When AI thinks longer, output gets better. So, what happens when systems can think for hours or days?

Take AI-assisted code modernization. Blitzy’s AI refactored a 20-year-old, 150,000-line MATLAB codebase into Python in one week, a process that once took months. The AI handled 80% of the work; engineers completed the final 20%.

Most people fixate on the 80%. The real story is the 20%. This is where engineers made architectural decisions, resolved edge cases the AI couldn’t anticipate, and ensured the code actually solved business problems. That’s where human judgment multiplies value. AI’s efficiency doesn’t replace us; it amplifies our capabilities, freeing us to do work of far greater consequence.

That’s the massive unlock, yet it immediately raises uncomfortable questions: If AI can do 80%, what happens to entry-level roles? To training pathways? To how we design teams?

This means we’re in a period of reinvention: structural, cultural, and economic. Every company is rethinking how intelligence, people, and technology interact. Let me reassure you: It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen. Within the next decade, we’ll experience a century’s worth of innovation, driven by Agentic AI, robotics, quantum computing, and more.

Five radical shifts define this moment. Together, they reveal a meta pattern: intelligence is becoming infrastructure.

Here’s what matters now.

1. Welcome to the Agentic Mesh. You’re Now an “Agent Boss.”

We are the last generation to manage a human-only workforce. In a human + AI world, the key question isn’t how do I get this done? but what human-AI combination yields the best outcome? You’re not only managing people but also orchestrating AI agents alongside them. 

Microsoft research shows 42% of leaders expect their teams to be coordinating AI agents within five years.

Reality check:

• Reliability gaps: Agents hallucinate and make overconfident errors. Enterprises require human review for sensitive tasks adding oversight costs they didn’t anticipate.
• Integration pain: Legacy systems weren’t built for AI. Integrating securely can take months of process reengineering and change management.
• The handoff problem: Escalate too often and humans become the bottleneck; too little and AI acts beyond its competence.

Skills that now matter the most: prompt + context engineering (structuring inputs so AI agents perform accurately), AI workflow design, evaluation frameworks to catch mistakes.

Start here: Pick one low-stakes workflow. Add AI with human review. Measure speed, quality, and failure modes before scaling.

Implication: Work is shifting from doing the work to designing how work gets done. That design is harder than most leaders expect. 

As we coordinate AI agents, how we interact with them is evolving too.

2. The Screen Era Is Ending

For 30+ years, we’ve worked behind glass rectangles. That’s starting to shift.

If you haven’t used voice to interact with AI, try it. It is an accelerant. Then think about what happens as this integrates with AR glasses. Neither is science fiction. As these ideas combine, you can see why we may be looking down at our glass screens LESS and looking through glass screens MORE.

Early signs are emerging. Consider this: Meta’s EMG wristbands read neural signals. Apple’s latest AirPods translate speech in real time. Amazon is piloting AR glasses for delivery staff. The next era is ambient computing: voice, gesture, and thought-based control will compliment screens. This redefines interface design across industries, from logistics to health care.

Reality check:

• Privacy + safety: Always-on sensors, cameras, and neural inputs create new risks. Enterprises will need strict governance and consent/trust frameworks before scale.
• Accessibility: Voice and gesture interfaces exclude some workers, forcing companies to maintain multimodal options.
• Cultural friction: Professionals resist being “always observed.”

Five-year reality: Hybrid interfaces dominate. AR supports fieldwork, voice handles simple queries, but screens remain essential for dense information tasks.

Implication: The most valuable interfaces will be invisible and trusted. Build privacy, safety, and accessibility into design from day one.

Beyond changing interfaces, AI is entering physical space.

3. Robots Become Colleagues

There may be ten billion humanoid robots by 2040, and according to JLL Research, owning a humanoid robot could become a reality as soon as 2028 for many organizations and households. 

Amazon already runs over one million robots. The $16,000 Unitree G1 and Figure 02 (5’6”, 70 kg) are early examples of robots working beside humans. BMW is testing Figure robot in factories, as Amazon is testing Agility robots in warehouses. As physical AI matures, robotics moves from experimental pilots toward operational integration.

Reality check:

• Dexterity gap: Robots still struggle with tasks a child can do such as folding a shirt, picking up a pen.
• Economics: Maintenance, downtime, and human supervision make true ROI uneven across industries.
• Workforce transition: Companies will need to upskill and retrained hundreds of thousands of workers as they scale robotics.

What works: Start with collaborative robots that augment humans. Focus on repetitive or hazardous work. Plan for workforce training prior to implementation.

Implication: Hybrid work will soon mean working with and alongside robots. Progress is real, but slower and costlier than headlines suggest.

While robots perform physical work, new paradigms are emerging that aim to solve problems classical computers cannot solve.

4. Quantum Shows Promise

While AI dominated our collective attention, quantum computing has shown meaningful progress albeit in controlled environments.

Google’s Willow chip (2024) outperformed classical supercomputers on synthetic benchmarks. Amazon’s Ocelot, Microsoft’s Majorana 1, IBM’s Nighthawk and Loon, showcase each tech giant’s unique approach to advancing the field of quantum computation.

Early results show potential: HSBC reported quantum advantages for optimization; JPMorgan and Deloitte are exploring financial modeling and fraud detection.

Reality check:

• Synthetic advantage: Many “quantum wins” are benchmark-only, not business problems.
• Error rates: Results still require classical verification.
• Narrow value: Most real gains appear narrow areas such as molecular simulation and cryptography.

Timeline: For most companies, quantum remains a 5 to 10-year horizon.
Exceptions: Pharma, logistics, and firms tackling massive optimization problems.

Action now: Partner with cloud providers for experimentation. Prioritize post-quantum cryptography as defense matters more today than offense.

Game-changer: Quantum computing allows us to model futures that haven’t happened yet and this will be tomorrow’s advantage.

These technologies converge most visibly where the bits meet the atoms. 

5. The Built Environment Gets Truly Intelligent

Entire buildings are becoming adaptive systems. Real estate is a proving ground for applied AI where digital intelligence intersects with physical infrastructure at scale.

Platforms like, JLL’s Falcon with tools like JLL GPTTM and Azara enable professionals to query real estate data conversationally and unify connected and non-connected assets. Real world results show faster insight generation, millions in cost avoidance and energy optimization for client partners.

Smart buildings already reduce energy use 10 to 25% and extend asset life through predictive maintenance.

Reality check:

• Value drivers: Narrow use cases such as energy and maintenance optimization pay off fastest.
• Integration tax: Legacy systems from multiple vendors make data unification costly, often exceeding software costs.
• Contracting methods: Require procurement strategies that ground contracts in today’s realities. You do not want to be stuck with a pre-AI era contract in a world where AI agents can accelerate outcomes.

Start here: Implement AI optimization where ROI is clear, but rework procurement and operating models simultaneously to sustain value.

Implication: The built environment must evolve from passive to intelligent infrastructure. For success your vendors, contracts and operating models MUST keep pace.

The Meta-Pattern: Intelligence as Infrastructure

Intelligence is shifting from scarce resource to core infrastructure: from AI agents that think for days to quantum systems that simulate complex futures.

Infrastructure follows hard economics:

• Upfront costs > early benefits. Like electricity’s rollout, AI infrastructure build-out is seeing substantive investments. Benefit realization will follow.
• Reliability is absolute. Privacy breaches, lack of transparency, errors, and downtime erode revenue and trust.
• Integration is the hidden tax. Connecting new intelligence to legacy systems often costs multiples of the tech itself.
• Complementary investments are mandatory. AI needs quality data, governance, and trained workers just as electricity needed wiring and electricians.
• Transition costs are real. Workforce retraining takes years. Some workers exit; others stay but report higher stress. Responsible leaders invest early, often spending multiple dollars on training for every dollar on tech.

The Real Choice

This moment calls for leadership rooted in humanity: asking how does this make work more meaningful? before how does this make work more efficient?

The real work is making intelligence meaningful, amplifying human potential, not just efficiency. The choice isn’t adoption vs. resistance; both deploy the same tools. The real divide is in our decision-making impetus:

• FOMO-driven: Chases hype, ignores displacement, and learns too late that infrastructure without trust is just expensive equipment.
• Bold, pragmatic, human-centric: Acknowledges trade-offs, invests in transitions, designs for human flourishing, and measures more than quarterly returns.

The future of work won’t happen to us, it’s something we design together. Agents, ambient interfaces, robotics, quantum, intelligent buildings – these aren’t five separate bets. They’re one fundamental shift: intelligence becoming infrastructure. Success requires orchestrating all of it with human judgment at the center.

Leaders who act decisively today will set the foundation for the next decade.

The post Five Radical Shifts Happening Right Now (And What Most Leaders Are Missing) appeared first on Work Design Magazine.

We’re spending billions teaching silicon to think while our workforce is mentally breaking down. OpenAI and Anthropic have raised billions, tech giants are pouring trillions into AI development. Yet JLL’s latest Workforce Preference Barometer reveals that nearly 40% of global office workers report feeling overwhelmed or exhausted i.e., they are “quiet cracking.”

Quiet cracking is when employees are mentally breaking down while still showing up. Unlike quiet quitting where employees intentionally pull back, these people desperately want to contribute but feel systematically crushed under AI anxiety and frozen career paths. In short, they are burned out.

Why Your Workforce Is Breaking

Three forces are converging to create this crisis:

• AI Anxiety: Workers increasingly believe their companies prioritize technology over people and fear replacement. For example, 53% of people who use AI at work worry that using it on important tasks makes them look replaceable, according to the Microsoft Work Trend Index 2024.
• Work-Life Imbalance: JLL’s research reveals work-life balance has overtaken salary as the leading priority for 65% of office workers globally, up from 59% in 2022. Yet only 49% currently have access to flexible working hours.
• Career Development Stagnation: One in three employees say they could leave for better career development or re-skilling opportunities, while organizations keep tight budgets for developing existing talent.

The Cost of Ignoring Human Capital

The math exposes a fundamental misalignment. McKinsey research shows AI’s long-term opportunity at $4.4 trillion in added productivity growth potential, yet human capital development receives fractional investment by comparison. While 92% of businesses plan to increase AI investments this year, upskilling budgets haven’t kept pace.

The consequences are stark:

• Employee engagement has hit 21% globally, matching COVID-era lows
• Nearly a quarter of employees are considering quitting within the next 12 months
• Lost productivity costs businesses $438 billion annually

The biggest gap by far is the broken psychological contract i.e., the implicit expectation that employees will be valued, supported, and prepared for the future.

So, what’s the solution? Here’s one leading example.

How Standard Chartered Cracked the Code

While competitors throw meditation apps at mental health crises, Standard Chartered built something radical yet practical. Their internal talent marketplace engages 39,000 employees nearly half their workforce.

The results obliterate traditional approaches:

• $8.5 million saved filling projects internally
• 10% year-over-year jump in internal mobility
• Significant reduction in external hiring costs

Standard Chartered understood that employees expect tailored flexibility and growth opportunities. They created a platform where people could participate in exciting projects while developing new skills, fixing the broken psychological contract that employees will be valued, supported, and prepared for the future.

Your Move This Quarter: Fix the Human-AI Investment Ratio

We are spending billions on silicon intelligence while ignoring a workforce in distress. 

Here’s what winning companies are doing differently:

• Create personalized recognition opportunities that go beyond generic training to meaningful skill development aligned with career paths.
• Address the full context of employees’ lives with arrangements that acknowledge caregiving responsibilities and work-life integration needs.
• Build reskilling infrastructure that prepares your existing workforce for AI collaboration rather than replacement.

The exponential age demands exponential thinking about human potential. While others debate whether AI will replace humans, visionary leaders are building the infrastructure to amplify human intelligence at scale.

The choice is binary: Evolve your human capital strategy now or become irrelevant as others leapfrog into the future. The transformation window is closing. The leaders who act decisively will capture the exponential upside.

Your move.

The post Half Your Workforce Is “Quiet Cracking” And AI Billions Can’t Fix It appeared first on Work Design Magazine.

The Gallup poll highlights this “remote work paradox” and the complex interplay between our professional and personal lives. JLL’s Future of Work research further illuminates these dynamics. The physical workspace in a post-pandemic world has changed – and continues to change.

Adding another layer to this complexity is the rapid advancement of AI. Consider this stat: 54% of remote workers are more likely to believe they job will be disrupted by AI.

Let us examine this and look at what’s working and what’s not.

The Upside: Why Remote Work Boosts Engagement

The heightened work engagement among remote employees isn’t surprising. Consider some of the inherent benefits of working from home.

• Autonomy and Flexibility: Remote work often grants employees significant control over their schedules and work environments. This autonomy can foster a sense of empowerment, allowing individuals to work when and how they are most productive, leading to a deeper connection with their tasks. The ability to tailor their workspace can also enhance comfort and concentration.
• Reduced Commute Stress: Eliminating the daily commute saves valuable time and money and removes a common source of stress, enabling employees to channel more energy into their work.
• Fewer Distractions: For many, a home office provides a quieter, more focused environment than a bustling open-plan office, leading to increased concentration and productivity.
• Democratization of opportunities: For organizations, they can access talent outside of a small radius of their offices. This has meant the democratization of opportunities for remote workers.

The Downside: The Toll on Overall Life Thriving

Despite the professional advantages, the Gallup poll suggests that the fully remote experience can negatively impact broader aspects of life, and JLL’s research supports the idea that while remote work offers benefits for focused tasks, the lack of in-person interaction can be detrimental.

Furthermore, emerging anxieties related to technological advancements like AI can exacerbate these challenges for remote workers.

• Social Isolation and Loneliness: The most significant factor is often the lack of regular, spontaneous social interactions with colleagues. JLL’s findings consistently point to the office as a crucial hub for fostering social connections, mentorship, and a strong corporate culture – elements that are harder to replicate remotely and are vital for overall well-being.
• Blurred Work-Life Boundaries and Increased Pressure: Without the physical separation of a workplace, it can be challenging for remote employees to mentally “switch off” from their jobs. This can lead to longer working hours and an “always-on” mentality.
• The constant wave of ever-evolving AI: The rise of AI and discussions about its potential to automate tasks intensify pressure. Remote employees, particularly in tech-heavy or easily digitized roles, might feel a heightened need to constantly demonstrate their value potentially leading to overwork, stress, and burnout.
• Increased Negative Emotions: Fully remote employees report higher levels of stress, anger, and sadness. The combination of isolation, the pressure to be constantly available, the potential for techno-complexity, and underlying anxieties about job security in an AI-influenced future can be emotionally and mentally taxing.
• “Just Work” Mentality: For some, remote work can strip away the social and communal aspects of a job, reducing it to a purely transactional experience. JLL notes that the office environment can provide a “third space” that contributes to identity and purpose beyond just task completion.

Understanding the Contradiction: Engagement vs. Thriving in an Evolving Landscape

The core of this paradox lies in the distinction between work engagement and overall life thriving.

• Work engagement focuses on an employee’s enthusiasm for their specific job tasks and their connection to their team and organization. Factors like autonomy and deep focus, often enhanced by remote work, directly boost this. It’s conceivable that some remote employees, feeling the pressure to showcase their contributions in light of AI advancements, might channel this into intense work focus, thus appearing highly engaged.
• Overall life thriving is a more holistic measure, encompassing social connections, mental and emotional health, and a sustainable work-life balance. It’s in these areas that fully remote work, compounded by new technological pressures, can present significant challenges.

Essentially, while remote workers might find their actual job duties more engaging due to increased control and fewer interruptions (and perhaps a subconscious drive to prove their worth), the surrounding conditions – social isolation, eroded work-life separation, and the background hum of anxiety related to AI and job futures – can diminish their broader sense of well-being.

Is Hybrid the Sweet Spot? JLL’s Perspective on Evolving Workplaces

Interestingly, the same Gallup report indicates that hybrid workers, along with on-site remote-capable workers, report higher levels of overall life thriving (42%) compared to fully remote workers (36%).

This aligns strongly with JLL’s research, which consistently shows a strong preference from both employees and employers for hybrid models.

Results from Fortune 500 companies show that employees desire flexibility but also value the office for specific activities: collaboration, innovation, team building, and accessing specialized resources. The most successful organizations are those that reimagine the office as a “destination” – a human-centric space designed to support these activities and enhance employee experience.

Moving Forward: Supporting the Whole Employee in a Changing World

As remote and hybrid work solidify their place, organizations must look beyond surface engagement metrics. Savvy companies are finding the right balance through innovative, tangible strategies:

• Office Design as Well-being Hubs and Collaboration Catalysts: Create physical spaces that actively combat remote work’s isolation and blur. Implement tech-free “deep work” zones alongside vibrant social hubs. Make the office a compelling destination with unique collaborative tech, specialized project rooms, and high-value in-person mentorship.
• Tech Investment as Strategic AI Augmentation and Digital Well-being: Invest in AI tools to reduce digital fatigue and cognitive load (e.g., smart summaries, task automation). Deploy AI co-pilots to augment human skills like research and analysis, freeing people for strategic work. Promote asynchronous communication by default to lessen “always-on” pressure.
• Work-Life Balance and Safety as Enforced Disconnection and AI Transparency: Move from merely encouraging boundaries to implementing policies with impact, like right-to-disconnect protocols or meeting-free days. Foster psychological safety through radical transparency about AI strategies and their supportive role for employees.
• Community and Learning as Deliberate Connection and Career Future-Proofing: Engineer meaningful, non-transactional connections across remote/office divides via structured mentorship or innovation sprints. Reframe upskilling to develop “AI-proof” competencies (critical thinking, emotional intelligence) and provide clear career navigation pathways in an AI-evolving landscape.

By focusing on these areas, companies can better support the whole employee. Addressing the psychological effects of working alone, embracing flexibility, and proactively navigating the implications of AI will be key to ensuring that employees can be both engaged in their work and thriving in their lives.

The post Engaged at Work, But at What Cost to Overall Well-being? appeared first on Work Design Magazine.

While Lumon’s fictional severance procedure surgically divides work and personal identities, our real-world technologies are blurring these boundaries at unprecedented speed. Let’s explore three critical dimensions of workplace transformation through this lens: the integration of identity and technology, the reinvention of leadership, and the irreplaceable value of human connection.

Integration vs. Separation: The AI Opportunity

What if technology could enhance our professional identity rather than fragmenting it?

“Severance” depicts the consequences of artificial division – employees with surgically separated work and personal identities. But today’s AI revolution presents us with a fundamentally different possibility: technologies that integrate our capabilities in ways that make us more whole, not less.

Organizations are actively experimenting with different approaches. JLL’s recent Future of Work Survey reveals this diversity: 44% function as “office advocates” prioritizing in-person collaboration, while 56% embrace flexible hybrid models. Behind these statistics lies a deeper truth: successful organizations design intentionally for both human connection and technological enhancement.

Here’s the AI Opportunity: With advanced AI and deep research tools, we now have the power of 1,000 PhDs in our pockets. How should we redesign for a world where expertise is democratized? The answer begins with changing your default setting from “control” to “inspire.”

When Boundaries Transform: The Rise of Workplace “Phasing”

Season 2’s most intriguing development is “phasing” – moments when the barrier between work and personal selves temporarily dissolves. Your employees are experiencing this today, phase-shifting between work modes and identities throughout the day, powered by consumer-grade GenAI tools.

Did you know that 94% of CEOs acknowledge their employees are exploring unauthorized GenAI tools? This shadow AI phenomenon signals a profound shift in power dynamics. When 42% of C-Suite Executives acknowledge AI adoption is “tearing apart” companies  they’re recognizing that traditional workplace control mechanisms are crumbling.

The greatest barrier to successful AI implementation isn’t technological sophistication but human integration.

Organizations that fail to involve their people in AI development, provide adequate upskilling, and implement thoughtful change management find themselves with powerful tools that nobody uses or worse still ones that employees actively sabotage.

What separates AI success stories from failures? The recognition that we’ve entered a fundamentally different workplace paradigm – one where multiple work modes are the norm and human talent (not just tech) determines competitive advantage.

Leadership Reimagined: “Why Are You a Child?”

This startling question from Season 2 – asked when a younger-than-expected executive appears – perfectly captures today’s leadership transformation. In a world where expertise can come from any generation, how are leadership dynamics evolving?

Consider this paradox: While 41% of Gen Z employees express concerns about their company’s AI strategy, 59% of executives are “actively looking for a new job with a company that’s more innovative with GenAI.” Hidden in these statistics is passionate engagement across generations. Digital natives want greater ownership of AI initiatives, while seasoned leaders seek environments where they can participate in innovation.

Perhaps most telling is that 89% of CEOs recognize AI’s potential to enhance their strategic planning—embracing tools that strengthen human judgment rather than replace it.

Human Connection in the Age of AI: “I’m Your Favorite Perk”

“I’m your favorite perk,” one character tells another in Season 2, highlighting how human connection remains essential even in Lumon’s sterile environment. Industry leaders are beginning to articulate this distinction. 

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicts AI will handle 90% of routine coding soon, while Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella distinguishes between “knowledge work” (tasks that can be automated) and “knowledge workers” (humans whose value transcends their technical output).

In a world with ubiquitous intelligent machines, it is human connection that is emerging as the biggest gap. 

JLL’s Consumer Experience research reveals 65% of respondents value high-quality personalized experiences (rising to 80% among millennials). Even with expanding digital capabilities, 67% of people still value in-person experiences. We must approach in-person work not as a catalyst for execution, but as an accelerant to deeper connection.

Beyond Severance: Integration as the Path Forward

While “Severance” explores the consequences of artificial division, today’s workplace transformation offers us the opportunity to choose integration. Organizations experiencing the most success with AI adoption treat it as a “people-first initiative.” For example, our AI platform JLL Falcon and JLL GPT augments and amplifies our people’s expertise rather than replacing them.

As we navigate this transformation, three principles can guide our approach:

• Experience-First Design: Create environments where technology enhances human connection
• Human-Centered Technology: Ensure AI augments human capability while respecting agency
• Prioritizing Human Connection: Recognize that connection strengthens our humanity

Make no mistake, we stand at a historic inflection point—perhaps the most significant workplace transformation since the industrial revolution.

Leaders who recognize this moment for what it is—a fundamental reimagining of work itself—will create organizations where both people and technology thrive. Those who treat AI as merely another productivity tool will miss the deeper opportunity.

Remember: this isn’t Lumon’s world. It is ours to shape.

What world will you help create?

The post The Next Evolution: What ‘Severance’ Reveals About the Future of Work [Part II] appeared first on Work Design Magazine.

Imagine choosing a simple medical procedure that splits your consciousness in two. One version of you (your “innie”) exists only at work – focused, efficient, unburdened by personal concerns. The other (your “outie”) lives life outside, blissfully unaware of what happens during office hours. This is the premise of Apple TV+’s “Severance,” where employees undergo a voluntary procedure called “severance” to achieve the ultimate work-life separation.

The disturbing truth? We’re already living a version of this reality. Not through surgical intervention, but through digital fragmentation that’s equally profound. The average knowledge worker now switches between 13 different applications 30 times per day – a form of cognitive severance that’s becoming our new normal.

The marketing executive who switches personalities between Zoom calls.

The CEO maintaining two separate phones for work and life. 

The engineer whose digital identity splinters across endless collaboration tools. Through my work advising Fortune 500 companies, I’ve watched this invisible severance accelerate, creating workplace transformations that rival science fiction.

The questions “Severance” confronts pierce straight to the heart of our professional future:

How do we preserve authentic human connection in an increasingly automated world? What happens when technology starts reshaping not just our capabilities, but our very identity? Where does our true self exist when work and life blur beyond recognition?

What’s fascinating is the unexpected pattern emerging from this digital divide. The more technology separates us, the more desperately we seek genuine human connection. JLL’s 2024 Experience Matters survey reveals a fascinating counter-revolution: despite (or perhaps because of) our drive towards digital transformation, 67% of people still crave in-person experiences over virtual ones. Even more telling, 65% are willing to pay a premium for high-quality personalized experiences, rising to 80% among millennials – a complete reversal of what many predicted for our digital future.

This isn’t just irony; it’s evolution. Through my research across global organizations, I’ve identified four critical dimensions that are reshaping our workplace reality:

1. 1. Leadership and Authenticity: “A Handshake Is Available Upon Request.” this clinical offering from a manager in Season 1 perfectly captures the sterile, transactional nature of modern corporate leadership. The show’s bizarre waffle parties and music dance experiences brilliantly satirize corporate recognition programs, but this line cuts deeper, revealing how genuine human connection has been replaced by procedural gestures. McKinsey‘s research confirms this disconnect: 52% of employees leave their jobs primarily because they don’t feel valued by their managers.
   2. The Meaning Revolution: “The work is mysterious and important,” Lumon employees are told. I’ve noticed a striking pattern: The more automated and abstract our work becomes, the more desperately we seek meaning in it. This search for purpose explains Gallup’s recent survey findings: Employee connection to company mission hit a record low of 30%. We’re no longer satisfied with just a paycheck; we want our work to matter. This is a clarion call to leaders and executives. Organizations that excel at clarifying expectations see 9% higher profitability and 11% better work quality.
   3. AI: The Real Severance?: Here’s where things get really interesting. I’m seeing how artificial intelligence is creating a new kind of severance — not between our work and home selves but between human and automated work. We’re approaching a future where AI could handle our “work modes” while we focus on higher-order thinking and creativity. According to World Economic Forum, by 2030, work will be evenly balanced with 33% human-led, 34% technology-driven, 33% human-AI collaboration. This will force us to redefine what ‘work’ means entirely. The real severance isn’t between tasks, but between old and new definitions of human potential.
   4. The Connection Paradox: “A department like yours can go so good or so bad. You know what makes the difference? The people.” This truth echoes through our hybrid world. On the show, the severed workers forge profound bonds despite their isolation. Organizations are adopting a variety of approaches to solve for the connection challenge. JLL’s Future of Work survey reveals a striking split in how organizations are addressing this: 44% are now “Office advocates” (wanting full-time office presence) versus 56% being “Hybrid adopters.” This fundamental tension between connection approaches is reshaping how we think about workplace bonds.

The Path Forward

Tomorrow’s workplace demands three fundamental shifts:

• Experience-First Design: One banking client eliminated assigned desks to a large extent and created “hackable” spaces that teams configure based on their current projects. Their people now choose when and how to come together.
• Human-Centered Technology: Stop forcing collaboration tools on teams. Let them experiment with multiple platforms and adopt what works naturally. The best solutions emerge from user behavior, not top-down mandates.
• Intentional Community: Create opportunities for genuine connection, then get out of the way. Monthly cross-team projects, optional skill-sharing sessions and informal mentorship programs are all great ways to create community.

The revolution has already begun. In my conversations with leaders across industries, one theme emerges consistently:

The future belongs to organizations that embrace human complexity rather than trying to segment it.

The question is: How will you participate in shaping tomorrow’s workplace? What aspects of your organization need reimagining? When will you start?

The answers might unsettle you. Good. That’s where transformation begins.

Part II Coming Soon: Explore Season 2’s implications for workplace autonomy, technology integration, and human potential. 

The post The Next Evolution: What ‘Severance’ Reveals About the Future of Work [Part I] appeared first on Work Design Magazine.

“If I could create a backdrop for the world right now, I’d spell out the word trust as large as I could. That’s what the conversation around AI and workplace dynamics is all about.” 

— Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work.

In an era where AI can write code, generate art and predict market trends, the most valuable currency isn’t technological capability – it’s trust.

As a practitioner in the field of workplace transformation, I’ve witnessed firsthand how the convergence of AI, human expertise, and thoughtful workplace design is revolutionizing businesses. Today, we’re on the cusp of what I call the “Intelligent Enterprise,” a paradigm shift that will redefine how companies operate, innovate, and create value in the 21st century.

Three pillars of the Intelligent Enterprise are:

1. Hyper-automation 
2. Experience-driven innovation
3. And most importantly, the trust-centric workplace 

Consider this stat: 90% of executives think customers highly trust their businesses, but only 30% of customers agree. This trust gap isn’t shrinking; it is widened in the last two years.  

This cuts to the heart of our challenge – and our opportunity – as we navigate the AI revolution. Trust isn’t just a nice-to-have in the modern workplace; it’s the fundamental currency that will determine which organizations thrive and which falter in this new era.

As we stand at this inflection point, it’s crucial to understand that the Intelligent Enterprise isn’t just about implementing new technologies. It’s about fostering an environment where innovation flourishes, where human potential is maximized, and where trust forms the bedrock of every interaction – be it human-to-human, human-to-AI, or even AI-to-AI.

Let’s explore how each pillar of the Intelligent Enterprise contributes to building this trust-centric workplace of the future and how they work in concert to drive unprecedented levels of innovation and productivity.

1. Hyper-Automation: The Foundation of Intelligence-Driven Operations

In my work with pioneering organizations, I’ve discovered that hyper-automation, when thoughtfully implemented, becomes a powerful catalyst for trust-building. According to Gartner, 30% of companies will automate more than half of their network activities by 2026. McKinsey projects that by 2030, in a midpoint adoption scenario, up to 30% of current hours worked could be automated, accelerated by generative AI. Why are companies doing this:

• Eliminating Friction: AI-powered systems handle routine tasks and administrative burden, allowing people to focus on high-value, creative work that builds meaningful relationships.
• Creating Transparency: Automated workflows provide clear visibility into processes, decisions, and outcomes, fostering trust through accountability and predictability.
• Empowering Teams: By providing real-time insights and decision support, hyper-automation tools give employees the confidence to make informed choices quickly.

But are we entering a cold mechanized workplace? Far from it! These exponential technologies actually enhance the human experience. Experience matters and the intersection of people and tech is where innovation happens.

2. Experience-Driven Innovation: Where Wisdom Meets Technology

I’ve seen how transformative it can be when companies truly put experience at the center of their strategy. The recent HP Work Relationship Index reveals a profound truth: Personalized work experiences aren’t just a nice-to-have; they’re a catalyst for transformation.

The data is compelling. 64% of knowledge workers would be more invested in their company’s growth with personalized work experiences. Even more striking is that 87% would sacrifice part of their salary – up to 14% on average – to achieve this personalization. This isn’t just about preference; it’s about unlocking human potential through thoughtfully designed experiences that blend technology and human needs.

When we create environments where people feel supported by technology rather than replaced by it, innovation flourishes naturally. It’s about designing spaces and systems that adapt to human needs, not the other way around. This is where true transformation happens — at the sweet spot where human creativity meets technological capability.

Why are companies prioritizing experience-driven innovation?

• Accelerating Innovation: When people work in environments tailored to their needs, creativity and problem-solving flourish naturally
• Maximizing Performance: Personalized workspaces and tools dramatically increase productivity and engagement
• Enhancing Retention: 68% of knowledge workers state they would stay longer with employers who provide customized work experiences
• Driving Value for Customers: JLL’s Consumer Experience Research, successful organizations will prioritize shared experiences and social activities when crafting their future strategies.

However, business moves at the pace of trust. 

What’s particularly fascinating is the emerging trust gap in today’s workplace. 86% of executives think employee trust is high – only 67% of employee agree. This disconnect represents both a challenge and an unprecedented opportunity for forward-thinking organizations.

3. The Trust-Centric Workplace: Where It All Comes Together

The final and most crucial pillar is the trust-centric workplace— where hyper-automation and experience-driven innovation converge to create something truly transformative. Through my work with pioneering organizations, I’ve discovered that trust isn’t just another corporate value — it’s the invisible infrastructure that powers the Intelligent Enterprise.

Think of trust as the operating system (OS) for innovation. Just as your computer’s OS enables all other applications to run smoothly, organizational trust enables every other business function to operate at peak performance. This trust-centric environment encompasses both physical and digital spaces, designed to:

• Foster Authentic Connection: Creating spaces that encourage spontaneous collaboration while respecting individual work styles and preferences.
• Enable Psychological Safety: Building environments where people feel secure experimenting with new technologies and sharing their expertise.
• Promote Transparent Communication: Utilizing AI tools to facilitate clear, consistent communication across all levels of the organization.

In today’s business landscape, speed is indeed currency; however, what many organizations fail to recognize is that trust is the ultimate accelerant.

When people trust their tools, their colleagues, and their environment, magic happens — decisions accelerate, innovation flourishes, and transformation becomes part of the organizational DNA.

Trust turns potential into performance, ideas into innovation, and challenges into opportunities.

For example, when it comes to AI implementation, transparency isn’t just a technical consideration – it’s a trust multiplier. In my work with Fortune 500 companies implementing large-scale solutions, we’ve discovered that transparency increases employee adoption by orders of magnitude. Leading enterprises such as Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce and others are pioneering “explainable AI” frameworks that make complex algorithms more transparent and trustworthy.

The most exciting part? We’re just beginning to understand how trust can be intentionally designed into our systems, spaces, and interactions. The organizations that master this will define the next era of business.

The Path Forward: Creating Your Intelligent Enterprise

To build a successful intelligent enterprise, leaders must:

1. Start with Trust: Ensure every technological implementation begins with a focus on building and maintaining trust.
2. Balance Technology and Humanity: Use hyper-automation to enhance, not replace, human capabilities.
3. Honor Experience: Create systems that capture and amplify the wisdom of your most experienced team members.
4. Attract and Empower Young Talent: Create an environment where emerging professionals can thrive alongside experienced mentors.
5. Design for Connection: Develop workspaces (both physical and digital) that foster meaningful human interaction.

The Future is Trust-Centric

As we continue to navigate the AI revolution, one thing becomes increasingly clear: The organizations that will thrive are those that place trust at the center of their transformation efforts.

The Intelligent Enterprise isn’t just about implementing the latest technology – it’s about creating an environment where people feel empowered to do their best work, supported by intelligent systems and surrounded by collective wisdom.

The question isn’t whether to embrace this future, but how quickly and thoughtfully we can build it. The tools are ready. The knowledge is available. The only missing ingredient is the courage to take the first step toward creating your own trust-centric workplace.

All images courtesy of JLL.

Special Thanks to Our 2025 Trends & Predictions Supporter:

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The Future of Work in the AI Era: Navigating the Triple Threat

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What if AI could transform your business overnight, making it 100 times more efficient and competitive? What if it could help you stay ahead of self-educating customers, rapidly evolving markets and your own changing platform?

Before we dive into how AI will disrupt today’s business landscape, it’s worth noting how challenging the current environment is:

Three Stark Realities of Today’s Business World:

1. Customers are self-educating – 77% don’t talk to a salesperson without research, now increasingly AI-powered.
2. Markets are moving at an exponential rate – ChatGPT had 1 million users in 5 days, 100 million in 3 months, virtually every business must now consider AI-integration.
3. To keep pace, companies’ own platforms must evolve significantly faster than before.

But all of this is presenting an opportunity, unleashing what you might call “business abundance.”

This will happen as AI converges with massive datasets in everything from customer behavior to market trends, enabling business strategies that are more agile, more intelligent, and more targeted.

The three key areas where AI is revolutionizing the future of work are Customer Engagement, Market Adaptation and Platform Evolution.

In the future, we envision GenAI helping us reimagine entire business workflows [and this technology] has the potential to augment virtually every job. 

– JPMorgan Chief Jamie Dimon 

Let’s dive in…

1. Customer Engagement: The Self-Educating Consumer

In the age of AI, customers are becoming more informed and empowered than ever before. Let’s look at some stats:

• B2B buyers are now consulting a wide range of sources before making a purchase decision. According to Google’s ZMOT research, consumer shoppers consult an average of 10.4 sources, and for high-involvement purchases like cars, this number can rise to 18.2 sources.
• A study by DemandGen notes that 77% of B2B buyers did not talk with a salesperson until after they had performed independent research.
• B2B buyers favor web searches and vendor websites for their research. Additionally, social media is a key tool for 50% of respondents in the DemandGen Report survey. 
• The advent of AI-powered search tools like SearchGPT, Perplexity, and others is significantly impacting how customers access and process information, effectively making them “smarter” or more informed.

This is also true of your employees – will top talent work for a firm that has the latest AI tools or one that does not? AI is changing how customers (and employees) consume information and make decisions. 

2. Market Adaptation: Keeping Pace with Rapid Change

With markets moving at breakneck speeds, companies need AI-powered tools to stay ahead. Let’s look at the context:

• Global connectivity has led to faster exchange of ideas and information, potentially accelerating innovation, and adoption of new technologies. 
• The exponential nature of technological progress means that advancements in one area can lead to breakthroughs in others, compounding the rate of change.
• 5G networks deliver speeds up to 100X than 4G LTE networks, 6G is 20X faster than 5G, which could influence future market dynamics further.
• The adoption rate of new technologies by consumers has increased. For example, it took 30 years for electricity to be adopted by 10% of US consumers, while more recent technologies have seen much faster adoption rates.
• There’s an increasing need for businesses to reduce their strategic planning horizons from years to months and to integrate continuous measurement of business value and outcomes.

In a world where markets shift overnight, AI isn’t just an advantage—it’s a necessity for survival.

3. Platform Evolution: Transforming from within

As internal platforms evolve faster than ever. AI isn’t just changing what we do; it’s fundamentally altering how we operate at every level:

• AI is enabling more sophisticated automation of routine tasks and processes within internal platforms.
• AI algorithms can analyze user behavior and preferences to customize internal platform interfaces and workflows for individual employees.
• AI-powered analytics and recommendation systems are being integrated into internal platforms to provide employees with data-driven insights and suggestions, enhancing decision-making across all levels of the organization.
• Advanced organizations are already upgrading their platforms. JPMorgan Chase recently rolled out an inhouse developed Generative AI chatbot to staff, likening it to a having a research analyst at your desk.

Why This Matters:

Traditional, slow-to-adapt businesses will be disrupted by leaders and technologies coming from outside their normal ranks, in this case from today’s AI innovators.

If you’re like me and desire to maximize your business’s potential and longevity, then you’re likely to realize that traditional methods can only get you so far… perhaps to steady growth, but unlikely to achieve exponential success.

To truly thrive in this new era, we need to understand (at a fundamental level) how AI is reshaping business dynamics and design strategies that not only keep pace but stay ahead of these changes.

Consider What Moderna Did:

Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said: “If we had to do it the old biopharmaceutical ways, we might need a hundred thousand people today.” Moderna has about 5,000 people and competes with large pharmaceutical companies that have 80,000 to 150,000 employees. How do they do it? One point of leverage is AI.

Moderna partnered with OpenAI to implement ChatGPT Enterprise across their company, aiming to accelerate the development of mRNA medicines. They created an internal AI chatbot tool, mChat, which was adopted by more than 80% of employees, who created 750 custom GPTs for various tasks. These applications range from analyzing clinical data and optimizing vaccine doses to summarizing contracts, explaining policies, and assisting with investor communications. 

Interestingly, Moderna’s legal team boasts 100% adoption of ChatGPT Enterprise.

Moderna believes this AI integration allows a small team to perform like a much larger one, potentially saving costs while maintaining innovation. The company’s culture shift towards embracing new technologies is seen as crucial for achieving their goal of bringing 15 new products to market in the next 5 years. Ultimately, Moderna views this AI implementation as a key factor in improving efficiency and accuracy in their processes, which they expect will translate to better outcomes for patients.

Last year, JLL launched a proprietary large language model called JLL GPT to its workforce of 110,000 employees. Developed by JLL Technologies, the AI model is specifically designed for the commercial real estate industry and aims to provide secure, industry-specific insights. The decision to build an in-house solution was driven by the need to empower the workforce with a model trained on specialized real estate data. Within the first 48 hours of deployment, more than 11,000 employees used the model.

Since then, there have been substantive updates with several proprietary layers and knowledge bases add to the model. JLL plans to offer this technology to clients in the future and has more than 50 additional generative AI innovations in development or beta testing. JLL has also run a number of internal hackathons to create and nurture ideas to sharpen business focus – a ‘test and learn’ mindset is key to unlocking the power of advanced tech in this new era as JLL’s recent Future of Work Research notes. 

What happens with JLL’s 110,000 people are 110,000 AI-powered and exponential?

For me, AI is the most crucial technology propelling us toward a future of business abundance, and companies embracing this shift are leading the charge.

The post The Future of Work in the AI Era: Navigating the Triple Threat appeared first on Work Design Magazine.

In the fast-paced world of artificial intelligence (AI), the race for top talent is heating up like never before. As AI continues to turbocharge innovation across industries, companies are scrambling to attract and retain the brightest minds in this field. However, the supply of AI talent is alarmingly scarce, creating a fierce competition that is reshaping the job market and forcing organizations to rethink their strategies.

The Escalating Demand for AI Expertise

The demand for AI talent has skyrocketed, fueled by the rapid pace of technological advancements and the insatiable appetite for cutting-edge solutions. Silicon Valley tech giants are engaged in a high-stakes game of talent poaching, serving up million-dollar compensation packages, accelerated stock-vesting schedules, and even poaching entire engineering teams.

The stakes are high, as companies that fail to secure the best AI talent risk falling behind in the race for innovation. Take for example the Financial Services industry. JLL’s latest research, Financial Services: Future of Innovation Hubs analyzes how there are some early leaders in this AI talent race, but will they be able to hold their lead? Why are some succeeding when others have not? Additionally, Bloomberg and Evident AI report that the major Wall Street Banks are in a fierce battle for top AI talent across key roles: AI development, model risk, data engineering, software development, and responsible AI deployment.

The Talent Bottleneck: A Critical Roadblock

While the demand for AI expertise continues to soar, the supply remains limited, creating a talent bottleneck that threatens to stifle progress. According to a report by the Boston Consulting Group, only 10% of new AI roles are filled by existing staff, highlighting the scarcity of qualified candidates. This shortage is exacerbated by the fact that a staggering 80% of AI talent leaves their current roles, among other things, due to a lack of perceived opportunities for career advancement.

What Top AI Talent Really Wants

To attract and retain the best AI talent, companies must understand the unique desires and preferences of these highly sought-after professionals. Top AI talent typically seeks opportunities to work on cutting-edge and impactful projects, access to state-of-the-art computing resources, and competitive compensation packages. They thrive in environments that foster a strong research culture, encourage open-source contributions and collaborations, and prioritize ethical AI practices.

Moreover, top AI talent values working in interdisciplinary teams, where they can learn from and collaborate with experts across various domains, such as natural language processing, computer vision, robotics, and cognitive science. Access to powerful computational resources, including GPU clusters, TPU pods, and specialized hardware accelerators, is also crucial for training and experimenting with complex deep learning models efficiently.

Differentiating Through Workplace Experience

As the war for AI talent intensifies, companies are recognizing the power of the workplace experience as a secret weapon for attracting and retaining top talent. By designing workplaces that cater to the unique needs and preferences of AI professionals, organizations can differentiate themselves and gain a competitive edge in this fierce competition.

JLL Research shows that hybrid work patterns continue to flourish. The workplace experience encompasses both the physical office environment and the support for remote work. 51% of firms rank productivity as a key reason to attract staff back to the office but, for employees, poor office experience and noise are major barriers to returning. Employees are calling for flexible work arrangements, the ability to choose where they work from, and high-quality workplace experiences.

For top AI talent this could mean being remote with the ability to connect in-person on-demand.

Collaborative spaces and flexible workspaces are key to enabling brainstorming sessions, fostering an atmosphere of creativity and ensuring knowledge sharing. Dedicated research laboratories, equipped with cutting-edge computing resources and advanced visualization tools, provide top AI talent with the tools they need to push the boundaries of research and development.

Access to large-scale data centers and high-performance computing clusters empowers AI professionals to work with massive datasets and leverage scalable compute resources. Maker spaces and prototyping labs enable multidisciplinary collaborations and accelerate the development of innovative AI-powered products and services. For those working remotely, companies must invest in robust virtual collaboration tools, secure remote access to computing resources, and seamless integration of remote workers into the organizational culture and workflow.

Mental health and well-being are coming into increasing focus as AI professionals are under significant stress and cognitive load. This is where amenities can play a role. Amenities such as on-site gyms, meditation rooms, and outdoor spaces (for office workers) promote work-life balance and overall well-being, improving productivity and retention rates. Private offices, sound-insulated pods, and quiet zones cater to the need for focused, uninterrupted work sessions, while cutting-edge design and technology integration create an inspiring and stimulating environment that resonates with top AI talent.

To be sure these amenities are only a perk and not a panacea. Leadership and the culture of the organization play a much bigger role in attracting and retaining top AI talent.

The Future of AI Innovation

As the race for AI talent intensifies, companies that prioritize upskilling and invest in their employees’ growth are positioning themselves for long-term success. By fostering a culture of continuous learning and professional development, organizations can cultivate a pipeline of talented AI professionals and stay ahead of the curve.

Furthermore, companies that embrace ethical AI practices, promote transparency and accountability, and prioritize responsible development of AI systems will not only attract top talent but also build trust and credibility with their stakeholders and the public.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, winning the talent war is not just about offering competitive compensation packages; it’s about creating a workplace experience where top talent can thrive, collaborate, and push the boundaries of innovation. By understanding the unique desires and preferences of AI professionals and designing workplaces that cater to their needs – both in physical office spaces and through robust support for remote work – companies can differentiate themselves and secure a competitive edge in the battle for the best minds in AI.

The post The AI Talent Wars: Winning the Battle for the Best Minds appeared first on Work Design Magazine.