AI at Work: AI Only Matters If It Moves the Outcomes That Matter
By Jess Von Bank, Global Transformation & Technology Advisor Leader, Mercer
Our final blog in the series underscores the most important discipline HR leaders must bring to AI adoption: relentless clarity about which specific outcomes a solution will improve and how that impact will be measured.
"The world is on an AI buying spree, I call it the 'AI gold rush'. Everyone's investing, few are realizing consistent value," says Asal Naraghi, Global Innovation Leader, Future of Work, ADP. "The enthusiasm is real, but so is the frustration. We've all seen tools that demo beautifully but sit idle after launch. The lesson? Buying AI is easy; embedding it into the rhythm of work is the hard part."
There's a lot of noise in the HR technology market right now: grand claims, sweeping narratives, and a dizzying amount of "AI-powered" everything. But underneath the hype, one truth matters more than all the rest:
AI is only valuable if it produces real outcomes HR already owns.
And leaders must be able to name those outcomes with precision.
That's the discipline missing in most AI conversations today. It's not about features, novelty, or Shiny Object Syndrome. It's about clarity of purpose and evidence of impact. Everything else is theater.
Even when AI changes the work, the outcomes are still non-negotiable.
Hiring the right people into the right roles
• Keeping employees engaged and connected
• Enabling productivity and performance
• Retaining talent
• Giving leaders actionable insight
These don't go away in an AI era. If anything, expectations increase.
So, the real work, the work that determines whether AI delivers value and how to scale it, is understanding how a solution improves these outcomes, with what data, and by what mechanism.
Don't measure AI by how fast it makes work. Measure it by how much better it makes outcomes.
Using AI to write job descriptions, for example, is a fast start, even if it's not a breakthrough. The real opportunity is bigger: to step back and ask whether you need 1,500 static job profiles at all, or whether this is the moment to redesign your talent architecture around clarity, skills, and genuine business outcomes.
When used well, AI becomes a thinking partner, helping organizations get to better questions (and answers) faster. In this case, grounding roles in the skills that actually drive performance, the outcomes that matter, and the signals that predict success in the real world. This is where needed efficiency creates capacity for important insight. Where automation gives way to better decisions. Where job descriptions stop being artifacts of the past and start becoming instruments of intent.
Using AI to summarize surveys faster is a similar moment. Speed isn't the entire win. A bigger win is the opportunity to connect those signals to something deeper: the root causes beneath the sentiment, the patterns that repeat across roles and moments, and the interventions that could materially improve the employee experience.
Using AI to automate broken workflows is a beginning, not the moment. The real opportunity is to redesign work around what employees actually need to do their jobs well, eliminate steps that no longer serve a purpose, and then apply automation in direct service of meaningful business outcomes.
This is where AI stops accelerating friction and starts creating flow. Doing the same work faster is not a win. Doing the right work with more intelligence, clarity, and impact is.
"We've reached a turning point in HR. We're no longer just chasing efficiency; we're exploring how AI amplifies human capability. That's the opportunity for HR, payroll, and time leaders: using AI to elevate, not replace, the human side of work." says Naraghi.
AI should help HR:
• Uncover patterns humans can't see, and shorten the distance between insight and action
• Personalize experiences at scale
• Reduce administrative drag while meaningfully freeing capacity and improving decision quality
• Improve fairness and consistency
• Drive measurable movement on the outcomes that matter
The speed only matters if it accelerates something purposeful.
Evidence over promises. Outcomes you can clearly articulate to the business over abstract "solutions" no one is asking for.
When evaluating AI providers, HR leaders should be asking:
• What specific outcomes does this product improve?
• What evidence do you have from real customer deployments?
• What data does the model rely on, and what's the quality threshold?
• Where has this failed, and why?
• How do we monitor drift, fairness, and performance over time?
• What decisions does the AI make vs. influence?
• What governance do we need to ensure trust and consistency?
You cannot evaluate AI by demos and promises alone. You evaluate it by outcomes, data, governance, and evidence from real work. If a provider can't articulate that clearly, the value won't materialize.
Purpose is the strategy. AI is the accelerant.
True value comes when organizations use AI intentionally, and it's anchored in:
• A clear business problem
• A defined outcome and measurable metric
• Reliable data
• Accountable governance and operating model
This is how AI accelerates outcomes HR already owns without getting swept up in hype or reinventing work for novelty's sake.
AI can create immense possibility, but possibility isn't value.
- Purpose is value.
- Evidence is value.
- Outcomes are value.
Everything else is just noise.
Bring out the best in every payroll and HR moment with AI by ADP.
Jess Von Bank is a 23-year industry veteran and passionate advocate for the future of work and talent. With experience as a recruiting practitioner and workforce solutions expert, she helps executives design digital-first cultures that meet both people's expectations and business needs.
A global thought leader in HR transformation, digital experience, and workforce technology, Jess specializes in recruiting, talent strategy, employer branding, DEI, and storytelling. She leads Mercer's Now of Work community and serves as President of Diverse Daisies, a nonprofit empowering girls. Based in Minneapolis, she balances racing for free swag with raising her three daughters.
