As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes the workplace, a new and contentious trend is emerging: companies increasingly tying employee promotions and bonuses to their use of AI tools. While this approach aims to boost productivity and innovation, it raises complex questions about fairness, job security, and the true value of human expertise in an AI-driven economy.
From Productivity Booster to Performance Metric
For many employees, proficiency with AI is no longer just a helpful skill—it’s becoming a core criterion for career advancement. Duncan Trevithick, a marketing professional based in Spain, finds himself in a paradoxical position. His company offers bonuses based on how effectively staff use AI to accelerate their work. While this incentivizes efficiency, Trevithick worries that it also sets a new, higher baseline for output without corresponding increases in compensation or time off.
“If I use AI to complete two days’ worth of work each week, I don’t get two days off or a pay rise,” he explains. “Instead, that higher output just becomes the new normal.” This dynamic, he fears, could ultimately make some roles redundant, as AI automates more tasks—leaving employees caught between driving productivity and safeguarding their own job security.
Corporate Push for AI Fluency and Its Workforce Implications
Major corporations are formalizing AI use as a marker of employee value. Accenture’s CEO Julie Sweet has publicly stated that AI is integral to how the company operates, and employees must demonstrate AI competence to progress. Companies like Disney, Meta, JP Morgan, and KPMG have introduced “AI leaderboards” to track and rank individual AI usage. Meanwhile, Coinbase has taken the drastic step of terminating staff who failed to complete AI training.
This aggressive push reflects a broader corporate urgency to justify investments in AI technology, especially as a McKinsey report reveals that 94% of companies have yet to realize significant AI-driven value. In a tight labor market, employees feel compelled to adapt quickly or risk falling behind.
However, this shift is creating a “two-tier workforce,” according to a senior US executive who requested anonymity. Employees with AI fluency are rapidly outpacing equally experienced colleagues who are slower to adopt these tools. This disparity is impacting promotion timelines and perceived value, raising concerns about whether traditional experience and credentials are being unfairly sidelined.
Legal and Ethical Questions Around AI-Based Promotions
Employment lawyers acknowledge that while companies are legally permitted to incorporate AI use into performance evaluations, this practice opens thorny issues around fairness and expectations. Tina Chander, a partner at Weightmans, highlights the dilemma: if AI enables employees to produce more work, should employers raise productivity targets without adjusting rewards accordingly? Or does this effectively encourage employees to make themselves redundant?
Clear policies and communication are crucial to prevent disputes over job security and performance standards. Yet many workers report a lack of transparency about why AI proficiency is suddenly so critical and what it means for their roles in the long term.
Human resources consultant Tina Rahman stresses that employers often fail to explain that AI adoption is not just about efficiency but also about cutting costs and reducing outsourcing. Without this clarity, employees may feel blindsided by shifting expectations.
The Risk of Performative AI Usage
Mandating AI use can backfire if it becomes a box-ticking exercise rather than a genuine productivity enhancer. Kamila Miller, an applied AI researcher, warns that making AI usage a key performance indicator can encourage superficial compliance rather than meaningful skill development. Employees might route unnecessary tasks through AI or generate AI-style outputs simply to meet metrics, without improving decision-making or creativity.
Such performative adoption risks reducing employees to obedient operators of technology rather than empowered professionals leveraging AI as a tool.
Some companies are already reconsidering their approach. Duolingo’s CEO Luis von Ahn recently announced that AI use would no longer factor into performance reviews, emphasizing that quality of work remains paramount. Similarly, Amazon discontinued its internal AI leaderboard after employees gamed the system by assigning needless tasks to AI.
Adapting to a New Reality: Navigating AI’s Impact on Careers
Despite these setbacks, many employees feel they have no choice but to embrace AI fluency. Pamela, a senior executive in the US nearing retirement, is actively showcasing how AI helps her win clients to protect her standing and benefits. For younger workers like Trevithick, the strategy is to innovate and create new value streams that leverage AI, rather than compete with it.
Ultimately, the integration of AI into performance metrics forces a reckoning with the evolving nature of work. It challenges companies to balance technological progress with fairness and transparency, while compelling employees to continuously adapt or risk obsolescence.
As AI continues to permeate the workplace, the question remains: will promotion based on AI proficiency become a fair reflection of future-ready skills, or a new form of workplace inequality?
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