World of work in transition: AI requires a comprehensive knowledge offensive

The "Platform" is the political alliance of eight independent and solution-oriented employee and professional associations. It deals with the impact of technological developments on the world of work - be it through digitalization in a broader sense or AI in particular. As scientific studies show that service and knowledge professions are particularly affected by AI in the world of work, the alliance conducted a survey of its 85,000 or so members on attitudes, use and skills in the field of AI in the workplace.

The results provide valuable insights into the perceptions and challenges of professionals in Switzerland. "As the technological development of AI is often only viewed from a technical and functional perspective, it is essential for the association to also look at the social, economic and political challenges associated with AI," says Ursula Häfliger, Managing Director of the platform.

Function and level of education influence attitudes towards AI

The results of the survey show that knowledge workers are indeed already strongly affected by AI in the world of work. Attitudes towards AI depend heavily on job function and level of education: while employees in higher functions and with a higher level of education see great opportunities through the use of AI - especially for the economy - less well-educated employees in lower functions are more skeptical. At the same time, scenarios regarding the negative effects of AI on society are more common among better-educated professionals. Issues such as influencing public debates, a potential decrease in social contacts and widespread surveillance are cited as challenges.

Despite widespread use: great need for AI skills

Around half of the respondents (48%) use (generative) AI at work, while 32% state that they do not use AI. The remaining 20% are unsure or do not specify. Younger employees and people in higher functions in particular are increasingly relying on the use of AI. "Easily accessible applications based on AI are already frequently used at work, but there is a great need for more know-how about AI for one's own work," explains Häfliger.

The fact is: 80% of respondents need more knowledge and skills to be able to effectively integrate AI into their work. This need is particularly pronounced among employees in lower functions. In addition, only a third of employees without a management function believe that their superiors are sufficiently informed about AI. Managers are similarly skeptical about their employees' knowledge.

Neither strategy nor support in the companies

A key finding of the survey is that only 23% of companies have a clear AI strategy. There is a great deal of uncertainty in this regard, particularly among lower and middle management. In addition, employees are inadequately prepared for the use of AI - there is a lack of guidelines on its use and training opportunities as well as suggestions for integrating AI into process optimization.

Comparison with the Digital Barometer 2024

The Mobiliar Digital Barometer measures the mood of the Swiss population towards digitalization every year. In 2024, the focus was on AI. The association has adopted eight questions on digitalization and AI from the Digital Barometer for comparison purposes. The results show that professionals from the service sector and the knowledge professions are significantly more progressive with regard to digitalization and AI than the population as a whole. While the platform members surveyed rate the degree of digitalization of their work at an average of 7.3 out of 10 points, this value is only 5.6 for the population as a whole. 57% of the respondents in the platform survey also have a positive attitude towards AI, compared to only 35% in the population as a whole. The use of AI in the workplace is also higher among the platform members surveyed: only 24% state that they never use (generative) AI because they do not need it in their work, compared to 46% in the population as a whole.

The platform will incorporate the findings of its survey into its future political work and continue to advocate for workers in the service and knowledge professions to be fully prepared for the digital transformation. This requires an inclusive and labor market-oriented development of AI skills for professionals.

Source: www.die-plattform.ch