Worried About Worker Shortages, Business Leaders Are Optimistic About AI’s Impact

Boosting productivity could ease the need to add staff.

As ChatGPT and a wave of other user-friendly AI tools have entered the marketplace, more and more people are asking what artificial intelligence could mean for companies and their employees.  

As part of this year’s Working Capital Survey, C2FO asked more than 1,000 business leaders about their views on AI. Did they think it was going to hurt or hinder growth at their companies?

A majority of 54% said they expect AI to have a positive impact on their businesses this year. That’s compared to the 12% who expect negative results and the 35% who predict it won’t have any effect. 

In fact, no other topic on the survey list was viewed more positively than AI. That was true for 2023, too — 50% of respondents said AI benefited them last year. 

And despite fears to the contrary, it doesn’t look like companies are racing to replace human beings with AI, either. 

Some are, of course. About 18% of all respondents said they plan to replace some workers with AI. 

But the largest group — 54% — instead is planning to use AI to augment and support their existing workforce. About 3% are going to use it in other ways, while 19% won’t employ the technology at all. 

Can we ease worker shortages with AI?

Business leaders may be optimistic about AI because it could help them solve another problem: worker shortages.

About 49% of Working Capital Survey respondents expect a lack of workers will have a negative impact on their company’s growth in 2024. It was the No. 3 most-cited threat in this year’s survey. 

A related concern, wage increases, was cited by 35% of those surveyed. 

And competition for workers is strong right now. In February, the euro area reported an unemployment rate of 6.5%, near the record low. The UK unemployment rate from January to March was 4.3%. 

The theory is that artificial intelligence could make current employees more productive, reducing the need to hire additional workers. 

So, does AI actually increase worker performance? 

Access Partnership and Amazon Web Services conducted a survey of workers and employers in the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Germany. The survey 86% of employers plan to use AI tools by 2028. The estimate is that AI could increase productivity by 39%.

Benefits for high and low performers

Another study — this one from the US National Bureau of Economic Research — looked at what happened when customer service reps at a Fortune 500 software firm were given access to an AI chat tool.  

On average, workers were 14% more productive if they had access to the tool, compared to those who didn’t. Productivity gains were even bigger — up to 35% — for the least-skilled, least-experienced employees.

As experts at Stanford University noted, that’s a huge improvement. A lot of times, companies are happy to produce gains of 1% or 2% when they adopt a new piece of technology. 

The study’s AI tool monitored the company’s top-performing customer reps and, based on their results, used that info to coach less-skilled workers. Experts found this interesting for two reasons. 

Technology has tended to benefit higher-skilled workers, but in this case, it helped level up lower-performing staffers. But there was also a measure of protection for high-performing workers, too: They were the models used by the AI to teach the other workers.

The bottom line about AI and worker shortages 

Business leaders tend to be more optimistic about the potential for AI because they hope it can help solve a big and ongoing problem: In many regions, it’s hard to find workers right now. 

Funding larger experiments in AI, especially custom implementations, could require more working capital. Businesses can find the funding for that work by accelerating payments on their outstanding invoices — learn how C2FO can help here.

Download your copy of the 2024 Working Capital Survey here.