Generative AI's Impact On Creativity: Catalyst Or Constraint At Workplace?

In the midst of a technological revolution led by generative AI tools, the question arises whether these innovations could inadvertently stifle employees' creativity. Piyush Mehta, Chief Human Resources Officer, Genpact delves into the potential of generative AI to either impede or enhance creativity, while also spotlighting the critical skills required to navigate this paradigm shift. He sheds light on how businesses can embrace this new era while nurturing a human-centric ethos to ensure a balanced and productive workplace.

Can the advent of generative AI tools potentially impede employees' creativity, and what capabilities or new skills will be necessary to align with this shift?

Generative AI presents a wealth of opportunities for businesses across industries as they harness the power of data and AI to generate insights, and find new ways of working, innovating, and making decisions at speed. This disruptive technology enables businesses to accelerate speed-to-market, personalise customer experiences, enhance employee experiences, attract top talent, improve operational efficiencies, and automate processes. According to me, generative AI tools will not impede employees’ creativity, but in fact help them unlock new levels of productivity and value creation opportunities both internally and externally, driving greater innovation and agility while gaining a competitive edge.  

However, in this new world, it is not the technology that will be the differentiator, but rather the ability to use it effectively. We believe the workforce of the future needs to be “trilingual”, with deep domain expertise, digital and technology knowledge, as well as proficiency in data analytics – to maximise the potential of this next wave of AI. Additionally, employees with specialised skills in areas like data science, AI, machine learning, and data engineering, among others, will be better prepared to thrive in a fast-evolving tech environment. 

Over the past few years, AI has proved to be an invaluable tool in the HR space. However, with shiny new technologies coming out every week, what are your views on how many tools should HR function use to support their function?

With the advent of generative AI and similar technologies, AI has been democratised like never before, paving the way for mass adoption. Within the HR function, generative AI can help unlock great potential and elevate the workforce by significantly reducing the time and effort spent in doing mundane tasks. HR teams are using it to create job descriptions and job postings, draft bulk employee communication, schedule interviews, prepare learning and training material, effectively summarise employee feedback, and do sentiment analysis on top of it. All this opens up new opportunities to add value in the workplace and drive the next generation of employee engagement and talent management.

However, simply adopting the best and most updated technology is not enough. The ease with which talent can explore an opportunity and the “unanchored way” in which they can make the decision to leave is so different today, where the culture of “swipe-left, I reject,” “swipe-right, I accept” can be applied to jobs. Therefore, combining technology with a clear ambition, a defined purpose and a strong culture, aligned with the employees' changing needs is key for HR leaders to improve overall experience of employees within the company, drive engagement and retention for the long-term. 

Generative AI skilling may require collaboration across different departments and teams. How can organisations foster a culture of knowledge-sharing and cross-functional learning to maximise the benefits of AI adoption?

With every company in every industry going through a massive AI disruption, being able to bring in outside in perspectives, learning from those around us, and expanding our pool of internal stakeholders for a broader view of impact, is key to ensure business continuity and future organisational success. Fostering a robust culture to drive effective communication and collaboration requires a deep focus on transformation to adapt to the new ways of working, which is largely dependent on evolving culture, change management, processes, and creating a frictionless technology environment necessary to empower efficient and successful employees.   

At Genpact, we have clear purpose-driven tools and initiatives, contributing to our culture and enabling a more collaborative and meaningful employee experience. For instance, we use our AI-driven, scalable learning platform Genome to enable all employees, across geographies, functions, roles and work models to build “skills of the future” including data analytics, AI and generative AI, among others. To encourage collaboration, networking, and community building, we’re using Watercooler, a first-of-its kind virtual assistant, that we’ve created in partnership with Microsoft. It takes charge of seamlessly scheduling quick, informal one-on-one encounters with colleagues in the Genpact network at convenient times. Additionally, we have our AI-powered chatbot, Amber to keep a real-time pulse on employee sentiment and mood, which impacts the company’s culture tremendously. Amber reaches out to employees at key milestones of their journey with Genpact to capture their feedback and shares all this data with business and HR leaders to proactively address employee concerns. 

As a CHRO, how can organisations address potential concerns and challenges related to Generative AI skilling, such as potential job displacement or changes in job roles?

While there have been conversations about how generative AI will eliminate jobs and replace humans in the future, I believe, it will create new job opportunities for people with specialised skills in areas such as data analytics, AI, machine learning, and data engineering. Additionally, employees will be required to have a deep understanding of their domain, understand the data, and have the ability to navigate the ethical grey areas to ensure the responsible use of advanced AI technologies. This is where reskilling and upskilling talent will be key for businesses, to help employees develop the next set of skills and build career resilience for the future.

As the demand for AI-driven solutions grows, how does Genpact strike a balance between leveraging generative AI tools and maintaining a human-centric approach to ensure personalised and empathetic client interactions?

As a professional services company, we are as good as the talent we have. For us, employee experience and engagement, is critical to how we continue driving meaningful impact for our clients. Which is why, we’re deeply focused on integrating the best-in-industry technologies with a purposeful culture to create social connectedness among employees and instill a sense of belonging, shared values, and behaviors for everyone. At Genpact, our purpose – the relentless pursuit of a world that works better for people - guides us and communicates our values across the business and to our employees, clients, partners, and communities. It serves as our north star and reflects our culture.

In addition, our cultural framework embodies the behaviors that drive success for us and allows us to maintain a human-centric approach to ensure personalized and empathetic client interactions. It encourages our people to lead change by being curious, incisive, and courageous while championing integrity and inclusivity. Our strong operating culture, combined with shared a purpose, is core to how we drive innovation and growth for clients, delivering exceptional customer experiences, and making business work better.