As AI changes the nature of how we work and the tasks we complete, employers and workers will need to redefine productivity to measure strategic work that is uniquely human.
At the World Economic Forum’s 56th Annual Meeting at Davos, ADP chief economist Nela Richardson discusses how productivity will look different in the future of work.
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Dr. Nela Richardson, ADP Chief Economist and ESG Officer
So it's all about, to me, redefining productivity, not just, productivity at the macro level, but at the granular task based level.
Kristen Burkhalter, Executive Vice President, Axios Live
I love what you said- and you said this when we spoke before-that jobs are not being destroyed. Tasks are being destroyed. I just want to double down on that. I think that's super relevant. And also, you know, leads into my next question, which is that AI is augmenting, right? Not automating. And so our workers feeling more productive?
Dr. Nela Richardson
Probably not. And the reason is if you think about what we feel productive often is checking, you know, checking the box on our task list, I responded to this many emails. I summarized this document, I return these phone calls. What if AI did all that for us? And really now our job is I created this amazing business strategy that will lead us into the future.
Well, that is harder to measure. And so we may not feel productive because our work is changing so quickly. But also because we are developing these higher functioning tasks and that is cloudy a little bit. Before it gets translated and executed, monetized, or put into some form of value. So it's all about, to me, redefining productivity, not just, productivity at the macro level, but at the granular task based level.
