Workplace Digitalization Impact

In December Purdue University became the first institution in the country to approve an "AI working competency" as an official graduation requirement for undergraduates. Starting Fall 2026, incoming students at Purdue's West Lafayette and Indianapolis campuses will need to demonstrate three core AI competencies before graduating: - Understand and use AI tools effectively in their chosen fields, including being able to identify the their key strengths and limitations. - Recognize and communicate clearly about AI, including developing and defending decisions informed by AI. - Adapt to and work with future AI developments effectively. The competency will be embedded into existing programs in field-specific ways rather than extending graduation time. Each college will establish industry advisory boards to ensure workforce readiness. The contrast is striking: while Purdue requires AI competency for graduation, many higher education institutions are still debating whether to restrict or ban AI use in coursework. The divide reveals fundamentally different views on workforce preparation. This move is particularly significant given the current landscape: while Purdue requires AI competency for graduation, many higher education institutions are still debating whether to restrict or even ban AI use in coursework. The divide reveals fundamentally different views on preparing students for the workforce. Other institutions will need to decide: are they preparing students for the workforce that exists, or the one that's coming? #aiforeducation #highereducation #ailiteracy #genai

The Enterprise AI war is not about intelligence. It's about integration. "First agent to connect to all of your work apps—so it can access information and complete tasks across all of them—will probably win." David Sack Many are underestimating how quickly we get there. Today's landscape is fragmented: → 400+ hours/year lost to context switching → Knowledge trapped in dozens of siloed systems → Data "hot" for days, rarely accessed again → Valuable insights buried in unused documents The agent that solves integration unlocks: → Information flowing effortlessly across systems → Automated workflows (legal, marketing, procurement) → Persistent context, independent of apps → A single, seamless interface replacing dozens of UIs Current roadblocks for agents: → Messy data, not integration-ready → Cross-system authentication hurdles → Security policies blocking access → Difficulty maintaining cross-app context What we can possibly do in the near future: → Inbox managed entirely by personalized AI assistant → Proactive alerts predicting issues before they arise → Proposals instantly tailored from previous interactions → Self-updating documentation as processes evolve AI capabilities are exponentially growing: → AI model capabilities double every 7 months → 2019: seconds of task-handling capacity → Today: hour-long tasks handled in minutes → 2026: day-long tasks executed in hours → 2030: month-long projects completed in days This isn't just about connecting apps. Just like cloud transformed digital infrastructure, AI agents will redefine organizational intelligence. Companies that master integration won't just become more efficient, they'll set a completely new baseline. This will make traditional workflows look as obsolete as fax machines and filing cabinets.

🚨 "I wish I would have taken one of your electives. Every project in government I am working on now is a digital project." 🚨 That quote captures a real gap in public administration education. While governments worldwide struggle with digital transformation—most public policy programs still treat "digital" as a niche elective, not a core competency. That's why I'm so excited about our new paper, co-authored with Ines Mergel, Amanda Clarke, Tom Steinberg, and Jordyn Fetter in Information Polity Journal which tracks a five years effort working with academics and practitioners across innumerable countries to answer a simple question: What's the minimum public managers need to know about digital to do their jobs well? The result: 8 digital-era competencies that are now being taught in 80+ universities worldwide: 1. User-centricity in service design 2. Anticipating risks 3. Building multidisciplinary teams 4. Working iteratively 5. Navigating barriers to change 6. Working in the open 7. Data literacy 8. Assessing digital technologies This isn't about turning bureaucrats into coders. It's about giving them enough fluency to ask the right questions, spot problems early, and work effectively with specialists. Because when governments lack these skills, citizens pay the price in failed policies and broken services. The curriculum is open source and has been translated into German, Portuguese, French, Spanish, and Turkish. Over 200 professors have gone through our train-the-trainer workshops. The full paper is out now in Information Polity. Link to the paper and the syllabus in the comments. More exciting news on this work to come later this year. #DigitalGovernment #PublicAdministration #DigitalTransformation #GovTech #PublicPolicy

Last night I hooked Claude Desktop up to my Outlook calendar using an MCP server, and I'm a little annoyed at myself for not doing this sooner. As everyone now knows, the MCP (Model Context Protocol) lets AI assistants like Claude interact directly with your tools. Calendar, email, git, databases, whatever. You configure a server, authenticate, and suddenly your AI assistant isn't just answering questions. It's operating inside your actual workflow. I used a community MCP server called "outlook-mcp" from Richard Laurence Yaker (ryaker) on GitHub. It connects Claude to Outlook using the Microsoft Graph API and took about 15-20 minutes to set up. It supports full calendar management and some email functionality. The process was simple: - Registered an app in the Azure Portal. - Cloned the repo, installed dependencies. - Dropped the config into Claude Desktop. - Authenticated via OAuth. I already created a study plan and workout routine with Claude, so I told it to create a schedule and send it to my calendar. In about 45 seconds, events were popping up on my calendar. No copying and pasting. No switching tabs. No manually entering times. One conversation, plan to calendar, done. I'm testing it out personally before I bring it into my work setup, but the implications are already obvious. As SRE folks, we spend our days automating tasks to eliminate toil. The whole playbook is about removing manual steps, but somehow I was still context switching between 6 different apps just to manage my day. MCP servers help eliminate that friction. The ecosystem is growing fast, too. Google Calendar, Slack, GitHub, databases, and cloud providers. There's an MCP server for almost everything now. And if there isn't one, you can build your own. If you're in DevOps, SRE, or any technical role and you haven't explored MCP integrations yet, you're leaving productivity on the table. I know because I was. Here's the repo: https://lnkd.in/eafJff97

"Work Innovators" – high-performing companies we identified in our inaugural Upwork Research Institute flagship report – are pioneering new ways of thinking and working in every industry.   Work Innovators lead from the front, experimenting and learning with new technologies on their own, and they’re more likely to see #GenAI as a business imperative.   Our new follow-up report '7 Things Work Innovators Do Right Everyday' breaks down how the software & technology industry (and other industry segments) stack up against Work Innovators and companies in all sectors. Work Innovators are known for three key things:   1) Putting new technology, especially #GenAI, to work throughout the organization. 2) Creating distributed team best practices. 3) Opening the company’s culture to flexible talent.   Our research found that by leveraging all three practices, Work Innovator companies can surge ahead with more effective teams, greater confidence, and stronger financial performance. At an industry level, zooming in on software & technology, our research shows 68% of companies say their leadership team embraces GenAI and 63% say their organization has adopted GenAI into their overall strategy.    Check out the full report to see how your industry measures up and dive into opportunities for your company to stay ahead of the Work Innovator curve!   https://lnkd.in/gDYS4-7v 

Why Deregulation Won't Stop the Need for Digital Governance Skills In HR and Recruitment, we often view digital governance (privacy, AI ethics, and data security) as a compliance burden driven strictly by the legal landscape. We assume that if the regulations disappeared, the pressure would vanish (hello, potential delay in EU AI Act High Risk rules..) However, the latest data suggests the opposite. According to the Organizational Digital Governance Report 2025 by the IAPP, 87% of organisations would continue to invest in and support digital governance activities even in a deregulated environment. Why would businesses maintain these strict standards voluntarily? The drivers have shifted from legal necessity to brand survival. The top two factors motivating organisations to deliver on digital governance are now impact on reputation (87%) and consumer expectations (79%). What does this mean for HR leaders? If governance is no longer just about avoiding fines, but about maintaining trust, the responsibility moves closer to the People function. We are moving away from governance as a legal checklist and towards governance as a cultural competency. Three key takeaways for your talent strategy: Training is an Innovation Driver: 32% of respondents cited workforce training as a primary incentive for digital innovation. We must equip our teams not just with technical skills, but with the ethical frameworks to make decisions that protect the organisation’s reputation. Adaptability is Essential: 60% of organisations take a global approach to governance but with variations based on local requirements. Your talent pipeline needs leaders who can navigate a fragmented regulatory map, balancing global standards with local nuance. Risk is Now Reputational: With 'Technological Risk' cited by 62% of organisations as a motivator, our recruitment processes for technical roles must assess candidates for their understanding of risk and ethics, not just their coding ability. As we integrate AI deeper into our workforce, the question is not "is this legal?", but "does this align with the reputation we are trying to build?".

New research shows a hidden leadership bias: Managers say unplugging boosts performance - but still penalize people who do it. When I led hybrid and distributed teams while working remotely for The Clorox Company, I encouraged my team to unplug -  especially during vacations or holiday weekends. And I meant it. I did unplug during vacation. But after-hours during the workweek? That was harder. I was 3,000 miles and 3 time zones away from HQ. As remote work experiment for Clorox from 2010-2018, I felt pressure to always be online. Hyper-available. Ultra-responsive. Because I believed I had to prove I was just as committed as when I was in the HQ building. 💡That pressure has a name: 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗶𝘀𝗺. According to research from Qatalog and GitLab, workers spend 67 extra minutes online each day to appear present - not to get more done. That means that across 8 years, I may have spent 2,200 hours proving I was “on.” Now, new research covered by Axios confirms that employees’ careers can actually be negatively impacted if they are unplugging. 👉 It is called the 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘅. Professors Eva Buechel & Elisa Solinas reviewed 16 studies with 7,800 participants to explore this question: 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥? 🤔 Managers reported that employees who unplugged would be more productive upon their return, but then rated them as less committed and less promotable than their more plugged-in colleagues. This bias showed up even when: – Performance was higher – The reason for unplugging was caregiving – The manager said they supported work-life balance It’s a contradiction that breeds burnout and hurts high performers. So, what can we do? 🔄 Redefine commitment. Stop equating responsiveness with dedication. 🔌 Give proactive permission - and back it with structure: 1️⃣ Help your team prioritize so time off isn’t followed by a tidal wave of work. 2️⃣ Set expectations around offline hours - and honor them. This means understanding what time zones your team members are located in. 3️⃣ Model it. People follow what you do, not just what you say. 🧠 Examine your own biases during performance reviews and calibrations for: – the Detachment Paradox – Distance Bias Do you feel pressure to prove you’re working after-hours, or worry your team does? 🗞️ News coverage in Axios: https://lnkd.in/emQvCQ-A 🔍 Research by Eva Buechel & Elisa Solinas published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes and in Harvard Business Review

AI is making us more productive—yet we're working longer hours?! This counterintuitive finding from a new NBER study exposes what I call the "productivity paradox". The study shows that employees in roles where AI is involved are working longer hours and have less time for fun, even if they are working more efficiently. The long awaited 4-hour workday put forth by the technological utopians seems further away than ever. This highlights a foundational issue: Who reaps the rewards from AI ramping up productivity? Without some kind of assurance that workers will share in this bounty, there's a palpable danger that AI will just be another tool making us work all the harder—without very much downtime. Companies that wish to harness the remarkable power of AI must first acknowledge that simply raking in all the productivity gains from it for themselves will backfire. When people see AI as something that makes their jobs even harder and doesn't credibly give them any added boosts, they're less likely to whole-heartedly adopt it, and AI's full potential might not be harnessed. The answer is not to restrict AI but to put in place profit-sharing plans or do something else that's smart and ensures everyone shares in the value created. Otherwise, we're just repeating industrial-era patterns with shiny new digital tools. What are your thoughts? Is AI enhancing your work-life balance or making your workday longer?

Digital technology is supposed to free healthcare workers to focus on important work and enjoy more leisure time. But history suggests it may paradoxically make us even busier. For example, in his 1930 essay titled "Economic Possibilities For Our Grandchildren," the economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that new technology would enable his grandchildren to work just 15 hours a week. We know how that turned out. In her 1963 classic book, “The Feminine Mystique,” Betty Friedan explained that “even with all the new labor-saving appliances [e.g., dishwashers and washing machines] the modern American housewife probably spends more time on housework than her grandmother.” Most recently, Cal Newport has described how digitization has created a “hyperactive hive mind,” forcing knowledge workers to multitask constantly.   How could this be? For one, Parkinson’s Law explains that work expands to fill the time available, regardless of the amount of work to be done. For example, for 1960s housewives, less time spent handwashing clothes or dishes meant more time to polish the floor and iron the window drapes. Second, as Tim Wu explained in this compelling New Yorker essay, “As every individual task becomes easier, we demand much more of both ourselves and others. Instead of fewer difficult tasks (writing several long letters) we are left with a larger volume of small tasks (writing hundreds of e-mails). We have become plagued by a tyranny of tiny tasks, individually simple but collectively oppressive. And, when every task in life is easy, there remains just one profession left: multitasking.” None of this is to say we should we should resist healthcare automation and digital tools. But we must carefully examine claims that new technology will free us. We should recognize we may be even busier. And we must work to ensure we spend any newly found time on work that matters. As the Jesuit scholar John Culkin explained, "We shape our tools and then our tools shape us." https://bit.ly/3yBLB77

On any given weekday, when your manager drops an e-mail bomb on you in the post-working hours (say 7.30 or 8 PM), why do you choose to respond? Does the ticking time bomb make you feel anxious and influence your choice to respond? Do you derive the decision to respond solely based on insecurity? Hybrid and remote work have blurred the lines between personal and professional life. But let’s be honest— we are responsible for the choices we make, including responding to emails post working hours. Managers will manage; organizations will have an unsaid expectation of your availability 24x7; it is us as employees who need to draw the boundary and start respecting our as well as everyone else’s time. As employees, here are a few #growthhacks to better manage such situations- · Expectation setting - Inform your managers about your working hours. Give them clarity about your unavailability and draw the line. Start today and avoid deviations yourselves! · When you work, deliver your 100% – Ensure you are dedicated to your work deliverables in a timely manner and be mindful of taking long extended breaks. While incremental breaks are good for camaraderie, it does mean that you are eating out of your actual working hours, which impacts your working hours. · If you are a manager – Add a message on your email signature citing ‘Our work times and time zones might differ, please do not feel obliged to respond to this communication’. By creating space for people to truly disconnect and providing them with space and #psychologicalsafety - we foster a #culture that prioritizes holistic well-being over relentless productivity. The boundaries we set now will lead to healthier, more engaged employees tomorrow. We will be able to create an impact to change the below metrics: · Burnout - According to a study by Deloitte, 40% of remote workers feel burned out because they struggle to switch off. · Trends like #Quietquitting & #greatresignations – EY’s global survey revealed that 39% of employees are actively seeking new roles due to poor #worklifebalance · Kantar's data is clear: Over 60% of Gen Z workers prioritize #mentalhealth and #worklifebalance when choosing employers. If we fail to address this now, we’re giving them every reason to leave. On August 26th, Australia implemented its long-anticipated #righttodisconnect law, giving #employees the right to refuse employer contact outside of working hours. While I welcome this undertaking, I also feel that it should not take legislation for us to respect basic #workplace boundaries and avoid #burnout of our teams. This conversation is bigger than just today—it’s about the #futureofwork for generations to come. As we start a new week and a new month today, the onus lies on us to start the dialog and initiate this #change Can we really fight the ticking time bomb and win the battle within? #leadership #HR