When AI Puts Jobs at Risk, Make Employees Feel They Matter

"Every morning in a stand-up meeting, I just reported on the progress and no one asked me for my opinion. I felt like my thoughts and ideas didn't matter."

Kim Seung-hyun (35), a developer who worked at a SaaS startup Company A, experienced severe burnout as he entered his third year. The company grew rapidly, but he felt he was being treated as just a "machine that writes code."

With the advent of AI, I felt that developers in the company were increasingly ignored. Kim regained his "original mindset" after the new CTO was appointed. The new CTO reorganized the team structure and introduced a system called "employee-led innovation time." Every Friday afternoon, developers were asked to spend time on projects that they thought were important. He repeatedly explained that in the age of AI, people will become more important.

Kim said, "At first, I was skeptical. However, I proposed an idea to improve security vulnerabilities that I had been thinking about for a long time, and surprisingly, it was seriously considered." Kim's proposal to improve security vulnerabilities, which was ignored by the previous CTO system, was eventually integrated into the company's core services. He was designated as the leader of the project and became a boost to the new business.

Kim said, "I felt that I was not just a part of this organization, but a valuable person. Knowing that my voice is important has revived my passion for work."

Kim's case is by no means exceptional. Zach Mercurio, who has studied leadership and employee relationships in organizations, recently emphasized that 'mattering' is the most urgent value in an article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR). It is analyzed that in the era of AI, where machines replace coding and rapidly replace jobs, the presence of humans will become more prominent.

Mercurio describes this sense as a psychological foundation that is more than just a sense of belonging. If belonging is "feeling accepted by the organization," then presence comes from the conviction that "I am an important person in this organization." And when this confidence is shaken, he warns, the entire organization can fall into stagnation.

Technology can replace human efficiency, but it does not create a sense of "I am important here." In an era where AI takes over a large part of work, the 'meaning of existence' felt by humans is more urgently required.

Mercurio tells the story of a cleaning worker who worked on a college campus. Jane, who returned to work after taking care of her family, thought she was "insignificant" and suffered from self-blame. But one day, an administrator handed her a dictionary and said,

"A custodian is a person who takes responsibility for something. You are the one who takes care of this space and the people."

These simple words touched Jane's heart. She worked silently in the same position for the next 18 years, redefining the meaning of her job with the sense that "I have a reason to be here."

"We only feel alive when we feel that we are meaningful," says Mercurio

Mattering is not just an emotion. It is a key psychological resource that strengthens self-efficacy and self-esteem, and increases work engagement and psychological stability. As the uncertainty caused by AI increases, this presence becomes an emotional safety net that supports each member.

The 2023 survey of U.S. office workers also supports this. Thirty percent said they felt "invisible" at work, 65 percent said their efforts were not recognized, and a whopping 82 percent said they felt lonely at work.

Mercurio says that these sentiments are the root cause of quiet quitting, mental burnout, and low engagement, and emphasizes that as technological innovation accelerates, "presence" should be placed at the center of organizational culture.

Mercurio and his research team collaborated with various organizations such as Marriott, Delta, and the U.S. military to come up with "specific guidelines for leadership that make employees feel better." The key point was simple. It is 'seeing and listening sincerely'.

Leaders should take the time to really pay attention to their employees. Leaders who have in-depth conversations even for just a few minutes a day can increase the engagement of members by more than 30% compared to those who do not.

Leaders should listen to their employees' insides, not their superficial words. Instead of "How was yesterday?" you should ask questions such as "What are you most focused on right now?" or "What was the most difficult moment in this project?" These questions make employees feel respected.

It is also important to remember the context of the conversation and ask again. Just by asking follow-up questions, employees feel that they are "important."

Lastly, leaders need to help employees realize their own "intrinsic value." You should be able to feel why your abilities and perspectives are important. Leaders should specifically mention employees' strengths, unique perspectives, and life experiences so that they can feel them.

The case of United Airlines illustrates this well. The company, which used to be at the bottom of both customer satisfaction and financial performance, began to change with the inauguration of new CEO Ryu Oscar Munoz.  

His first step was to start a one-on-one conversation with employees, and when a flight attendant said, "I'm always apologizing to customers," he immediately started trying to make a difference. He listened and tried to understand the emotions of his customers, which led to a substantial improvement in the organizational environment. Since then, United has seen a dramatic rise in both customer satisfaction and financial performance.

When people know what their work is actually doing, they feel a presence in it. It is not enough simply to 'work'. You have to feel that 'things work better because of me.'

NASA used the "Ladder of Purpose" to make it clear to all employees that they were part of the project to send humans to the moon. A goal ladder is a visual representation of how what you're doing connects to a higher goal.

Mercurio says a similar structure is needed within the organization. At the top of the ladder is the vision or mission of the organization, and below that, each task must be connected step by step. Employees should be able to see "every day" how their work contributes to that higher goal.

Mercurio points out that individual leaders' efforts are not enough to spread the sense of meaning of existence to the organizational culture. Four structural changes are needed.

First of all, the intention must be clarified. This should not be based on short-term results, but on the fundamental purpose of respecting human beings. Second, the leader must first experience it. Third, it is necessary to create specific standards of behavior.

Lastly, we need to change the evaluation and compensation criteria.

American Express Global Business Travel introduced a leadership manual called "How People Matter Here" amid a surge in employee churn after the pandemic. They completely reorganized leadership evaluation and education centered on the criteria of "seeing, listening, and acknowledging others." As a result, the turnover rate was halved, and employee engagement increased significantly.

When people are treated as ends rather than means, organizations come alive. At the end of the article, Mercurio quoted a sentence from T.S. Eliot and said: "To be important to someone is to be alive."

If an organization sets 'employee presence' as its core value, it can be reborn as a community where members feel true vitality, not just improving performance. In the long run, this leads to stronger engagement, healthy leadership, and a sustainable organizational culture.

As Zach Mercurio's research shows, increasing the "mattering" of employees in an organization is a fundamental mindset that enables employees to do creative work in the age of AI.

We must recognize that instilling a deep conviction that "I am an important person in this organization" is a key task of modern leadership. So, how should the CEO act?

👉 Spend at least 15 minutes of your day in meaningful conversations with your employees.

- Communicate with at least 15 employees at different levels/departments on a weekly basis.

- During the conversation, put down all your digital devices and concentrate for at least 15 seconds.

👉 Ask questions like: (Use in-depth questions instead of superficial questions)

❌ "How was your day?" → ✅ "What was the most challenging moment of the week?"

❌ "What is the progress of the project?" → ✅ "What do you think is your unique contribution to this project?"

❌ "What's wrong?" → ✅ "Do you have any ideas for improving this situation?"

👉 Maintain conversation continuity

- Let the CEO's interest be known that it is not a one-time thing. ✅ → asked, "Have you developed the idea of improving the customer feedback system you mentioned last time?"

- Connect how individual strengths contribute to organizational goals.

👉 Develop a Standards of Conduct Manual

- Develop specific standards of behavior for each team on how we treat each other.

✅ → Feedback on every idea within 24 hours, with equal opportunities to speak in every meeting

True leadership begins when we focus on people, not numbers. As T.S. Eliot said, "To be important to someone is to be alive." If we create a culture where all members of the organization feel their presence deeply, it will lead to a change in the organization that is truly vital beyond simple performance improvement.