Should promotion depend on how workers use AI?
Employers including Accenture, Disney, Meta, JP Morgan, KPMG and Coinbase are increasingly using staff's AI proficiency as a factor in pay, promotion and even dismissal decisions, with some firms introducing "AI leaderboards" to track usage. Workers describe feeling pressured to demonstrate AI skills even without a formal mandate, but some, like marketing professional Duncan Trevithick, question whether becoming more efficient with AI ultimately just raises expectations without corresponding rewards, potentially undermining their own job security.
Trevithick, 34, says using AI to complete two days' worth of work weekly hasn't brought him extra pay or time off, only a higher baseline workload. Accenture's CEO has said AI use is now central to promotion at the firm, while Coinbase has fired engineers who skipped AI training. A US-based executive using the pseudonym Pamela says AI fluency is increasingly valued over years of experience, creating a "two-tier workforce". Separately, UK job vacancies have hit a five-year low, and a Gi Group survey of 1,881 UK jobseekers found 75% would not be deterred from applying to firms assessing AI proficiency in reviews, versus 22% who would.
- Firms increasingly judge staff on AI use for pay and promotion
- Coinbase fired engineers who skipped AI training
- Workers fear efficiency gains raise expectations without extra reward
- 75% of UK jobseekers unfazed by AI-based performance reviews
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Employers ranging from Accenture and Meta to JP Morgan and Coinbase are starting to weigh how well staff use artificial intelligence tools when deciding pay rises, promotions and, in some cases, redundancies. A few firms have gone as far as building internal "leaderboards" that rank employees by their AI usage. This marks a shift from AI being an optional productivity aid to something closer to a measured job skill.
Many workers say they feel under pressure to show they are using AI regularly, even where there is no official requirement to do so. Some, however, worry that becoming faster with AI simply raises what is expected of them day to day, without extra pay or time off to show for it, and question whether this could ultimately make their roles more precarious rather than more secure.
The debate touches on wider concerns about the future of work as AI becomes embedded in everyday office tasks, at a time when UK job vacancies have fallen to their lowest level in five years. It raises questions about how skills and experience are judged, whether newer AI fluency should count for more than time served in a job, and what fair reward for efficiency gains should look like.