show index hide index
At the heart of IBM’s strategies, the use ofartificial intelligence redefines decision-making processes, particularly in the management of salary increases. By leveraging the WatsonX platform, the company engages in a complex evaluation process based on approximately forty criteria, such as seniority, performance and strategic skills of employees. This integration of AI gives rise to debates, in particular because of the opacity of the algorithmic systems involved, and raises questions about the delegation of managerial responsibilities to a machine.
The adoption of artificial intelligence at IBM transcends its traditional role to directly interfere in the calculation of salary increases, raising both hopes and concerns. With the implementation of WatsonX, an application dedicated to optimizing human resources decision-making processes, the American company uses around forty criteria to establish salary reevaluation recommendations. However, the theme of opacity and delegation of responsibilities hovered over this process, attracting the attention of unions and employees concerned about their evaluations and future prospects.
A salary revolution via WatsonX
IBM, an American digital giant with impressive turnover and a large employee base, has integrated artificial intelligence into the heart of its human resources management system. With WatsonX, the company uses numerous criteria to determine an employee’s potential salary increase. Among them, the employee’s seniority, strategic skills and risk of departure are taken into account for a global and automated evaluation.
This promising approach to removing subjective biases in decision-making seems attractive. Indeed, it could make it possible to universalize a fair and impersonal standard in the management of human resources, without favoritism or prejudice.
Unions’ reservations in the face of opaque AI
However, this change is not without its share of criticism. IBM unions express their concern about the opacity of this practice. Although based on a multitude of parameters, only a fraction of these was revealed to employee representatives, making the process still nebulous in their eyes.
The CFE-CGC delegate, Yannick Edouard, emphasizes that, although artificial intelligence is supposed to offer a recommendation, the pressure on managers to follow this advice would not be negligible. Most of them would prefer to validate the suggestion without contesting it, thus adopting a behavior of passive assent in the face of opaque technology.
Employee Coping Strategies
Faced with this new paradigm, employees are seeking to understand the mechanisms underlying these automated decisions. Their adaptive strategies include the multiplication of publications on LinkedIn, presumed to play a role in the evaluation, and the accumulation of badges attesting to the training followed during the year.
To read Le gouvernement efface discrètement les preuves de ses accords avec xAI, Google et Microsoft
Developers, for their part, rely on increasing “commits” to appear more productive in the eyes of WatsonX. This approach, while indicative of employee ingenuity, raises the question of the sincerity and authenticity of performance reviews.
The future according to IBM: AI and automation
The artificial intelligence represented by WatsonX is a preview of what IBM has in store for the future. Arvind Krishna, the CEO, already foresees that the technology will replace a substantial portion of administrative tasks by 2028. An estimated third of the 7,800 administrative employees could be replaced by AI. This outlook raises questions about the balance between the promise of increased productivity and the human impact. IBM, while ahead in integrating artificial intelligence, has yet to reconcile this technological advancement with the social and ethical concerns that arise from it.
