HR trends and what they mean: FOBO

Welcome to Personio Pulse: This Week in HR, where each week we take a look at the latest trends in the world of work, what you need to know about them, and what they mean for you as an HR professional.

This week, we’re taking a hard look at FOBO, otherwise known as the fear of becoming obsolete. More importantly, how this feeling is shaping attitudes and strategies around AI enablement at work.

What you need to know?

You may already be familiar with the term FOMO (fear of missing out), but another term on the rise is FOBO — the fear of becoming obsolete. This new concept is a response to fears that the speed of AI in the workplace is outpacing the reskilling of employees, leaving them redundant or “obsolete.”?

This feeling is part of a growing development. Some of the latest data from Gallup found that 22% of workers in the United States are worried that their jobs would become obsolete because of technology — which is a 7% increase from only four years ago.?

But there’s still some silver lining: Our own research on AI found that fears of job loss can be reduced with greater education and understanding about the use cases of AI in the workplace. While the fear may persist, organizations can benefit from making it a topic rather than ignoring it. And HR can play a key role here.?

What others are saying about it?

To address FOBO, organizations need to think about two things: the pace of reskilling and the importance of leadership. The first especially applies to your highest performers, those who feel FOBO because they themselves are not being set up for success. In conversation with Fortune, Doug Dennerline , CEO of Betterworks, explains:?

“Employees will leave if they don’t see their company embracing new technologies, encouraging teams to experiment and incorporate AI into their daily workflows, embedding it into their daily processes to drive efficiency, creativity, and strategic decision-making.”?

The second point, which helps support the first, is more about leadership and gaining buy-in from your organizational leaders. As Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic explained to our team at Personio:

“We have already seen multiple examples where organisations fail to execute on their digital transformation and AI strategies because leadership is disengaged, disinterested, or unwilling to drive progress. The risk here is that AI ends up being a fancy toy, a shiny new object, a solution waiting for a problem to be solved, while organisations remain resistant to change.”

What that means for you

If you want to address FOBO up and down your organization, we’d recommend considering the following three strategies to holistically tackle this growing fear:?

• Engage leaders in AI adoption: Ensure leadership is visibly committed to AI initiatives by setting clear goals, providing resources, and recognising teams that effectively use AI to improve outcomes. Make skill development in the age of AI a whole-organization priority.?
• Launch AI training sessions: Organise regular workshops to teach employees about AI tools relevant to their roles, helping them understand and leverage AI to enhance their work. You may even want to leverage current employees to unlock reverse mentoring opportunities.?
• Create innovation labs: Set up dedicated spaces where teams can experiment with AI applications, encouraging hands-on learning and collaboration to integrate AI into daily tasks. This can be a big help to your top performers who not only want – but demand – AI innovation from your organization.?

What else should I read?

• Download: Playtime is over: AI has reinvented HR
• The impact of AI in HR
• Why is everyone talking about… the ‘AI rollout’?

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