5 minutes to read With insights from... Philipp Morf Head AI & Data Practice philipp.morf@zuehlke.com Artificial Intelligence has firmly embedded itself in today’s organisations. Across sectors, we’re witnessing a dual-track evolution: employees use tools like ChatGPT and Copilot to accelerate their creative and conceptual work, while specialised and agentic AI is streamlines operations – automating workflows, and optimising processes.As this adoption matures, focus is naturally shifting from technical feasibility to real-world business impact. But one critical dimension remains under-addressed: the human and organisational implications. In other words? If we really want to transform how we work, we need to focus on AI’s most overlooked benefit AI delivers: time. The productivity paradox: AI gives time, but we let it slip away Research from the University of Lausanne reveals that employees save time (sometimes hours per week) when using generative AI tools for writing, researching, coding, or scheduling. On paper, this should be a game-changer.But there’s a problem. These gains often go unnoticed or unplanned, meaning that freed-up time is rarely turned into real business value. Instead, it’s often absorbed by other, low or no-impact activities – like chats with colleagues and longer coffee breaks.This results in a productivity paradox: we’re faster, but not necessarily more productive. A recent survey by Gartner revealed that among teams using GenAI, only 34% reported high productivity gains. 66% are missing a huge opportunity. AI’s impact in motivation and engagement But it’s not only this misspent time that’s undermining AI’s productivity benefits. when AI is implemented at scale.A series of Harvard studies involving 3,500 participants found that, while AI use improved performance, it also led to reduced motivation and increased boredom when employees turned to tasks without AI support.And, with many workers now feeling more uncertain about their role and future, this is a psychological toll to be reckoned with. A technical AI strategy is not enough: you need an AI-augmented human strategy As AI reshapes workflows, your organisation will face a new challenge: making smart use of the time AI frees up while ensuring your people stay motivated, connected, and purposeful in their roles. That means simply adopting AI isn’t enough; you need to rethink what time, productivity, and fulfilment mean in a workplace where AI is everyone’s co-pilot, assistant and colleague. To do that – and to channel AI’s efficiency gains into real organisational impact – consider the following human-centric strategies: 1. Enhance work-life balance 1. Enhance work-life balance AI introduces the possibility of reduced workloads, but this opportunity often goes unrealised. You can proactively redistribute AI-generated time gains by revisiting expectations around hours, availability, and performance.Consider shorter working weeks, asynchronous collaboration, or focused ‘“no-meeting’” days. These shifts do more than cut burnout: they signal trust, increase autonomy, and improve well-being – which in turn helps boost retention and employer brand strength. 2. Fuel innovation 2. Fuel innovation Innovation is hard to promote when employees have bloated calendars and spend their days ina reactive, treadmill-like workloadmode. But if AI can takes over the repetitive or administrative load, it can creates the kind of mental space where creativity, prototyping, and fresh approaches tend to thrive.What’s important is that this space is protected and structured. That could mean setting aside regular time for focused experimentation, running internal hackathons, or adding small-scale innovation into team goals. 3. Invest in continuous learning 3. Invest in continuous learning AI advances will shift skill requirements faster than traditional training models can cope. But with AI absorbing routine work, employees should have more the bandwidth to reskill and upskill –, as long as you can provide clear direction and accessible opportunities.To incentivise continuous skill development, you can create learning journeys aligned with future business needs – ones that blending on-demand learning with coaching, peer learning, and real-world application. Remember: learning must feel valuable. Tie it directly to a strategic company north star, but also to personal career progression and innovation goals. 4. Strengthen company culture 4. Strengthen company culture While AI handles isolated tasks, it also creates new opportunities arise to bring people together – that’s if the freed-up time is managed wisely. Counter any potential disconnection by doubling down on the human interaction that drives your business’ core culture.To avoid silos, team members, you could encourage purposeful team moments, like reflection sessions, cross-team demos, or storytelling forums that promote collaboration. Building AI-literate communities that support mutual learning can also help team members feel more included and find a greater purpose on their work. 5. Realise true productivity gains 5. Realise true productivity gains When time savings are directed towards high-value tasks, the compound effect can be profound. But, without active intervention, AI-enabled capacity risks being spent on reactive work, duplicated efforts, or digital ‘busywork’.To avoid this outcome, consider redesigning workflows to integrate AI in a manner that complements human creativity and decision-making, so that employees are free to focus on deep work and customer experience. That means setting clear priorities, avoiding over-automation , and putting metrics in place that reward tangible effectiveness. 6. Prepare for talent scarcity 6. Prepare for talent scarcity With ageing populations and increasing skills gaps, many industries will soon face systemic talent shortages.Anticipate this by leveraging the time savings from AI to build operational resilience: develop internal talent pipelines, cross-train roles, or decentralise expertise through knowledge systems. The organisations that thrive in this new era won’t be the ones with the most tech, but the ones that best spent the time it gave them. Finding a holistic approach to AI integration AI is transforming the mechanics of work from the ground up. But its full potential will only be realised when we also transform the meaning of work itself. While AI can easily accelerates delivery, reduce routine processes and bolster operational efficiency, it’s what you do with the extra time and capacity that will define whether this transformation becomes truly strategic.That means you need more than a technical AI strategy; you need a one that combines the strengths of humans and machines – and which ensures people find purpose and value in their work and feel that their contributions are truly valued.Investing in culture, in skills, and in purpose is key. But above all else, this is about asking not only how AI can perform any given task you throw at it, but how your people can grow, connect, and lead in a world where AI is their co-pilot.