Despite all the attention AI receives, many organizations are still struggling to achieve widespread employee adoption.
AI transformation relies on human adoption just as much as the technology itself. However, experts say that, despite the presence of superusers, many employees engage little with these tools.
“Many of the customers we're working with say … 5% of the users are driving 95% of usage,” said Paul Baier, CEO and co-founder of GAI Insights.
To increase adoption, CIOs need to give employees a reason to use AI and the support to use it well. During a panel discussion on employee AI adoption at GAI World in late September, speakers from Zapier, Freshworks and State Street Bank shared how to encourage participation, reward useful work and make AI fluency an expectation across the enterprise.
According to their insights, that effort starts with leaders using AI alongside their teams. It also extends to how organizations hire, train and reward employees.
Lead by example
Leaders must be involved in the work they’re asking employees to do with AI. For panelist Dan Slagen, chief revenue officer at Zapier, that includes building alongside employees at every level of the organization.
“[Be] hands on, building right next to your people, regardless of the level that they're at,” Slagen said.
That involvement can help address a trust barrier within organizations. Employees need to feel comfortable using AI and discussing what they do with it, said Jeremy Minich, senior solutions engineering manager at Freshworks. Executives and managers can help by openly describing how they use the tools in their own personal and professional lives.
Without that trust, employees might keep their AI use to themselves. Minich said about 75% of respondents to an anonymous internal Freshworks survey reported using shadow AI. Employees want tools that fit their needs, but some also worry that revealing how much time AI saves could put their jobs at risk, he said.
Minich said Freshworks is working from the top down to encourage adoption and reward employees who use AI to deliver business results.
Explain the career benefits
Employees who worry that AI could replace them need a reason to invest time in learning it. Leaders must explain how those skills can benefit employees’ careers, even beyond their current jobs.
“It's going to increase your employability, your hireability and your promoteability.”
Paul Baier
CEO and co-founder, GAI Insights
Leaders can make that personal benefit part of their message to employees, Baier said in an interview with TechTarget.
“It's going to increase your employability, your hireability and your promotability,” Baier said.
Those expectations are already showing up in hiring. AI skills are becoming a common requirement in job descriptions, according to Barbara Widholm, vice president of emerging technology at State Street Bank. Learning the tools now can help employees prepare for those requirements, she said in the panel discussion.
Reward high-value innovation
Employees can create very different levels of value with AI. When their work delivers substantial benefits to the business, leaders need to consider whether financial rewards should reflect those contributions.
At Zapier, one employee automated work that would have required filling two open positions and asked for a share of the savings, Slagen said. Marketers have also sought compensation tied to the sales pipeline they generate with AI.
In response, Zapier was developing a three- to six-month compensation pilot for selected marketers, Slagen said at the conference. Rewards would reflect the qualified pipeline they bring in, with shared contributions assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Finding a workable approach also matters for retention. Slagen said employees creating that value could leave if the company cannot find a way to reward them.
Make AI fluency a hiring requirement
Organizations can also build AI adoption into their hiring decisions. Setting expectations for candidates gives leaders a way to bring in employees who are prepared to use the tools.
Zapier uses an AI fluency rubric to evaluate new hires, Slagen explained. He described the approach in blunt terms as a way to “stop letting enemies through the gate.”
Or, as he put it less bluntly: “We make sure that every single person who now gets hired by Zapier reaches a specific bar with their AI fluency.”
The rubric makes AI proficiency an explicit hiring standard. For leaders trying to spread adoption beyond a small group of superusers, that extends the effort to the people joining the organization.
Train employees to manage AI costs
Getting employees to use AI is one challenge. Helping them use it in ways that benefit the company is another. As adoption grows, employees need guidance on which tools and models to use, what they cost and what rules apply.
Different roles can require different tools, Widholm said. A developer’s needs will differ from those of someone in business operations. Training should help employees understand which tools fit their tasks and how to use them within the organization’s governance rules.
At Zapier, Slagen said leaders review employees’ AI spending monthly and investigate unexpected increases. One month, sharply rising AI costs for two employees outside engineering prompted a closer look.
One project did not justify the expense.
“They were using the wrong model. They weren't thinking about the amount of money they were actually spending,” Slagen said.
Zapier stopped that project but supported the other after reviewing what the employee was building and deciding the spending made sense. The distinction came down to the value of the work, rather than the size of the bill alone.
For CIOs, the broader task is to turn isolated pockets of AI use into a practice employees can sustain. That requires leaders who participate, employees who see a benefit and guidance that helps them turn new skills into useful work.
Tim Murphy is a reporter covering IT strategy for Informa TechTarget, with a focus on IT leadership, governance, workforce skills and AI strategy. His enterprise technology coverage has earned multiple Azbee Awards.
