Zoom: AI drives employee productivity by improving collaboration

Productivity has been a top priority for companies this year.

Global economic challenges have forced organizations to layoff staff and restructure more generally – at the same time, employees have continued to quit in their droves leaving skills and talent gaps that their employers cannot necessarily afford to fill.

On top of this, as the pandemic wanes, leaders have been trying to balance new-found demands for flexible and remote work, with the need for successful, productive and collaborative teams.

Lattice’s recent report found that alongside engagement, performance is going to be top of mind in 2024 – it is clear that organizations, and specifically HR teams, still have work to do around productivity.

A new survey of 11,000 global workers and leaders by Zoom found that teams are spending so much time collaborating that they are not actually getting work done.

While 54% of employees said summaries and actions should be sent after meetings, in reality only 39% note that they are actually sent.

Can AI fix the productivity paradox?

This is creating a productivity paradox – leaders and workers feel like they are busy – they are in meetings, they are sending emails – but, in reality, they aren’t getting productive, strategic work done that drives business growth.

According to Zoom’s survey, AI could be the answer – this is also the perspective of Avanade’s newly appointed chief AI officer Florin Rotar.

In an exclusive UNLEASH interview, Rotar shares that during the pandemic, “humans went overboard” and started to spend too much time communicating, and that had a knock-on effect on the time we all spent creating – “generative AI can rebalance that equation, [so humans] can get more time to create more”.

Zoom’s report found that 75% of leaders whose teams use AI collaborate better – even when distributed (74%), plus three quarters of leaders are making better decisions as a result of AI.

The report stated the reason for this positive impact “may be because AI can be used to automate or aid in certain tasks like sharing notes and action items after meetings, composing messages, and organizing information”.

It continued: “All these are essential for effective collaboration, but they also leave room for teams to focus on more strategic activities, decision-making, creative ideation, and other activities that move the needle.”

The issue is that, while 90% of employees believe AI is a time saver – particularly in reducing the number of repetitive tasks and giving them more time to focus on difficult tasks (89%) – 23% of workers still aren’t using AI at work.

Speaking exclusively with UNLEASH, Frederik Maris, head of EMEA at Zoom, notes: “The question then follows, how can business leaders win the hearts and minds of their employees when it comes to AI and realize its full potential?

“The answer in part lies in training and with the HR department, something that leaders clearly recognize.

“85% of leaders believe at least some training of AI benefits is needed at their company, validating the importance of educating employees about AI.

“On the other side of the coin, is the technology itself and making sure to invest in tools that are simple, intuitive and actually make employees’ lives easier. By providing education and resources from the top down businesses can address employee concerns and barriers to adoption and start reaping the rewards.”

Zoom’s research found that just 63% of companies are actually providing AI tools to their workers, and just 6 in 10 employees said they had to access to the necessary resources to leverage AI at work.

There also needs to more transparency and education around how organizations are using AI – 86% of workers aren’t sure they can trust AI’s accuracy, ad 69% don’t trust AI generally.

Zoom’s report concluded: “Training and education should focus in part on showing employees how AI can help automate or enhance certain parts of their job, leaving them with the time and bandwidth to focus on tasks that require a human touch.

“Organizations should also address concerns about trust by showing employees that issues like data privacy and handling, AI bias, and security, are top of mind when evaluating any AI tool.”