Goldman Sachs revealed a 38-percentage point gap between how executives and frontline workers experience AI. Only 48% of workers say AI saves them time. Yet, the C-suite believes that’s productivity is surging. The disconnect isn’t a communication problem, it’s a strategy problem.
Why does the Gap Exist?
- Leadership is measuring input while workers are experiencing output. Executives see successful capital allocation whereas workers see a chatbot that escalates every case back to them. Same investment, different reality.
- Deployment isn’t adoption. Installing a tool on a laptop is not the same as integrating it into the workflow with training and design.
- Workers don’t have a way to say it isn’t working. How do workers raise concerns about an initiative the C-suite has publicly championed?
Harvard Business Review estimates organizations of 10,000 employees lose over $9m annually to time spent correcting low-quality AI output.
The Problem Isn’t the AI Platform
MIT’s project NANDA found that 95% of enterprise GenAI investments are yielding zero measurable returns. Most orgs are buying more tech instead of hiring people who make the tech work.
Who do companies need?
- AI Implementation Specialists
- Embedded AI Trainers
- AI Change Managers
- AI Literacy Coaches
Your Organization has a Gap. Diagnose it.
Companies in the 5% extracting Roi from AI didn’t buy better tools, they hired the right people to implement them. Before you spend more money on AI tooling, find out where you actually stand.
- Run a split survey – ask frontline workers and execs the same questions about AI effectiveness, separately. Look for the change, not the average.
- Audit workflows instead of tools – Shadow workers, find where AI is being bypassed or worked around. The workarounds hold valuable data.
- Talk to middle management — They’re caught between c-suite mandates and frontline reality. They are living in that gap.
- Audit your training content — Are you teaching people how to use an interface or how to integrate it into their actual work?
- Trace productivity claims to the source – If executive optimizing is based on vendor reports rather than observed output changes, the gap exists.
How Can Talener Close the Gap
This is a talent supply problem, and it has a direct solution.
- Speed – Companies that have already deployed AI don’t have time for multi-year internal development programs. Talener can place experienced AI implementation professionals in weeks.
- Access to Emerging Roles – AI change managers and trainers don’t have decades-old talent pipelines. Specialized staffing agencies like Talener have already mapped this landscape, most hiring managers haven’t.
- Right Sized Engagement – Most companies need an AI changer manager for 12 to 18 months, not permanently. Talener’s ability to provide contract and project-based arrangements are built for exactly this phase of AI adoption.
Deploying tech and adopting tech are not the same thing. Companies that will win the AI era are investing in both, and their moving now. The highest return move available is hiring the right people to make it work.
Let’s close the gap, we can introduce you to AI implementation specialists, change managers, and AI literacy professionals in every industry. Let’s talk.
