Workday, Microsoft, and Guild execs share how they’re deploying AI with employees

As AI infiltrates most aspects of life and work, many remain hesitant to use the emerging technology or are concerned it may replace them. Employers, meanwhile, are navigating how to deploy AI while continuing to engage employees.

At Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit this week, executives from Workday, Microsoft, and Guild shared their approach to AI education, and how to remain authentic in an AI agent world.

Continuous education and feedback. AI is as complex as any business function, so companies should create systems tailored to their unique goals and employees, according to Katy George, CVP of workforce transformation at Microsoft. “AI can drive a whole variety of different performance outcomes. And what’s really critical is that the business leaders, not the tech folks…identify what matters, and then drive the connection of AI into their business processes.”

Workday analyzes business tools through three lenses: efficiency, risk mitigation, and talent amplification, Aashna Kircher, group general manager of CHRO products at Workday, told the room of female executives. “The biggest power is in where we amplify talent…it’s giving people access to information or data at their fingertips that they never had before that makes them infinitely better at their particular job,” she said. “The most important thing is anchoring them [employees] on AI as a catalyst for growth.”

Earlier this year, Workday launched Everyday AI, an initiative to encourage AI adoption among employees, HR Brew previously reported. The program is tailored to employees, in part based on their existing AI mindset, whether all-in on the technology, or skeptical.

George emphasized the importance of engaging workers in the process. “We know from other types of work transformation that you need employees to be the people who redesign their own work,” she said, noting that Microsoft runs AI bootcamps that aim to give employees the tools and exercises needed to gain a new perspective on their role and job function. “What we’re finding is that there’s a set of messaging, but there’s also a way of really engaging employees in a way that really helps them see what’s in it for them.”

As jobs and technology rapidly change, the challenge for Microsoft is creating jobs, career paths, and education that can help workers learn the AI skills they need to thrive. “What you’re trying to do is actually teach the humans the judgment that they need, and really designing jobs thoughtfully to take advantage of the productivity opportunities, but also build cognitive engagement and learning to build a judgment that’s required even earlier than before,” George said.

AI skills shouldn’t just be taught on the job—they should also be taught in the classroom. That’s why some companies are working with academic institutions to prepare students for the AI-enabled workforce. “We meet with employers, we aggregate what their demands are, and then we go back out to our academic institutions,” Bijal Shah, CEO of Guild, said.

Authenticity is still key. The panelists noted that AI is meant to augment processes, but employers still need to support and engage workers.

Companies should pause before using AI, for example, to write employee performance reviews. “Figuring out the right context and channels that makes sense for AI to completely assume the task versus take a first draft and then have to be tailored in a way that only you can add context, or your voice, both of those things are keeping whatever in the situation,” Kircher said.

“You do have to be really careful about the types of things you communicate, where it’s AI-generated, versus things that you are producing yourself,” Shah said, noting that AI-assisted communication can be received negatively. “People need to know that when I’m communicating things to our company that is coming from me, and that I wrote it and that I took the time and effort to actually sit down and think through what I wanted to communicate.”