Worth Reading – Artificial Intelligence Can’t Fix the Work Environment
When you read some of the statistics about email, meetings, interruptions, etc., it’s hard not to see the same glaring red flag that Sharlyn sees. We might suck at communicating.
When you read some of the statistics about email, meetings, interruptions, etc., it’s hard not to see the same glaring red flag that Sharlyn sees. We might suck at communicating.
Yes, it’s a dumb question that creates bias and other problems in the hiring process. On the other hand, when you need a job, you need a job. If mentioning something in response to the “outside of work” question creates an interest or connection with the interviewer, it’s to your advantage to do it.
College football is maybe the most white, upper-middle-class version of that. There are others. (Travel, outdoor activities, etc.) We should live in a world where all employers are working to remove this kind of bias from hiring, but we do not live in that world. The one we live in grants an advantage to the job seeker who can find a common interest with the interviewer. You might as well do some research on the people you’re going to be meeting with and turn this bias to your advantage if you can.
Every employee is probably learning about AI because their job demands it, learning new features after new features of the tools they use to do their job, learning new systems that get rolled out every year, and dealing with technological change at a ridiculous pace.
Then, we make them responsible for learning how to stay secure and deal with all of the hack attempts that may come their way, too.
It’s all too much. Most of your users aren’t going to put in that kind of effort, and a yearly reminder about data security isn’t going to help them keep up with the variety of risks that are out there. It might not be worth the money you spend on it.
I am likely very much in the minority in working this way. That’s OK. My point is that remote work should be flexible. Find what works for you that allows you to meet the job requirements and provides balance to your days. That’s the whole point.
This reminded me of something I’ve long wondered about some of the measurements provided by fans of AI – the processes that take so much less time than they used to. Are they looking at the whole picture? I know that sales demos do not. They’ll claim to have created an entire business plan in 15 minutes using AI, while waving away any questions about how much time it would take someone to review, edit, and correct the business plan in question. Creating a business plan the old-fashioned way requires research, writing, rewriting, confirming details, and so on. With a couple of prompts, I have one, but will I then put in the same effort to verify that the draft pushed out by my AI tool is accurate and workable for my business?
If so, where is the time saved?
You still have people performing tasks in exchange for a paycheck. They have no reason to feel like they matter. They’re ultimately replaceable. You remind them of that in a million little ways, then expect them to feel dedicated to the work your company does. That makes no sense.