Before you replace a role with AI
It's a fair question to ask. AI can now handle a lot of routine work, and every business has to watch its costs. But replacing a role is rarely as simple, or as cheap, as it first looks.
Five costs that are easy to miss
- Someone still has to check the work. AI can sound confident and still be wrong. The checking doesn't disappear when the role does. It lands on someone else, often someone more senior.
- Knowledge walks out of the door. The person in the role knows your customers, your exceptions and your workarounds. Very little of that is written down, and AI can't learn what nobody has recorded.
- Redundancy has its own costs and rules. A fair process takes time: consultation, fair selection, notice and, for eligible employees, redundancy pay. Getting it wrong can cost more than the role itself. Acas publishes free step-by-step guidance for employers.
- The rest of the team is watching. If people see AI as a threat to their jobs, they're less likely to use it well, or to tell you when it gets something wrong.
- Your customers notice. Many customers value knowing who they're dealing with. Automating the wrong conversations can cost relationships that took years to build.
What tends to work better
- Redeploy the time. Move the hours AI frees up into work that grows the business: following up with customers, improving quality, or taking on work you currently turn away.
- Let AI absorb growth. As work increases, AI can help the same team handle more, so you may not need to hire for routine work later.
- Build skills first. With the right training, the people who know the work best are often the best at checking and improving what AI produces.
Acas suggests employers look at alternatives before making redundancies, including moving people into other roles. Moving people into the time AI frees up is one of the most practical alternatives there is.
If a role really does need to change
Sometimes a role does change a lot. If that's where you land, be open with your team early, offer retraining or a different role first, and follow a fair process, taking advice where you need it. Any decision about someone's job is yours, made under your own process.
When we work with a business, we put the full picture in writing first, including the costs above, so any decision is made with everything on the table.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. For advice on your situation, speak to Acas or an employment adviser.
