Building Artificial Intelligence into the Workplace: Impacts, Challenges, and Québec’s Legal Framework

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing workplaces, requiring companies to embrace this technology to remain productive in an increasingly competitive marketplace. In a word, implementing AI in the workplace has become essential. While its many benefits spark enthusiasm, AI also raises a number of practical and legal questions.

AI’s impact is considerable and must be analyzed with regard to one’s industry, company size, and potential rollout.

In this article, we look at the benefits and challenges of building AI into the workplace as well as the legal framework in Québec.

The Benefits and Challenges of AI in the Workplace

Companies would benefit from strategically implementing AI within their operations, as it would increase their competitiveness and, by extension, their viability.

 Potential benefits, subject to other operational and market factors, include:

• Increased productivity and operational efficiency
• Reduced operating costs, including with respect to accidents in the workplace
• Better-targeted monitoring of work performance
• Improved performance measurement

There are a number of challenges to adopting AI in business settings, including:

• The costs associated with strategic and personalized implementation
• Administrative reorganization
• Implementing internal programs and procedures for workforce management and for retraining employees and updating their skills
• Questioning cybersecurity and data-management practices

AI’s potential for automation raises important questions. To maintain human interaction, companies can establish initiatives that encourage employee fulfilment and human contact in crucial situations.

Impact on Employee Rights and Freedoms

The company should proactively provide its employees with appropriate training and ongoing support relating to new technology to help them make full use of their skills and develop new ones.

 A more equitable distribution of tasks, focusing on the professional and technical development of employees affected by the new technology, may reduce the stress arising from the possibility of losing one’s job. This would enable rapid and effective adjustment to this new technology.

Employees will need to be made aware of the benefits of AI for their work in a friendly way. This may include tangible examples, such as:

• Enhanced personal performance as a result of increased efficiency and productivity
• Reduction of repetitive tasks with little or no added value
• Opportunities to devote more time to tasks requiring their qualifications and skills
• The support received in analyzing and making decisions involving large and/or complex data sets

It is important to note, however, that using AI to increase efficiency may bring about an equally significant risk. For example, the presence of algorithm biases which, in the absence of rigorous supervision, may jeopardize the company’s viability.

Applying Québec Law on AI in the Workplace

In Québec, as elsewhere, incorporating AI into the law is a work in progress. Currently, a number of existing legal concepts relating to AI in the workplace need to be taken into account.

Civil contractual rules apply to the employment contracts of employees affected by the use of AI in their work. As an employer, the company benefits from a management right that allows it to adjust its employees’ working conditions to reflect changes in their work environment, including the implementation of artificial intelligence. Such changes, however, must be carried out in accordance with circumstances, legislative rules, and the terms and conditions of the employees’ employment contracts. Hence, companies are advised to amend their contracts accordingly.

Also, companies must update the cybersecurity practices and policies they apply to their IT tools. Such efforts are essential to ensuring that their employees remain informed of applicable practices and uses.

Employees’ individual rights and freedoms, such as their right to privacy, are further affected by the growing presence of AI in the workplace. Accordingly, companies need to be discerning and cautious in their use, say, of remote employee-monitoring or performance-management software. Such resources must be employed in a manner that is both reasonable and appropriate to the circumstances.

 In addition, the use of AI in human resources requires increased vigilance to prevent any form of discrimination due to computer-algorithm biases. Hence, taking these risks into consideration before deploying AI solutions would be a wise course of action.

Companies must also comply with occupational health and safety legislation, particularly to guard against the psychosocial risks associated with AI. Accordingly, a review of how work is organized becomes necessary to protect employees’ physical and psychological health more effectively.

Companies must also ensure that they comply with legislation on the protection of personal information, including when collecting, handling, and disclosing it, particularly when using employee data for AI purposes. Consequently, AI-related contracts need to be reviewed and negotiated – and BCF’s AI and Technology team has the requisite expertise in this area.

AI is part of the reality of the market, and companies can no longer ignore it, as it is crucial both to ensuring their relevance and competitiveness. As a result, they must ensure that it is applied at all levels, in compliance with the appropriate legislation, which is constantly evolving.

Our team at BCF can help you overcome these challenges by providing food for thought and solutions tailored to your requirements.

To find out more about the latest developments in this area, join us on April 30, 2024, at our Strategic Forum on Labour and Employment Law: Register here.