The Double-Sided Problem: Why AI is the Only Answer

Nobody knows exactly where the phrase “killing two birds with one stone” came from—some say Greek mythology, others point to medieval slingshot competitions. But one of the most compelling interpretations comes from the Chinese strategist Sun Bin, who didn’t just solve a problem—he exploited two enemy weaknesses at once.

That’s the essence of efficiency: solving multiple challenges with a single action.

In business, this thinking fuels two-sided marketplaces—Uber connects drivers and passengers, Airbnb matches travelers with hosts, and product review platforms build trust between buyers and brands. The common thread? Time. More specifically, saving time. The best innovations don’t just solve problems—they solve them faster. Yet, when it comes to employee engagement, companies are still stuck in slow, outdated methods that fail to address the real issue. HR teams lack the time and resources to turn insights into action, while people leaders don’t engage with the data because it’s overwhelming or unclear.

The result? Inaction.

But what if AI could change that? What if it could deliver instant, actionable insights in minutes instead of months? The companies that embrace AI in employee engagement aren’t just saving time. They’re securing a future where people are heard, managers take action quickly, and productivity thrives. Because in this case, killing two birds with one stone isn’t just possible—it’s essential.

Traditional employee surveys suffer from “survey fatigue” for a reason.

Employees grow apathetic toward long, drawn-out questionnaires, especially when they feel generic and disconnected from their reality.
Many surveys focus on “happy” metrics, which can mask the truth instead of surfacing real concerns.
There’s a lack of trust—without true anonymity, employees filter their responses, or worse, don’t participate at all.

To counteract this, companies have turned to shorter, more frequent pulse surveys that focus on specific issues. But even these have a fatal flaw—while they may improve response rates, they don’t fix the core problem: understanding results and acting on them quickly.

On the one side, you have HR professionals who are stretched thin, managing the complexity of the organization while juggling competing priorities and heavy workloads. These teams are often forced into reactive mode, dealing with compliance, performance issues, and leadership demands. This makes HR a cost center rather than a proactive driver of change.

On the other side, you have People Leaders who are disconnected from the process for several reasons, including;

Lack the time, training, or confidence to interpret engagement data effectively.
Struggle with complex dashboards and static reports that provide little clarity.
Fear that acting on feedback will open a Pandora’s box they’re not equipped to handle.

If engagement data is too complex, too slow, or too time-consuming, what happens? Nothing. The "day job" always comes first, and engagement takes a back seat.

This isn't theory, but the daily reality for most organizations.

The Crippling Cost of Disengagement

Employee disengagement isn’t just a cultural issue—it’s an efficiency crisis. According to Gallup, poor engagement costs the global economy a staggering $8.8 Trillion (£7.2T) in lost productivity every year. While businesses double down on trimming operational costs, many are ignoring the biggest hole in their bottom line. It’s the definition of a leaky bucket—a slow, steady drain that’s going unnoticed until it’s too late.

When economic winds blow harder, the default reaction is cost-cutting—hiring freezes, restructures, and layoffs. In the short term, it buys breathing room. But in the long term? It’s often the beginning of the end. According to Forbes, nearly half of businesses fail within five years, and in both the UK and the US, the average company lifespan is just eight years.

Behind those numbers? Real people in real jobs, feeling the sharpest impact. Downsizing doesn’t just reduce headcount—it increases workloads, heightens stress, and creates waves of uncertainty that ripple across the organization. Whether it happens suddenly or in slow, painful stages, the result is the same: employees are left scrambling to pick up the slack, unsure if they’re next.

In the short term, the bottom line looks better—a lifeline for some companies fighting to stay afloat. Managed streamlining can even bring benefits: greater efficiency, sharper focus, better communication, and improved customer experience.

But it comes at a cost.

Layoffs create a system shock—especially when they’re unexpected. The emotional toll hits engagement hard, driving down productivity, increasing turnover, stalling innovation, and leaving behind a workforce riddled with insecurity and distrust.

And no number of reassuring leadership statements about “the future” can outweigh the very real impact of job cuts. Recent Harvard Business Review research shows that after job cuts, employee engagement takes 12-18 months to recover—and that’s only if lost roles are backfilled. If not? The engagement dip has become the new normal.

High engagement doesn’t just prevent this downward spiral—it’s the fastest way to recover from it. But the way companies measure engagement today is part of the problem. Traditional employee surveys often struggle with “survey fatigue”. This happens for several reasons:

They're long and tedious – Employees lose interest in lengthy, overly bureaucratic questionnaires.
They're often biased toward “happy” metrics – This is where the reality of engagement often gets masked — and ignites even more disengagement.
Lack of trust — concerns about anonymity can cause employees to hold back on how they're feeling.

To counter this, companies moved to shorter, more frequent pulse surveys—but even those have an Achilles’ heel: understanding the results and, more importantly, acting on them — and that’s the real issue. Action is what’s missing.

With an expert-trained AI model built on deep employee engagement knowledge, the chasm between HR and People Leaders can finally be bridged—resolving the Double-Sided Problem once and for all.

AI will initially bridge the gap in several ways:

Generating executive-level summaries: AI quickly processes survey results and delivers insights in easily digestible formats—video, text, or audio—that can be shared across the organization. This improves alignment and business-wide focus without the need for time-consuming analysis.
Empowering People Leaders: AI pinpoints key priority areas within each department without requiring complex dashboards or generic reports. Leaders get the specific insights they need to take action—without getting lost in data.
Instantly analyze open-text comments: AI can process thousands of employee responses at scale, delivering a consistent, richer understanding of key topics, concerns, and overall sentiment—both at the organizational and team level.
Driving action, not just insights: AI ensures improved communication at every level, fostering collaboration where it matters most and providing clarity on what needs action now. And the best part? This happens within minutes of a survey closing—not weeks later.

This is just the beginning. Soon, Employee Engagement AI will provide a true voice of the employee, aggregating sentiment, performance metrics, and engagement levels into one powerful, real-time source of truth. AI won’t just be an analytics tool—it will become a sidekick for leaders, providing immediate feedback and even recommending personalized training programs and development pathways to improve engagement at scale.

The organizations that embrace AI in engagement will be the ones that move faster, respond smarter, and create better workplaces. Those that don’t? They’ll keep fighting the same battle—just with less time to fix it.

Every great technological leap—from the printing press to the internet—has one thing in common: it saves time. AI is no different. It’s the next step in humanity’s relentless pursuit of efficiency.

The race for better, faster answers is already reshaping industries. Like the internet boom before it, billions are being poured into AI development, not just for novelty but for speed and precision at scale. Large Language Models (LLMs) are at the heart of this revolution—trained on staggering amounts of data, recognizing patterns, and generating human-like responses in seconds.

ChatGPT has become the default public LLM, instantly accessible to anyone, anywhere. We see its impact across search, content production, visual creation, and synthetic research. But while AI’s potential is undeniable, its challenges are just as clear.

For businesses, trust is the new currency—especially when it comes to sensitive data. AI’s early adoption has been met with scrutiny, particularly in high-compliance industries where data security, accuracy, and explainability aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re non-negotiable.

When it comes to employee engagement and workforce data, using public AI models is a risk companies cannot afford. The wrong insights, lack of data control, or security breaches could undermine employee trust, expose businesses to compliance risks, and damage brands overnight.

The answer? Private, secure AI models that deliver the power of AI without the pitfalls of public data exposure. The companies that get this right will not only win the AI race—they’ll set a new standard for employee trust, engagement, and business performance.

There's no denying that AI is a game-changer, but when it comes to employee data, how companies use it is just as important as whether they use it at all.

Public AI models, like ChatGPT, are designed for open access, pulling insights from vast datasets but lacking the security and control businesses need. Just as enterprises moved from public to private cloud environments for better data protection, companies must now make the same shift with AI.

A private LLM—built and trained specifically for a single organization—ensures full control over data privacy, compliance, and security. Even ChatGPT acknowledges that seven key safeguards are essential for protecting employee data in AI-driven environments:

Minimization – Collect only the data you need—nothing more.
Encryption – Secure sensitive data both at rest and in transit.
Anonymization – Strip away identifiers to protect individual privacy.
Access Control – Apply strict role-based permissions and multi-factor authentication.
Regulatory Compliance – Adhere to GDPR, HIPAA, and other data privacy laws.
Model Security – Continuously test AI models for vulnerabilities.
Active Threat Detection – Use anomaly detection and real-time monitoring to prevent breaches.

Even with all these safeguards in place, an AI model is only as good as the data it learns from. Training an AI on rich, expert-led employee engagement data is what makes it truly valuable. So the real question isn’t just how companies should adopt AI securely—it’s where AI can have the biggest, most immediate impact.

And employee engagement is one of the strongest candidates.

For the first time in history, five generations are working side by side. Work has never been more complex, fast-paced, and fragmented—and AI has the potential to bridge the gaps in ways we’ve never seen before.

The companies that adopt AI in the right places—where it has the biggest impact on productivity, engagement, and profit—will gain an edge that others simply won’t.

The internet boom of the '90s and '00s disrupted entire industries—AI will go even further. This isn’t just about faster information or automating tasks. AI will fundamentally change how humans interact, make decisions, and engage with work.

Companies that integrate AI into existing workflows and processes will create a sustainable advantage. Those that don’t? They’ll be left behind.

Employee engagement is the best place to start.

Solving the Double-Sided problem with AI is just the start and it has the potential to “kill more than two birds with one stone” but only for those that choose to take aim.

The Double-Sided Problem:

WHY AI IS THE ONLY ANSWER

How Smart HR Leaders Are Using AI to Help their People Leaders Save time and make an impact.

Quick links:

The Double-Sided Problem

The Two Sides of the Problem

The Crippling Cost of Disengagement

How Big is the Problem?

How AI Solves the Double-Sided Problem

The Importance of Security

De-Risking AI: Why Private LLMs Are the Only Viable Option

A New World of Work: AI as the Ultimate Sidekick