More than half of British employers expect AI to increase headcount over the next two years

A new survey shows British employers have a positive outlook on the potential that AI technologies have to increase the number of jobs and improve recruitment, upskilling and employee engagement.

The findings come from a new survey of over 2,000 British employers by Experis. 54% of employers believe AI could have a positive effect on staff headcount in the next two years. More than two-thirds expect AI tools and technologies (including ChatGPT, machine learning and virtual reality) to positively affect upskilling and reskilling (69%) and employee training (68%); 67% of organisations anticipate that employee engagement will improve; 60% believe it will be able to improve the employee onboarding process. This optimism extends to the metaverse, with 65% expecting it to have a positive impact on the working world by better connecting people (although 63% have no experience using it in a professional context).

Rahul Kumar, Director at Experis, noted that AI offered an opportunity to remove transactional and repetitive aspects of a role. ‘If we take customer service call centre roles for example, harnessing tech and AI for repetitive call queries can free staff to provide a better service, focusing on the more complex issues that require full human attention and empathy.’

Source: AI to boost staff headcount, according to half of Britain’s employers, experis.co.uk, 8 June 2023