New survey data from SAP reveals a strong link between employee AI literacy and employee sentiment on AI in the workplace.

More AI literate people feel less fearful about using AI at work than their less literate colleagues, according to a survey of 4,000 employees and managers, released this week by SAP SuccessFactors.

Nearly 70% of people with high AI literacy expected positive outcomes from using AI at work, compared to 29% of people with low AI literacy, the study found. Additionally, people with low AI literacy were more than six times more likely to feel apprehensive, seven times more likely to feel afraid, and more than eight times more likely to feel distressed about using AI at work than those with high AI literacy.

So what’s HR to do? As AI tools make their way to the workflow, HR and learning and development (L&D) teams can also work to spread basic AI literacy.

Keep reading here.—AD

SHRM, the HR industry’s largest association, made waves over the summer when it changed its approach to DE&I, shifting its focus to inclusion and removing language around equity. This week, the organization is hosting Inclusion, its annual DE&I conference, at the height of the 2024 election cycle, the results of which could impact the future of diversity programs.

CEO Johnny C. Taylor opened the conference on the morning of election day, and addressed the elephant in the room head on. In front of a packed convention center ballroom in Aurora, CO, a city that’s become a central talking point for Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, he recounted a recent call he received from a connection in Ghana, who described election day in the US as “a big day for the world.”

“The entire world is watching what happens today and, more importantly, what happens tomorrow and the days following this election, especially in the workplace.”

Taylor also speculated that the results will impact how workers feel about each other.

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Grace Manning is director of employer and alumni relations at Hopeworks, a nonprofit organization based in Philadelphia and South New Jersey, offering workforce development programs to young adults.

Through training programs, paid internships, and placement services with local employers, Hopeworks helps young, diverse professionals ages 17 to 26 get their foot in corporate America’s door. As director of employer and alumni relations, Manning helps place Hopeworks’ participants (usually 150 at any given time) land work at companies including Subaru, public utility company American Water, and cloud computing firm Akamai.

“I act as, essentially, like a headhunter for our young professionals in our program, and for our partners, I act as kind of a no-fee staffing agency,” she said of her role. In 2021, Manning also developed the nonprofit’s alumni network, which offers support with career advancement and mentorship, salary negotiation, and even planning for homeownership.

“Part of our goal is…we’re putting them into roles, and they’re getting into positions where they work for great companies that have some of those resources. But even then, we have some alumni who work for some pretty large organizations, it can be hard to figure out how to navigate that,” she said. “So [we’re] acting as a continued mentor, career coach for them, to advocate for themselves, and find those spaces.”

Keep reading here.—PM