When AI Says “Great Job!”, Do We Cringe or Clap?

Hey HR Pros!

In this edition, we explore what happens when AI starts influencing not just how we work, but how we feel at work. We’ve seen companies giving employees time off to learn AI, others testing AI for workplace communication, and now, AI systems making judgment calls with suspiciously “vibe-based” logic.

But before you dive into the insights, let us know:

Upcoming In This Issue:

• 🔎 AI Adoption Case Study | Canva’s $5,000-A-Week Bet on AI Fluency

• 🤖 Latest on AI | When AI Says “Great Job!” — Do We Cringe or Clap?

• 📊 New Data | When AI Becomes Your Favorite Coworker

• 📉 HR Tips from HR Pros | A CHRO’s Guide to Transforming Workplace Communication

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 📰 Latest in HR News

• State AI regulation ban nixed. What it means for employers, tech firms

• Dispatches from SHRM25: Attendees share their thoughts about the HR org’s annual conference

• Meta poaches Apple AI executive as the AI talent wars grow chaotic

• T-Mobile ends DEI policies to secure FCC approval on two deals

🔎 AI Adoption Case Study | Canva’s $5,000-A-Week Bet on AI Fluency

read the full 429-word article here

Challenge: As AI accelerated across industries, Canva faced a familiar crossroads: either race to keep up, or slow down to skill up. The company recognized that most employees weren’t yet fluent in AI or sure how to apply it meaningfully in their roles.

Solution: Canva shut down regular work for an entire week. The goal? Give every employee, regardless of department or seniority, the time and space to experiment, learn, and level up with AI tools.

Strategy & Implementation

• Dedicated “AI Week” included no meetings or regular duties, freeing up all 5,000 staff to focus entirely on upskilling.

• A mix of workshops, demos, and challenges taught practical skills in real-time, tailored to both tech and non-tech roles.

• Cross-functional collaboration was encouraged, enabling design, marketing, and engineering teams to learn from each other’s use cases.

• Leadership participation helped model curiosity and experimentation, making AI learning a cultural, not just tactical, priority.

Results

• Employees shared over 3,900 AI use cases internally, revealing a surge in creative and operational applications across the company.

• Engagement spiked, with many employees requesting follow-ups and ongoing AI exploration opportunities post-event.

• New AI-driven workflows emerged organically, including automated slide design, faster coding, and smarter content generation.

• The initiative created a company-wide foundation for long-term AI adoption, accelerating transformation without external pressure.

Learning: Rather than wait for disruption, Canva engineered its own. By giving time, trust, and tools to its people, the company transformed a tech challenge into a culture shift — proving that sometimes, the smartest move is pressing pause.

🤖 Latest on AI | When AI Says “Great Job!” — Do We Cringe or Clap?

As AI continues weaving itself into our work lives, one question is quietly surfacing among employees: Should recognition at work be personal... or just efficient?

A new global survey of 2,815 workers found that, while many companies are leaning on tech to recognize employees, the people receiving the praise aren’t exactly thrilled about it.

Key Takeaways

• 😬 63% of employees fear AI praise feels impersonal, even though a smaller 55% believe it enhances recognition efforts overall.

• 💬 Nearly half of workers have used AI to craft recognition messages, signaling widespread adoption—but not universal comfort.

• 🏢 Strong workplace cultures make AI recognition more acceptable, suggesting that context and connection matter more than tech itself.

• 🧑‍💼 88% of AI-supportive employees trust their leaders’ approach to recognition, proving leadership empathy can offset tech-related skepticism.

read the full 448-word article here

😄 Comic Relief (HR Edition)

📊 New Data | When AI Becomes Your Favorite Coworker

Workers are reporting burnout, disconnection, and a growing emotional bond with AI over people. HR leaders now face the challenge of how to protect the human relationships that make work sustainable.

What HR Should Know:

• Employees report 40% higher productivity when using AI. However, 88% of top AI users are also burned out and twice as likely to quit.

• These employees often feel more connected to AI than teammates:

  • 67% trust AI more than coworkers

  • 64% say they have a better relationship with AI than with people

  • 85% are more polite to AI than humans

• Top AI performers are experiencing:

  • Higher burnout (88%)

  • Increased desire to quit and isolation from team and leaders

What HR Should Do: Design for Human + AI + Redesign

• HR must go beyond tech deployment to redesign work around:

  • Psychological safety

  • Autonomy and trust

  • Blended talent models (full-time + freelance + AI agents)

• AI integration should include:

  • New roles and norms for AI collaboration

  • Training that builds human-AI fluency, not just usage

  • Measurement of both productivity and connection

Read the full report

📉 HR Tips from HR Pros | A CHRO’s Guide to Transforming Workplace Communication

As CHRO Katie Roland explains, too much of today’s workplace dialogue mirrors the internet: quick jabs, clever responses, and very little space for real understanding. To truly foster collaboration, leaders must rewire their teams for safety, curiosity, and constructive conflict.

Here are her most actionable tips for creating that shift.

Tips from the CHRO

1. Create psychological safety — not perfection pressure

• Treat mistakes as learning moments

• Encourage “progress over perfection”

• Publicly praise collaboration and team-built ideas

2. Promote solution-focused language

• Use structures like “I noticed X… what if we tried Y?”

• Ask open-ended questions that prompt thoughtful responses

• Consistently model “yes, and…” language to explore solutions

3. Build curiosity into conversations

• Encourage phrasing like “Can you share more about…”

• Teach teams to restate what they’ve heard before reacting

• Reward those who build on ideas instead of tearing them down

4. Structure brainstorming to reduce fear and bias

• Timebox brainstorms to separate ideation from critique

• Set clear rules: no judgment, all voices welcome

• Provide templates for how to build constructively on others' input

read the full 1,172-word article here