Framework for Promoting Workforce Well-being in the AI-Integrated Workplace

The Partnership on AI’s “Framework for Promoting Workforce Well-being in the AI- Integrated Workplace” provides a conceptual framework and a set of tools to guide employers, workers, and other stakeholders towards promoting workforce well-being throughout the process of introducing AI into the workplace. As AI technologies become increasingly prevalent in the workplace, our goal is to place workforce wellbeing at the center of this technological change and resulting metamorphosis in work, well-being, and society, and provide a starting point to discuss and create pragmatic solutions. The importance of making a commitment to worker well-being in earnest has been highlighted by the COVID-19 public health and economic crises which exposed and exacerbated the long-standing inequities in the treatment of workers. Making sure those are not perpetuated further with the introduction of AI systems into the workplace requires deliberate efforts and will not happen automatically. The Framework is designed to initiate and inform discussions on the impact of AI that strengthen the reciprocal obligations between workers and employers, specifically focusing on worker well-being.1 The four tools that make up the Framework are both interrelated and independent. Use of these tools will differ by implementing organization and will depend on multiple considerations, such as funding, ability to dedicate time, stage of AI integration, etc. This paper draws upon existing work by academics, labor unions, and other institutions to explain why organizations should prioritize worker well-being. In doing so, it explores the need for a coherent AI and workforce well-being framework. It also attempts to account for different forms of AI integration into the workplace, outlines the different instances in which workers may encounter AI, and the technological aspects of AI that may impact workers. Relevant literature has been synthesized into Six Pillars of Workforce Well-being that should be prioritized and protected throughout AI integration. Human rights is the first pillar, and supports all aspects of workforce well-being. The five additional pillars of well-being include physical, financial, intellectual, emotional well-being, as well as purpose and meaning