AI and The Workforce Divide
Navigating digital disparities and the different attitudes exposed by GenAI.
We had a Natter with Volker Schrank, Vice President of Global Employee Experience and HR Tech at global FMCG giant Mondelēz International, and Founder of Employee Experience Labs. In an open discussion about implementing GenAI across the workforce, Volker explains why people leaders need to gauge employee sentiment, explores how culture affects appetite for change, and confronts the uncomfortable topic of ROI.
With over 20 years working at the intersection of employee experience and technology, and a PhD in Human Resources, Volker is an expert at navigating the human impact of introducing new technology into organizations. He recommends a nuanced approach when implementing new solutions across workforces with a range of role types, including frontline manufacturing and customer service. In our conversation, Volker emphasizes the importance of addressing the disparities that exist within organizations, ranging from digital literacy to cultural context, in order to successfully move forwards with GenAI.
“In six to eight years, utilizing GenAI will be like utilizing email today. It’s a basic, foundational skill. Email is no longer a skill that anyone asks if you have, it’s an expectation.”
At a certain point the full workforce needs to be upskilled on GenAI. Volker is clear that “utilizing GenAI to be better at your job will become a commodity skillHR needs to help the business restructure, relearn and reorganize”. To prepare the workforce for this journey, “”. As a starting point, HR leaders need to be guided by employee sentiment.”
“Be led by the curiosity and speed of your employees.”
While this may sound obvious, the data gathered by Natter and Accenture in their research roundtables, featuring 58 global CHROs representing over 7.4 million employees, showed that 25% of participants were ‘unsure’ or ‘very unsure’ whether their frontline workers are currently ready to adopt GenAI. Volker suggests that one question needs to be asked; “Are your employees afraid of it or are they curious and eager to learn more?”.
Overcoming a mindset of fear emerged as a critical obstacle to deploying GenAI for participants at the Natter and Accenture roundtables. Where anxiety is present amongst the workforce, Volker stresses the need for “open and transparent communicationtargeted training courses” and a clear change management process. When HR teams are instead met with curiosity from employees, launch “” to encourage deeper learning. But Volker acknowledges that this is complicated for organizations with frontline staff.
“Desk-based workers have the chance to do online training or even participate through in-person training. Frontline colleagues can’t do that. How do you bring the relevant training or coaching into their world?”
Volker suggests that GenAI itself may be the answer, with the opportunity for it to provide “coaching at scalealready two steps behind”. For this to be possible, frontline employees need access to a device. But there still exists a ‘digital divide’ between worker types. Volker describes organizations that have workers without digital devices as "”.
Peeling back the layers, Volker reveals that this is not simply a case of underfunded internal infrastructure. He’s clear that “companies can’t financially give everyone their own ‘work’ smartphoneIt is an issue of acceptance and readiness. It’s entitlement versus understanding the need to grow - and wanting to”. The ongoing cost would be enormous. Yet financial decisions are not the underlying cause of the digital divide. “”.
There is a cultural component here, which Volker has seen firsthand. “Colleagues across Asia, including manufacturing workers, all have personal smartphones and they don’t have an issue using them at work, and for work, where it benefits them”. By contrast colleagues “in comparatively ‘developed’ markets, where the regular worker has more disposable income, feel entitled that whatever the company wants them to do, the company has to pay for”.
Volker has observed a correlation between these attitudes and the broader approach to regulation, with Asian countries more readily embracing the economic potential of GenAI, while Europe and the USA are more hesitant to accept the risks of unbridled innovation.
It’s for the CHRO and HR team to successfully navigate these different cultural contexts, and attitudes, to unify the workforce with a clear GenAI strategy.
“Ask where GenAI can make the life of employees easier.”
To lead the organization through the GenAI transformation and introduce new tools, Volker recommends that HR leaders should return to the central maxim of “where can it make the life of employees easier?”.
One example that reaches every function is recruitment. “When you have masses of candidates that apply for a role, how do you want to get through that? You need to have a mechanism, some technology to get through a thousand CVs for one role. GenAI is predestined to do that. It’s the same if you have a position, but you can’t find a candidate. You want to have a technology solution that helps you go through the wider talent pools, internally or externally.”
“No business will invest in anything if there’s no return. It’s that simple. Where’s the return for GenAI?"
Once implemented, Volker is candid about the need for GenAI to deliver ROI. “Some industries will finance the efficiences of GenAI with the people-costs saved. That means less people are needed to get the job done. That means that the workforce will reduce.” Volker highlights that for businesses experiencing growth, they simply need to “grow headcount more slowly because they have GenAI to augment productivity”, protecting their existing workforce. But “for businesses with growth problems, that are already reducing headcount…people will lose their jobs”.
With potential uncertainty ahead, Volker re-emphasizes the importance of GenAI transparency to build employee trust. “If you’re not transparent about it, they will distrust you. And then you have already started with a sub-optimal foundation.” Regardless of what the ROI answer is for your organization, “employees want the truth and the facts”.
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