Can AI help companies boost employee well-being?

This article is part of "Workforce Innovation," a series exploring the forces shaping enterprise transformation.

Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, artificial intelligence has been hailed as the answer to technical challenges such as optimizing systems and machinery and managing vast amounts of data. Now some companies are turning to AI to tackle the human side of business: employee well-being.

Employers including Navistar, Adidas, and Cisco are experimenting with AI to monitor employee sentiment, strengthen relationships, and provide opportunities for personal and professional growth. The goal is to help managers respond to emerging trends within their teams while making sure employees get timely access to support.

The rise of remote work and a new generation of workers with different needs and expectations have forced companies to rethink the employee experience. With distributed teams and fewer face-to-face interactions, staffers are experiencing more loneliness and disconnection. AI offers a way for some employers to bridge the gap.

To be clear: As companies and investors channel billions of dollars into AI, applications to boost employee well-being are a small fraction of the focus. But while few companies are pursuing this now, more could follow, said Matt Beane, an assistant professor of technology management at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

"Companies might experiment because engagement is so important and the pain is significant — especially since talent today is mobile," he said.

Beane said he found these efforts "genuinely exciting" but described many drawbacks. "When new technology rolls out, the first 10 to 40 years are often filled with waste, confusion, and sometimes even harm," he said.

Helping managers get a vibe check

Employee well-being is a somewhat squishy term that encompasses workers' mental, physical, emotional, and economic health. But despite its seemingly nebulous nature, a workforce's well-being has real bottom-line implications. Studies suggest that improving employee well-being can increase engagement and productivity. And Gallup's research indicates that organizations with higher engagement have greater profitability, retention, and performance.

Still, employers have long struggled to grasp how employees feel about their jobs, colleagues, and workload. Some have relied on annual engagement surveys, which can be slow to analyze and interpret.

Mike Conover, the head of learning consultation and delivery at Navistar, a manufacturer of trucks and diesel engines, is familiar with this problem: His seven-member team is spread across the US. "When you don't see someone in the office and you can't pick up on their demeanor or facial expressions, it's hard to gauge," he said.

For the past several months, Conover's team has piloted Rapport, an AI tool designed to support employees and managers. Rapport, which is integrated with email, Slack, and Teams, asks employees to rate their energy level and workload using emojis daily. It follows up with tailored questions to dig deeper into their responses, which are shared with managers only with the employee's permission.

The tool alerts Conover about important changes or times he needs to step in, along with tips on how to handle the situation based on research from Columbia University. The tool helps Conover connect employees with Navistar's internal resources, whether they need HR support or help with a work-related problem.

"It breaks down the walls of management," he said. "As a newer leader, sometimes you don't know how to handle things."

From feedback to action items

Many of these AI tools can also spot potential issues and make recommendations.

Adidas, the sportswear giant, uses Qualtrics Assist, an AI agent that looks at pulse-survey data along with unstructured data like public reviews or anonymized conversations on internal communication platforms. Combining this with details like work hours, location, and tenure can help managers better understand employee engagement.

Managers can use the tool to get advice on their engagement results. For instance, a manager might ask "How well is my team working together?" or "How can I improve my team's overall experience?" Qualtrics Assist analyzes the data and offers insights and suggestions based on industry benchmarks and best practices.

The company says the aim is to let "managers have a conversation with the data to understand the lived experience of their team members."

"We leveraged AI to democratize insights, reduce bias, and save time," Sebastian Projahn, a senior director of people insights at Adidas, said in May at a summit in Salt Lake City. "Managers can focus on driving impact rather than interpreting data and reading lots of comments."

Trevor Keavney, a director in Gartner's HR advisory practice, said these AI tools could be helpful for new leaders, but he mentioned a few concerns. "There's still a lot of uncertainty about AI, and some employees may have reservations," he said. "They might wonder how their data is being collected and used, and whether they're comfortable with their manager having access to this information."

Another challenge arises if managers take time to collect feedback but don't act on it. "When employees see no changes based on their feedback, they may lose trust in the process," Keavney said.

Practical support and help with HR

Other companies are using AI to help employees make use of their benefits.

This year, Cisco launched an internal bot called WellNest on Webex. Employees fill out a brief intake survey and then receive daily personalized questions related to their financial health, physical fitness, focus, or social connections. Based on their responses, the bot offers two recommendations: a practical "Thrive Microstep" and a relevant Cisco resource. The bot's suggestions are designed to become more personalized over time as it learns from employee conversations.

In August, meQuilibrium launched an AI-powered dashboard focused on mental health and resilience. In a feature called Ask meQ, employees select prompts like "I want to boost my emotional intelligence" or "I want to be more present," and the dashboard provides relevant activities and articles.

The tool's employee assessment is designed to help identify an employee's risk of anxiety, depression, and burnout and recommend relevant resources. If it detects a risk of depression, for instance, the dashboard might highlight employee-assistance-program resources or suggest virtual therapy. If it identifies a need for more physical activity, it might recommend a gym-membership benefit.

The engineering company KBR is piloting this technology. "Most of the time employees approach us knowing that we have a lot of resources for them, but they don't know where to start," Ashley Owens, a senior specialist in global mental health and fitness at KBR, said in an email. "This dashboard gives us the ability to identify needs in a region or in a demographic and allows us to maximize our time, resources, and funding."

Beane, the researcher at UCSB, suggested that companies with strong engagement and positive manager-employee relations are better positioned to benefit from these AI applications. In other words, AI reinforces existing strengths.

But if AI is seen as replacing meaningful human interactions, it could face resistance. "If a company is struggling in these areas, investing in robots might be seen as problematic," he said.