How Do Employees Perceive AI’s Role in Performance Evaluation and Skill Gap Identification?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is being adopted by an increasing number of companies, with applications spanning a wide range of areas. One of those is performance evaluation and skill gap identification in the workplace. This raises a crucial question: how do employees perceive the introduction of AI-based applications in these areas? The eighth ai:conomics policy brief explores this topic, presenting scientific insights into this important question.
Insight: Coaching with AI is welcome, but not without humans
The findings reveal that many employees recognize the benefits of AI usage and appreciate its objectivity and consistency in fe edback. However, they strongly emphasize that AI should not replace interpersonal interaction, as respondents are convinced that AI cannot fully replicate the emotional intelligence and nuanced understanding of human coaches.
Subject of Investigation: Impact of AI-Supported Coaching on Coaches as well as Call Center Agents
The policy brief first examines the effects of AI implementation on the work environment of call center agents and their coaches. It provides detailed insights into how the integration of AI influences the workflows and the quality of work for coaches. Additionally, it explores how call center agents perceive the usefulness and trustworthiness of AI-supported training and its impact on their well-being. The brief also sheds light on how the use of AI in coaching affects the job satisfaction of call center agents.
Research Methodology: Mixed-Methods Approach in a European Financial Institution
This study was conducted within a prominent European financial institution that introduced an AI-supported coaching tool in its call center in 2023. To capture employee perceptions, 22 interviews with 12 staff members were conducted at the start of the implementation, followed by a second round of interviews five months later. Additionally, a discrete choice experiment was carried out—first involving 50 and later 61 call center agents. The aim was to investigate whether and how the introduction of AI impacts the coaching process and job satisfaction.
The Brief at a Glance
- This policy brief provides firm-specific insights into how employees perceive AI’s role in deep performance monitoring and skill gap identification following the implementation of an AI-assisted coaching tool in their work environment.
- For this purpose, we conducted 22 semi- structured interviews with 12 employees from the same multinational private-sector company that implemented an AI-assisted coaching tool in their customer service department, interviewing most of the workers twice.
- In addition, we conducted a discrete choice experiment to examine if the AI-assisted coaching tool affected job satisfaction among call center agents.
- Qualitative findings indicate that AI collaboration enhances the coaching process by streamlining workflows and improving techniques, offering opportunities for skill enhancement, and elevating overall work quality.
- While employees appreciate the efficiency AI brings to coaching, they emphasize the continued importance of human interaction in their work.
- Despite a strong employee preference for AI-assisted coaching, our discrete choice experiment did not show a statistically significant positive effect on job satisfaction, nor did it indicate any significant negative impact.
- While this brief provides nuanced insights into individuals’ perceptions of deep performance monitoring and skill gap identification, more research is needed to further understand the long-term impacts of AI in this regard and the optimal integration of AI with human coaching techniques.
