AI Gave You Back 8 Hours... Now What?
What will we do with more time at work?
The results from efficiency initiatives integrating AI into our workflows has shown between a 20% to 40% increase in productivity. That is amazing, right? So, let’s say you gain 8 hours, maybe 16 hours, each week. What will you do with that time?
It is a big question as most of us are wrapped up in our busyness. When I ask someone how they are doing or feeling, they respond with “I am super busy.” That is not what I asked.
But we have moved to this place where being busy is seen as the objective. If I am busy, then I must be doing okay. But we are not happy with our busyness – it keeps us away from investing in ourselves to exercise and main our fitness, it takes time from being with our families and friends, and it weighs on our minds beyond “working” hours as a torrent of the things we have not finished.
Consequences...
Busyness has increased our levels of stress, hurt our ability to cope, and isolated us from the important people around us. And now we have this incredible – beyond amazing – tool called AI that can remove the repetitive, mundane, and mind-numbing tasks from our days.
We will get back time. We feel exhalated just thinking about those extra hours to be in our weeks – just think what we will be able to do. That is the question, what will leaders and employees do with the time freed up by AI efficiencies, and then in the time ahead, from AI agents able to manage more in-depth activities.
When I asked the question to employees in the Canadian study of AI in the Workforce, the top answers were fascinating – they all related to being more human. People wanted to have time to be more creating, to connect with their co-workers (and have time to be with their friends and families), and gain the room for true problem-solving.
And on a funny note, the most popular answers to what everyone wanted less of through the implementation of AI – meetings. So, we want to learn to be more human and not waste our time in meaningless meetings. But do we know how to do that – be more productive in less time and not feel guilty about being less busy.
One of the essential aspects of planning an AI solution is the need to identify where the hours freed up will go. If not, employees will be left questioning their sense of identity and worth. It sounds cracked, I know, but it is there. One of the most fundamental aspects of resistance to AI is not knowing what the additional hours will be used for.
As we look at integrating AI into the workflow of a business – or function – we need to plan where time will be re-directed, involving the perspectives of the people whose time will be more open. I ask the question of employees up front – if this AI intervention provided you with 8 open hours each week, what would you do with it. The first answer – leave work on time and leave the work there. Nice. And then it almost always goes to spending more time interacting with customers, colleagues, or team members.
All these objectives are directly linked to increased productivity and profitability. We may need training in how to have relationships again, as we have been putting them off.
A key training for an AI project is always emotional intelligence, before learning the actual technology. So, this is why I think AI is a necessity for all businesses.
At a time of potential tariffs and trumpeting notes of turbulence and change, AI has the distinct advantage of increasing productivity, keeping jobs in place, and reducing the stress we carry from our work. And beyond the amazing technology, we need to focus on how we will use our ‘new’ time and reframe our sense of being from busyness to connecting to create value.
Find out how your business can uncover more profits and more time, with less stress – by looking at how AI can create efficiencies and more meaningful use of our hours. When AI clears your schedule, will you reinvest in busyness or finally prioritize what matters.
Find out how to ask the question by touching base with me at michael@workinsights.io and check out our SME AI Adoption Fund for grants on getting a grip on AI.