AI Considerations - Avoid the Brain Drain
- Apr 21
- 7 min read
Nicole Kislingbury (Nelson), General Partner, 2 Liquid Assets
How to avoid the “Brain Drain” AI can have on your workforce
You cannot attend a training or conference or even read a blog or article without hearing about AI these days! There are a wide variety of discussions out there on both the pros and cons regarding the use of AI. A business needs to gain an understanding of the different technologies available that call themselves “AI,” as well as weigh the costs and benefits of implementing these technologies within their organization. This analysis will often have farther reaching considerations, such as the impact to employees, the community, industry, and society. The list of considerations can be long and daunting. Rather than trying to cover everything, today we will zero in on the “Brain Drain” AI can have on your workforce and the onboarding, training and mentoring considerations you can use to counter act the impact.
A Brief History
After 20 years of working in a public accounting firm from the early 2000’s, I watched the profession transform multiple times as the adoption of technology accelerated with each new wave.
Yes, for all the young ones out there, this is one of those stories like phones with cords!
When I started my career, we were provided with a laptop in order to use spreadsheets to perform calculations and word processing software to write memos. However, we didn’t have color printers in the field and no significant software to maintain our workpapers, therefore everything was printed out and colored pencils still used to fill in tick-marks and notes. We still brought trunks to the client to carry the binders!
Soon we licensed our first audit software and were able to start maintaining workpapers and signoffs in a shared space. Technology continued to advance as we were able to start putting mark-ups into PDF documents and start to read them using OCR. We were able to perform more advanced data calculations and analysis with advanced spreadsheets. As memory became larger and cheaper, we were able to evaluate whole data sets. Soon, online sharing became available so that live updates and working together in the same document were enabled. Data analytics allowed us to continue to improve the amount and depth of data we could evaluate and in more interesting ways. Right before I exited public accounting, algorithms and statistics (what some might include in AI categories) and document extraction were being added to the repertoire.
With each of these advances, staff and management at all levels were able to perform their respective tasks with additional precision and speed, but the basic understanding of how and why the task was carried out, though assisted, remained fairly similar. Evaluative and analytical skills were learned as progressively more challenging tasks were assigned to a staff.
However, toward the end of my time in public accounting, I had already seen technology begin to chip away at the level of staff understanding. While it was touted that staff would be able to perform “more advanced and more interesting” work to lure applicants into the firm and sell continued acceptance of the tools; as technology started to perform the more basic tasks (and more tasks were sent overseas, let’s not completely blame technology), staff were missing opportunities to learn the necessary skills they would need later in their careers. For many concepts, performing the task on a less complex accounting or auditing area allowed a staff member to develop a base understanding of the critical thinking and analytical skills it would take to apply to more difficult areas later. I watched as skills eroded and what was expected of staff started to be performed by seniors and responsibilities of the seniors became the responsibilities of managers. Fortunately, the technology lightened the load some, but expectations of each level dropped over time.
Though I left public accounting before this “AI Boom,” I see this impact continuing from the “other side” as I work with auditors, clients, vendors, and peers who continue to “outsource” their own skillsets to technology. While my personal experience was within public accounting, many other industries and organizations have been similarly impacted.
The Not So Good News
For many, market competition is going to require at least some level of adoption of more advanced technologies, including AI. Already, many are beginning to look at what AI is doing to our brains. Articles like Is AI hurting your ability to think? How to reclaim your brain from Phys.org, What AI is doing to our brains: Smarter, dumber or just evolving? from Forbes Australia, and How AI affects our brain and thinking by the Washington Post show that there are many emerging discussions regarding the impact of the use of this technology on critical thinking and other skills. While this research and others like it are bringing concerns to the forefront, we will not truly know the full long-term impact for many years.
Casual observation of the use of technology and social media point us to a change in habits, work ethic, social engagement, and addiction. So even without studies to show the longer-term implications, we have information we can consider when evaluating the use of technology within our organizations.
The Better News
As discussed previously, there are a number of things to consider when adopting this new technology. One of the key considerations should be how training and onboarding procedures will need to be adjusted to upskill new hires and existing staff to continue to gain the skillset they need to perform higher level tasks and critical thinking functions.
It is important to not only identify problems but to also offer solutions! Below are practical ideas you can use to prevent the “brain drain” of your workforce.
AI Considerations – Avoid the Brain Drain
Before Adoption: Change Management
Different industries, sectors, and organizations may require specific solutions, so it is important that your change management plans include brain-storming sessions to identify the areas of impact that adopting technology may have on your team. This includes:
Lost opportunities for on-the-job training
Disappearance of lower-level tasks to upskill for higher level tasks
Lost time generating relationships with peers, clients, vendors, and leadership
Less active time using unassisted thinking and analytical skills
Lack of skills regarding the proper use of the new technology
How expectations of roles and assignments are expected to change (for example, from being a “behind the computer” analyst to in front of leadership presenter)
How the use of technology during their education changes the starting skillsets of new hires
Changes in morale if employees feel under-utilized, unengaged, bored, fearful of loss of employment, lack in confidence, etc.
Going over the areas key to your organization will help you to identify and plan for ways you can decrease the impact of interruption on your workforce.
Hiring:
Work with colleges, universities, and trade school programs to ensure expectations, curricula, environment, tools, and evaluations are designed to ensure students aren’t over-relying on technology and therefore not really learning the skills needed to enter the workforce.
Development of materials that properly promote changed roles and are clear about expectations
Identification or development of assessments that evaluate a potential new hire’s understanding of concepts without the use of technology assistance
Training:
As opportunities to gain experience and learn on-the-job while performing tasks may be lost, it is important to identify those ways that training can be expanded and supplemented to fill in the gaps.
Training ideas may include:
Development and execution of case studies of previous lower-level tasks for teams to “learn the basics”
Identification or development of assessments that evaluate a team member’s understanding of concepts without the use of technology assistance
Development of materials on the types of technology adopted by the organization, what technology can and cannot be used, how to generate prompts, how to review results and identify hallucinations, etc.
Courses on social skills for engaging with peers, vendors, clients, leadership, and shareholders (presentations, customer service, networking and sales, team building)
Alternative skills training if roles and assignments are expected to significantly change
Puzzles, games, and activities that promote development of various thinking skills
Culture and Mentoring
With the speed of technology adoption continuing at an exponential level, you may find that you want to make adjustments to your organizational culture or to check-in more frequently or formally with your workforce. There may be lots of creative ways of addressing these needs; a few include:
Office functions that include activities and games that promote engagement and advanced problem-solving skills
Regular employee check-ins on interest, productivity, and engagement
Mentoring on how to adapt, adjust roles, and identify leadership opportunities
Identification of training or assessments to learn new or advanced skillsets
Formalizing internal training programs to address changes
How we can help:
It's time for your organization to look at the AI Considerations - Avoid the Brain Drain. You may have personnel within your organization to evaluate your current hiring, training and development programs, formalize mentoring, or plan office engagement activities. Many may need to hire external consultants to fill in the gaps, address blind spots, supplement existing materials, or overhaul legacy programs. Here at 2 Liquid Assets, we are ready to assist your organizations with Accounting & Finance Literacy training, developing Financial Leadership within your team, amongst other business and leadership topics. We work closely with organizations to customize our training programs to meet your specific needs. We also have the experience to assist in many other areas and/or provide referrals for all of your hiring, training, development, or office event needs. Reach out today if you would like more information on how we can assist you!
Conclusion
The decision to adopt new technology, including AI, has many considerations. However, once a technology adoption determination is made, it is important to ensure that your organization is ready to address the concerns and needs of your workforce; ensuring your hiring, training, and retention processes will provide you with the skilled employees needed for long-term success. Don’t be afraid to reach out to experts to assist with the evaluation and implementation of your plan!
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