Why Culture is Critical in the Age of AI
Summary
American work culture has been undergoing what some experts refer to as the “great shrink.”
American work culture has been undergoing what some experts refer to as the “great shrink.” One in five of the S&P 500 firms is smaller than a decade ago, with the overall market undergoing an overall contraction from post-pandemic highs.
Overall, according to a report from industry observers Live Data Technologies, American public companies have cut white-collar workforces by 3.5% over the past three years, with more cuts to come. These efforts at downsizing have been matched by record profits, solidifying a new belief that fewer employees results in higher profits, and faster growth. This represents a significant shift from the previous accepted norm that adding workers was essential fuel for growth.
Workers have pinned these shifts to the emergence of AI tools that let organizations increase the ambit of responsibilities for the employees who do remain. However, when we zoom out it’s clear that these tools are a symptom, not the cause, with their growing use reflecting leadership attitudes that prioritize head-count discipline as an organizational virtue.
Still, whatever the cause, workers – at least human workers, that is – are largely the ones suffering from this shift. The post-pandemic era of talent leverage and “quiet quitting” has come to an end, as the employees who remain experience a heavier daily lift, flatter hierarchies and a growing sense of existential anxiety about their purpose in work, and in life.
These new pressures complicate efforts to keep smaller, leaner workforces engaged, active and committed to your organizational purpose. But there is a solution: leveraging the power of culture.
Why Culture is Critical in the Age of AI
As companies become sleeker, more efficient and transform in ways that are fundamentally different than they did before the advent of AI, culture matters more than ever before. In the past, a huge part of any organizational culture was created by time, with established employees cementing norms. In an era combining both remote work and workforce attrition, organizations can’t as easily rely on this kind of in-person interstitial glue and automatic culture reinforcement the way they used to.
Then, there’s the issue of AI: how much having our work done “for us” robs us of a sense of personal purpose and larger connection to company culture and values. Humans draw a tremendous amount of meaning from work, especially shared work that we feel aligns with a greater purpose. Ever since our hunter gatherer days, we’ve thrived in environments where the small tasks we perform on an individual level aggregate to essential collaboration and that directly determines tribal success. In the corporate age, that means seeing your personal performance as connected to the success of a company where employees feel aligned with and connected to the overall organizational mission.
So what happens when those tasks are being taken over, and done better, with the use of AI? As we’re seeing now, workers are experiencing a sense of malaise. Recent studies show that the use of AI increases, rather than diminishes, job stress. There seems to be a strong link between the adoption of AI technologies and worker feelings of stress, alienation and a growing loss of purpose. If we feel that our work can be done better and more effectively by AI, it’s easy to default to mailing it in at best and succumbing to panic at worst. That’s where culture becomes more critical than ever before.
Aligning AI Use With Organizational Culture
We don’t want to turn our back on AI just because of these complicated dynamics. First, the genie is out of the bottle and from time immemorial technology changes the workforce and larger society, no matter how much we resist. As an editorial in The London Times once noted, “The telephone may be right for our American cousins, but not here because we have an adequate group of messenger boys.”
Detractors might be saying the same about Amazon’s use of expensive automation technologies to fulfill orders when they’re currently generating $417,000 in annual revenue per Amazon employee? But capitalism means the pursuit of growth, and that means leveraging these new tools for increasing profit. As Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang told the Milken Institute in late May, “You’re not going to lose your job to an AI, but you’re going to lose your job to somebody who uses AI.”
Resisting this change is impossible, but using AI tools in a way that reflects on and builds company culture, rather than undermines it, will be the key to successful adaptation. One real-world example of this working in practice is Stitch Fix, an apparel retailer with a brand focus built on personal styling. They recently doubled down on their use of human stylists, using AI as a tool for stylists to use while maintaining their commitment to people-centered service. As a result, employees feel valued, and more able to focus on skills like taste and curation while AI does the data heavy lifting behind the scenes.
Strategies for Activating Shared Purpose
How do we activate this sense of Shared Purpose when in the era of AI? BrandCulture’s Culture Framework can provide a blueprint:
Leadership: As organizations become leaner, structures will become flatter. Values-driven leaders who actively cultivate engagement and help employees manage workload stress and sustain motivation are more vital than ever.
Communications: Transparent messaging cements worker trust in uncertain times. But it can’t be one way. When workers know that they’re not only in the loop, but also have a voice, speculation about AI displacing everything mitigates and confidence in your organization grows.
Symbolism: With offices shrinking and the number of people in organizations decreasing, symbolic hallmarks become critical to reinforcing a sense of belonging at scale. Shared rituals and a shared symbolic language help reinforce and represent what makes your organization one-of-a-kind.
Rewards and Recognition: A smaller workforce means expanded roles and a heavier personal lift for workers. Structuring in rewards for performance despite the new vagaries and continued recognition of jobs well done helps maintain commitment and makes workers feel seen.
Environment: Hybrid workforces and shrinking teams highlight the need for purposeful spaces in both the digital and physical worlds. Digital workplaces should be curated as carefully as physical work environments and standardized to match your organization’s IRL identity.
Structure: Leaner organizations can’t afford the inefficiency of siloing their employees. Instead, company structures should be aligned with Shared Purpose, spotlighting collaboration and shared experience.
By leveraging this Culture Framework, organizations can maintain employee commitment and cohesion come what may in the age of AI.
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