United Kingdom Leads as Employers Prioritize Consulting Employees on Technological Changes

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published a report for the 2023 labor market and artificial intelligence focusing on the manufacturing and financial sectors. The OECD Outlook 2023 gives a deeper understanding of the benefits and downsides of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace.

According to OECD Outlook 2023, the United Kingdom proves to be the foremost among other countries when it comes to the active engagement of employers in consulting their employees and the worker representatives regarding the usage of artificial intelligence at the workplace. Ireland and Germany come next to the United Kingdom, but the United States and France are far behind in the list of countries actively involved in consulting workers about the use of new technology. The report by OECD also holds that artificial intelligence can contribute to the workplace by enhancing job quality and performance. The report provides more information on the finance topic; the companies who consult their workers and representatives on the new changes in finance have an 18 percent increase compared to those who did not confer on the same. In the manufacturing sector, a 19-percentage point difference is there for the reasons mentioned above. As per the information from other studies, it is very unclear whether the consultations are based on encouraging the workers to adopt the artificial intelligence positively into their work safely and productively or to enable the growing perceptions of artificial intelligence. However, the most discussed topics are based on the upgradation of skills and training needed for the same.

For the manufacturing sector, the employer-employee discussion is most likely to be on topics related to the impact of AI in the workplace. In the finance case, it is about the use of data. According to the report by OECD, 60 percent of employers consult the workers in finance, followed by 65 percent in the manufacturing sector. These consultations have resulted in changes in adopting new AI strategies.