Jobs and the Future of Work

2025: the year companies prepare to disrupt how work gets done

AI will free up workers to focus on people-centric tasks.

AI will free up workers to focus on people-centric tasks. Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Dan Shapero
Chief Operating Officer, LinkedIn
This article is part of: World Economic Forum Annual Meeting
  • AI is accelerating work change – by 2030, 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change.
  • 80% of C-suite executives believe AI will kickstart a culture shift where teams are more innovative.
  • Leaders must lead from the front as they embed AI into operations and processes.

The world of work has changed enormously in the last two decades. Mobile devices, e-commerce, and social media have all impacted how and where we work. But what’s new now is how AI is starting to drive the next wave of change. It’s creating demand for new jobs and skills, transforming roles and careers, and spurring productivity and innovation.

With this change, executives know they need to disrupt how their teams get work done. We are entering one of the largest change management exercises in history, and every business leader and professional will need to embrace it in order to unlock the value of AI. This will usher in a level of transformation that organizations and employees have never witnessed before.

Have you read?

LinkedIn’s new Work Change Report: AI Is Coming To Work highlights the fact that more than 10% of professionals hired today have job titles that didn’t even exist in 2000 – roles like AI Engineer and Head of AI. But AI is accelerating the pace of change, and by 2030 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change. It’s clear that even if you’re not changing jobs, your job is changing on you.

It’s therefore no surprise that the majority (88%) of C-suite executives globally say helping their business speed up adoption of AI will be important over the next year. Businesses have much to gain from leveraging the technology, from financial benefits to workforce productivity. According to our research, 51% of SMBs that have adopted Generative AI reported a revenue increase of 10% or more from their efforts. At LinkedIn, we’ve been putting the technology into the hands of recruiters, marketers, and sellers over the past couple of years, and they are using it to spend less time on tedious administrative tasks and more on valuable, strategic work – like building relationships with candidates and customers.

But productivity benefits are only part of the story – when implemented well, AI can serve as a powerful tool to unlock innovation across all aspects of a business or economy. In fact, 80% of C-suite executives globally believe AI will kickstart a culture shift where teams are more innovative.

Getting employees to use AI is key to realizing these gains. So how do leaders balance preparing for this level of work disruption with navigating the necessary change management that needs to take place in order to unlock value with AI – particularly as nearly three-quarters (64%) of professionals globally feel overwhelmed by the current pace of change at work?

Lead from the front

Just as every business has become a technology business, every executive must now become a technology executive – in order to fully understand and harness the potential of AI in their organization. They will also need to become an expert in managing workplace change, to bring their teams along on the journey.

On a practical level, it’s often easiest to start small, by showing teams how to use AI for simple tasks to make their day-to-day work more effective. Small wins and consistent communication pave the way for the more disruptive changes that likely lie ahead. And it’s important to build a test-and-learn environment to drive innovation and growth. Encourage teams to experiment with AI, share how these tools are helpful, and celebrate the successes – and acknowledge the failures – that come with any technological advancement.

AI has the potential to make tedious, monotonous tasks a thing of the past, making human ones more meaningful and strategic. It’s up to business leaders to model AI adoption and help their workforces realize that possibility.

Scale adoption with upskilling

Thanks in part to AI, the nature of jobs has shifted from being about mastering specific abilities to continuously acquiring new ones. To help workforces navigate this shift, leaders should prioritize developing the skills and habits their employees need to stay ahead. That means upskilling, but also reskilling.

Only by giving employees the tools and understanding of how to maximize the technology will companies be able to accelerate AI adoption and reap the rewards. We can already see signs of this happening, with 37% of C-suite executives globally saying they intend to invest in learning and development to train employees on AI tools this year.

Embracing functional change with AI

If 2023 was about experimenting with AI, and 2024 was about adopting AI, 2025 will be the year when companies prepare for a level of functional change in how we work with AI that is likely to feel disruptive.

Because of this, we’ll see leaders increasingly prioritize integrating AI that’s easy to use. A good first step is identifying where you can bring the technology into existing processes and existing tools. This will be key to motivating employees to use AI in their day-to-day work, freeing up time that can be directed towards more strategic activities – like creating new products and services, and building deeper customer relationships.

Take AMS, for example, which is using AI to increase candidate engagement throughout the recruiting process. Janet Mertens, Managing Director of Data, Insight and Analytics at AMS, said: “The Generative AI use case I love is constant engagement. With hiring global teams across different time zones, we can't always be on when the candidates have questions. But now, with Generative AI, agents, chatbots and large language models, we can actually feed all of that information into an assistant for the candidate to have on-demand, 24/7 engagement.”

As organizations look to fully embed AI into operations and processes, it will be on leadership to lead from the front – and actively manage this change in order to drive business growth and innovation. By clearly aligning the work to the company's goals, building confidence among their teams working with AI, and proactively managing the shift in team responsibilities, leaders will create positive energy and excitement, while managing natural reluctance – and realize new value for their business.

As leaders, it’s our responsibility to embrace change by taking proactive steps to lead our teams through this transformation, and foster a culture of growth where AI-driven innovation can thrive.

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