us for the second in a series of talks on The Big Shift-several tectonic changes sweeping through the workplace, driven by several key high-momentum technologies, including, of course, AI. In the first podcast we discussed the previous four industrial revolutions, going back to the first one in the 1700’s that was chiefly powered by the emergence of the efficient steam engine.
On this pod, we examine the shifts in supply, demand and pay for tech skills. As with all the pods in the series, this should be particularly illuminating for the HR pros in our listening audience who want to get out in the front of the trends David and his team have identified that are shaping the future of work.
Next Week’s Guest: Taylor Bradley is Head of Talent Strategy & Developer Success for Turing, builders of generative AI products and solutions that transform complex data into actionable insights. Taylor is an HR executive with over a decade of experience partnering with founders and executives to drive talent strategies in fast-growing, late-stage tech companies. We discuss Turing’s “AI-powered Talent Cloud," how Turing scales AI-centric workforces, aligning HR practices with business goals in an AI-augmented world, and the major opportunities and challenges going forward.
When I hear the word “experience,” my mind immediately leaps to Jimi and his trio – I was and am a huge fan of the man and his music. When I hear the words “employee experience,” I also think of Jimi: it too involves a type of feedback, and if it’s a bad experience can make you feel like you’re meandering through a “room full of mirrors” and enveloped in a confusing “purple haze.”
AI is rapidly transforming the employee experience – I’m tempted to say much as Hendrix transformed the guitar and the rock world when he landed on the scene like an alien from deep space in a bandana and green crushed velvet slacks…but if I take these parallels any further I may tempt you to forsake this Substack for your own Jimi Hendrix experience.
The employee experience refers to the overall journey and interactions an employee has with their organization, from recruitment to exit, including workplace culture, technology, environment, and how supported and valued they feel throughout their tenure. It encompasses all touchpoints that shape their engagement, productivity, and satisfaction. According to Gartner, 81% of HR leaders have explored or implemented generative AI. But what does this mean for employees and the future of work?
“Everyday AI promises to remove digital friction, by helping employees write, research, collaborate and ideate,” said Matt Cain, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. “It is a core part of DEX (the digital employee experience), which is a concentrated effort to remove digital friction and improve workforce digital dexterity, which itself is one of the key factors that will drive organizational prosperity through 2030.”
Business leaders are looking for guidance on how AI technology can can improve the employee experience by automating repetitive tasks, freeing workers for more meaningful projects, skill development, and a better work-life balance help boost productivity and organizational alignment. While companies are eager to adopt AI, employee reactions are mixed. EY found 75% of workers fear job loss, and 72% worry about pay or career impacts. Yet, a Workday survey showed 73% are excited about AI's potential and hope for more solutions.
One of my rotating AIX Factor co-hosts, Harold G. Ford III, the Practice Director for the Employer Solutions Practice at Net at Work, a leading business technology consulting firm, has spoken on the pod and at various venues about the “age of the employee experience.” Harold brings a field-level perspective to AI and HR, and I was interested to have him contribute a guest column on the employee experience through the lens of his experience. Without further ado, Mr. Harold Ford.
AI and the Age of Employee Experience
Harold G. Ford III, Guest Columnist
As AI continues to advance, fears of job loss due to automation and AI technologies continue to grow. However, the narrative that AI will steal jobs and leave workers without employment has little evidence to support it. AI is more likely to augment human work, making employees more efficient, productive, and strategic, rather than replacing them.
I recently read a labor article from AP Economics Writer Paul Wiseman that supported my beliefs. In it, several points were made that AI isn’t replacing as many jobs as critics originally argued. Instead, it is creating more jobs and making workers more productive in general. And that productivity is largely due to increasing engagement, which is driven by richer employee experiences.
Enhancing the Employee Experience
In this Age of Employee Experience, the workforce is savvy, connected, and informed. They demand rich experiences where they work, and in all aspects of their journey: from recruitment and onboarding to collaboration and transparency to personalized learning and development. All facets of the employee lifecycle are deeply enhanced with rich experiences, and technology plays a major role. Whether it be employee portals, feedback loops, or chatbots, leveraging the transformative nature of technology can improve experiences, leading to increased engagement. And that includes harnessing the power of Generative AI for the workforce.
Most employees already have AI in their pockets, and many apps on their phone incorporate AI to handle repetitive tasks. AI is already helping them in their non-work lives by saving time and effort. By introducing AI at the workplace to handle repetitive, data-driven tasks, it frees employees from the mundane and allows them to focus on more complex and fulfilling work. AI empowers employees to be more creative, innovative, and strategic.
Take this example of how one AI tool can transform an organization.
Chatbot Example – Serving HR, Customers, and Employees
HR-driven AI-powered virtual assistants not only alleviate administrative time from HR professionals (enhancing their experience) but empower employees to get answers to their questions quickly and efficiently, with 24/7 availability. Common inquiries like “What dental benefits do we offer?” to specific questions like “How much PTO time do I have left?” can all be driven by automation. This round-the-clock support puts employees in control, improving HR delivery and overall satisfaction.
Extending the assistant’s duties, AI can offer professional development courses or certifications based on career goals, current skills, and performance data. This makes employees feel recognized and valued, reducing attrition. It also readies the business for the future of work, upskilling individuals for a competitive edge.
Added, AI chatbots can drive routine customer service inquiries, saving employees time. Responses for queries like “What is my order status?” or “I need to submit a return” can be addressed by AI, allowing employees to focus on more complex, high-value interactions. And AI can be used to generate answers in written word or by voice, in any language needed for the task. Customer experience is improved, and employee’s productivity is increased.
With strategic design, chatbots can drive customer retention, employee productivity, and organizational transformation.
AI is about Experiences
As we move forward, the conversation about Generative AI needs to shift from fear of job loss to an understanding that AI enhances human potential and provides richer employee experiences. In my chatbot examples, offering instant, personalized support impacts all areas of the business, and specifically contributes to a more engaged workforce. World class organizations that thoughtfully and strategically embed AI into the daily lives of their workforce will increase efficiencies while augmenting inherent employee strengths, provide fulfillment, and gain a competitive advantage.
AIX Files Poll
AI Gone Rogue
Tales of AI being unintentionally funny, bizarre, creepy, (amusingly) scary, and/or just plain scary.
I created an AI clone of myself and the result was unintentionally hilarious Within five minutes of unleashing the AI version of Graham Barlow, Senior Editor, AI, TechRadar, on my teammates, he had managed to misgender one work colleague, then refused to believe they were female, told my boss he looked like Shrek and proclaimed that I would definitely win a fight against 500 chickens. But the best thing is that, since I didn’t really say any of these things, I remained completely blame, and therefore guilt, free!
AIX-emplary Links
Top 5 Priorities for HR Leaderss in 2025 | Gartner. AI aspirations confront deployment realities. Business leaders expect a 23% improvement in functional productivity in the next 12 to 18 months by generative AI (GenAI). 47% of employees using AI say they have no idea how to achieve expected productivity gains.
Generative AI: What Happens In HR Won’t Stay In HR. In a growing number of companies, the human resources team is leading the charge to integrate AI into corporate decision-making and operations. Rather than going along for the ride, they’re piloting the introduction.
The Pitfalls Of AI Self-Regulation. As AI rapidly evolves, the gap between technological advancements and regulatory frameworks is widening, causing widespread concern. According to a recent survey from Prosper Insights &
Analytics, 88% of adults in the U.S. have privacy concerns with AI using their data.
The Impact Of Microsoft's New AI Employees On Your Job Imagine walking into your office to find that your company just hired thousands of new employees overnight – except they're not human. That's exactly what Microsoft has made possible with its groundbreaking announcement of autonomous AI agents, marking a fundamental shift in how businesses will operate in the coming years.
How AI is Reshaping Human Thought and Decision-Making. A new study introduces “System 0,” a cognitive framework where artificial intelligence (AI) enhances human thinking by processing vast data, complementing our natural intuition (System 1) and analytical thinking (System 2). However, this external thinking system poses risks, such as over-reliance on AI and a potential loss of cognitive autonomy.
AI Is Threatening More Than Just Creative Jobs—It’s Undermining Our Humanity The debate on AI and job loss misses the deeper impact: by automating creativity, we risk devaluing the very essence of human expression.
About
The AIX Files is a weekly newsletter providing news, perspectives, predictions, and provocations on the challenges of navigating the world of AI-augmented work. It’s a big topic and there’s a lot to cover. Our goal with this, the AIX Factor, and the broader AIX community (in partnership with HR.com) is to promote - and, if necessary, provoke - illuminating conversations with a cross-section of business and technology leaders, as well as practitioners and people from diverse fields, on the ways AI intersects with leadership, culture, and learning.