More Gen Z workers using AI chatbots to prepare for salary talks and workplace conversations

The youngest generation of workers uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to practice for situations in their workplaces, including salary negotiations, according to a recent report in Forbes.

It cited a global survey from Deloitte of over 23,000 that shows that, as expectations in the workplace change, Gen Z, as well as millennial workers, “are intensely focused on growth and skill development.”

Moreover,  more than half of young adult workers (56%) say they use AI for their communication strategies with their superiors and their colleagues.

This could be for situations as varied as figuring out solutions for workplace conflict and how to deliver negative feedback.

For Gen Z, over half of whom do not feel financially secure, according to the Deloitte survey, help with salary negotiations is especially welcome. A conversation that is often nerve-wracking can be significantly less so when workers are prepared because they’ve already asked an AI chatbot for advice on the salary increase to ask for, what to do when pushback is given, and what arguments are the best to present for their case.

In other words, challenging conversations take place virtually, with an AI chatbot, before they ever occur in workplaces.

Interestingly, the Forbes piece pointed out that because young people today have already spent much of their time communicating online, face-to-face interactions, especially the confrontative type, are likely to have been harder to come by over the years. And the result is that younger people just aren’t as used to these types of conversations.

“If you’ve spent years communicating through screens and asynchronous channels, the first time you have to deliver tough feedback or negotiate on the spot can feel like showing up to a championship match without a single practice rep,” the piece reads.

Much of Gen Z, of course, is already familiar with AI. 

Deloitte’s Global Gen Z and Millennial Survey says that more than half of the younger cohort are using AI tools at work, and almost 75% say they believe generative AI will have a significant impact on how they work in the near term.

Among the tasks Gen Z workers have asked AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT, to perform are playing the part of their managers, writing salary negotiation scripts for them, and testing their tone before they have hard conversations.

This has been particularly appealing to the young workers as it results in practice that is judgment-free. Chatbots give Gen Z employees feedback, then suggest alternative ways to get what they want across to their bosses. It can also help prepare them for the different scenarios that may occur. /TISG

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