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Three pink flowers with green leaves blooming in a solid blue ceramic mug of soil.

Bloom or Bust

Strong companies grow when employees are given purpose, trust and room to thrive.
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hen you hear the term “Artificial Intelligence,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind? “Terminator?” Will Smith in “I, Robot?” Maybe “Ex Machina”—sleek, enigmatic androids plotting our downfall while quoting Nietzsche. Maybe you’re remembering hours of “high level, AI strategic discussions” only to find, months later, that the technology’s primary use is wacky images of staff as racoons. Whatever your relationship with the latest technological revolution, you likely don’t think of employee well-being. But if your goal is to develop a resilient and adaptable workforce well positioned to respond to change, you may want to start.

Over the last decade, the United States has raised roughly half a trillion dollars in private AI investment—a number that exceeds the total investment of all other countries combined. A recent report from the McKinsey Global Institute, estimates that up to 375 million people globally may need to find new jobs and acquire new skills by 2030. The report points out that:

“the extent to which these technologies displace workers will depend on the pace of their development and adoption, economic growth, and growth in demand for work. Even as it causes declines in some occupations, automation will change many more—60 percent of occupations have at least 30 percent of constituent work activities that could be automated. It will also create new occupations that do not exist today.”
While it is clear there will be growing pains, it is also evident that AI is here to stay. There is no doubt the nature of our work is changing, and not entirely due to automation.

Beyond sarcastic memes mocking corporate clichés such as “we’re like a family here” or the emergence of phrases like “sunday scaries,” and “quiet quitting,” the last few years have been dubbed the “Great Attrition” as millions of U.S. workers are quitting their jobs at an unprecedented pace. Not only are people cycling through jobs faster, they are also more willing to quit their jobs without having another opportunity lined up. The shift has left companies struggling to adjust, with many failing to understand what is driving employees to leave. Another recent McKinsey report points out that companies are often more inclined to explore relatively quick fixes like increasing pay, vacation time and other benefits instead of assessing the underlying causes of attrition rates. One thing is clear; optionality is only increasing. Remote work is here to stay, and automation is on its way. Better pay and benefits certainly help keep people happy, but there are stronger levers to pull when it comes to employee well-being.

A broken blue ceramic mug with spilled soil and wilted, dying brown flowers and leaves.
So how can companies buck the attrition trend and retain high-performing employees amidst the ongoing paradigm shift? Auburn alum and VP of Sales at Rich Products Corporation, Glenn Scott offers some insight into how he has navigated the issue. Scott spent the first 16 years of his career at Procter & Gamble, a company with quite a track record in terms of employee well-being. Not only does P&G have the oldest employee stock plan in the country, it also boasts some of the highest employee retention rates. When asked why he thought people typically leave a job, Scott listed three primary reasons: 1) issues with their direct manager, 2) the learning and growth opportunities available and 3) perceived career potential. His response underscores the importance of listening to your workforce—a clear departure from the majority of employers. As he’s moved into consulting and subsequent managerial positions, Scott has leveraged this understanding to help companies adapt and grow while keeping the workforce satisfied. For him, it all comes down to authenticity.
Without a commitment to upskilling, companies will quickly find themselves on the wrong side of the Attrition vs Attraction spectrum.”
Employees are not blind to changes on the horizon. In fact, they are typically the first ones to notice when their skills are becoming obsolete. Good leaders are transparent about where the company is headed and make the case for how those changes will have a positive impact. Transparency accelerates adoption because it gives employees the opportunity to realign themselves with the new course for the organization. Instead of conducting annual performance reviews that leave half the workforce updating their resumés later that evening, Scott is in favor of weekly touch points where information can flow in both directions. In those check-ins he learns what aspects of work employees enjoy, and then aligns their professional development with those interests. Scott attributes the success of his recent upskilling efforts to engaging with employees at each stage of change and setting realistic timelines for them to develop new skills.
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Anytime there is significant technological advancement, we see forward-thinking companies making the same commitment to employee education. As agricultural technology brought massive changes in farming practices, John Deere offered workshops and on-site education on the operation of new tractors and plows. Similarly, Siemens established in-house academies that partnered with vocational schools to upskill their engineers and technicians in mechatronics. Often considered the pioneer of online learning platforms, IBM retrained over 100,000 employees shifting their work from hardware to software and cloud computing. More recently, AT&T invested $1B+ in retraining employees in its “Future Ready” initiative to prepare for automation and AI disruption. Also expecting major workforce transitions, Amazon launched Machine Learning University & Career Choice, which offers free training in data science, cloud computing and even medical fields. You get the picture. The companies best equipped to respond to change have one thing in common: they identify the skills people will need for future high-impact work and invest in developing them.

Ultimately, employees want to know they are valued by their superiors and by the organization as a whole. They want to belong to something bigger than themselves. As the title of one McKinsey article succinctly put it, “Help your employees find purpose—or watch them leave.” People want work that is imbued with a strong sense of meaning. They want to be aligned with their company’s mission and know that they are contributing towards the execution of that vision. Unpacking her extensive research in the field of organizational behavior, Amerson Associate Professor Kristen Shockley, distilled employee well-being down to three key components: competence, relatedness, and autonomy. Employees thrive when they are given the tools to succeed in their role, are connected to their organization and its mission and are trusted to make choices that are in the company’s best interest. Automation and remote work are merely catalysts accelerating a deeper shift towards value-based vocations via increased bandwidth and optionality because they allow employees to shop around until they find a company that maximizes the three qualities Shockley mentioned.

The companies best equipped to respond to change have one thing in common: they identify the skills people will need for future high-impact work and invest in developing them.”
A lush cluster of many pink flowers and green leaves growing in a blue ceramic mug.
Firms can maintain competence through up-skilling and foster relatedness through transparency, but what about autonomy? How can we offset the anticipated decrease in employee engagement due to AI with increased autonomy in other areas? Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Charles Duhigg, has a potential solution. In “The Power of Habit” he writes, “simply giving employees a sense of agency—a feeling that they are in control, that they have genuine decision-making authority—can radically increase how much energy and focus they bring to their jobs.” Duhigg goes on to cite a case where assembly line workers were empowered to make small decisions about their schedules and environment. They “designed their own uniforms and had authority over shifts. Nothing else changed. All the manufacturing processes and pay scales stayed the same. Within 2 months, productivity at the plant increased by 20 percent.” Trust is a valuable currency. If you plan to automate many of your workforce’s daily tasks, consider other ways you can convey your trust and give them the opportunity to demonstrate value.

The only constant is change. The key to future-proofing your company is developing a high-performing, adaptable workforce through a genuine commitment to their well-being. Without a commitment to upskilling, companies will quickly find themselves on the wrong side of the Attrition vs Attraction spectrum. Targeted continued education initiatives communicate to employees that they are a valuable part of the firm’s future. Those initiatives offer something better than bonuses: skin in the game. As Simon Sinek puts it, “when people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.”

Well-being is not just company mixers and end-of-year bonuses; not unlimited PTO that comes with pressure not to use it; not transactional relationships couched in empty slogans about family culture. Well-being is about purpose, not platitudes. It is about inviting employees to participate in the company’s larger mission. It is saying, “this is where we would like to go and the impact we would like to have, will you help us build that?” And then following up that invitation by arming employees with the tools to meaningfully contribute, and the autonomy to work in a manner that maximizes their output.

Prepare your people for the future, empower them with ownership and watch them drive your company to new heights.

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