The new tango: Employee experience in the AI age

Where has employee experience gone as a top priority for HR and business leaders? It doesn’t even show up in my news feed anymore. When I search for it with “priority” in the same sentence, I get results from the pandemic years of 2021 to 2023, but it’s been crickets ever since. Looking at 2025 surveys from PwC or Gartner, I see that technology (read: AI) has risen considerably among CEOs’ top concerns while workforce has dropped sharply. 

As a former employee experience analyst and researcher, I empathize with the workers, managers, and professionals impacted by this abrupt shift. If AI keeps dominating the headlines and CEOs’ priorities, we need to ask ourselves: What’s the role of employee experience in the AI age? I would argue it’s as vital as ever, even if it’s been forever changed. Here’s why.  

It’s (still) about human augmentation 

If you follow AI in business, you know that its two main value-adds are automation (AI takes over the work people used to do) and augmentation (AI helps people do their work better). When I look at what current AI capabilities can deliver, I’m confident that augmentation is still where we see the most value. To put it another way, human workers at all levels of an organization are dancing “the new tango” with their AI counterparts – letting the technology augment their efforts, but also improving AI with constant training and feedback, thinking creatively, catching data issues, and most importantly, making the final decisions on the important stuff.    

Deloitte argues that we’ve arrived at the point where humans can delegate tasks to machines, but I’d add that the tech still needs a lot of human supervision. Would you let AI email a key customer (or your boss) without seeing what it wrote first? If your answer is “No way,” it means AI’s main role is still to understand and elevate your work, not replace it.  

We still need all our people to perform their best, which requires us to understand what they value in their daily work and what they don’t. Many cases of AI augmentation boost both efficiency and the employee experience. But there’s no one-size-fits-all AI implementation. Your workers’ views on the technology matter, and you need to spend some time finding out what those views are.  

AI adoption means setting priorities – and that takes people 

With so many AI use cases and vendors, mustering scarce budgets and resources to maximize adoption can be a herculean effort – especially considering how quickly AI is still changing. But the job still needs to get done, and it’s going to take clear-eyed human judgment from all levels of the organization to succeed, from strategic decisions in the C-suite to daily use on the front lines.  

As users of AI applications, workers with strong employee experiences are more likely to embrace new technologies and adapt quickly to change. But the impact of employee experience goes way beyond just using AI – it’s about people feeling inspired to actively research AI, suggest new use cases, and run pilots to make your teams more effective. It also means ensuring these same people are well-informed about AI ethics and compliance to make sure you’re operating responsibly at every level.  

With AI’s current pace of evolution, it won’t be long before businesses reach parity on whatever competitive edge the technology provides straight off the shelf.

These best practices aren’t just for the major, enterprise-wide AI applications where C-level executives call the shots. They’re about the world of AI applications selected at the team or individual level. As an example, think of the AI assistants your colleagues are bringing to online meetings. Strong policies and guidelines are essential, but effective and compliant use of AI applications still depends on every individual's behavior. 

When it comes to business transformation, your people are the difference-maker  

A lot of the enthusiasm coming from investors and CEOs centers on how AI is creating new business models with unprecedented growth potential. Fewer are thinking about keeping the lights on for traditional, people-intensive models. But while AI is great at data processing, pattern recognition, and automating repetitive tasks, it can’t replicate human creativity, emotional intelligence, or the ability to think outside the box. All these elements are critical for reinventing a business. 

Remember, employees who feel valued and engaged are more likely to contribute innovative ideas that drive business growth. A positive employee experience, which includes opportunities for personal and professional development, mentorship, and recognition, is the main ingredient that motivates people to perform at their best.  

With AI’s current pace of evolution, it won’t be long before businesses reach parity on whatever competitive edge the technology provides straight off the shelf. Then we’ll come back to what has always mattered – people. And the companies that never stopped investing in a strong employee experience will become the new pacesetters.  

Preparing for the new tango 

AI is without doubt transforming the way businesses operate. But it can’t replace what makes an organization thrive: smart decisions, initiative, and innovation driven by people. For that reason, employee experience should never be seen as a nice-to-have. It goes hand-in-hand with success in the AI age.  

Here’s what you can do to make sure you’re ready for the new tango: 
 

• Enhance the open dialogue between leadership and employees: Arm your surveys, feedback loops, and analytics with more questions and data about the human-AI interaction, and don’t lose sight of how people feel about these things. Seek regular feedback on the tools and systems you implement. Make sure employees are properly trained on new AI technologies to improve adoption. 

• Couple ownership with personal development: Give workers and managers opportunities to upskill and reskill so they can make sound decisions about using AI technologies. Ensure strong ownership and accountability about these decisions at all levels. 

• Invest in team-building initiatives and promote transparent communication within teams: Encourage regular check-ins with managers and create spaces for employees to share ideas and concerns. Make sure AI tools don’t replace the human connections that drive creativity and innovation.