Introduction: A Cultural Inflection Point

The past decade has been defined by acceleration. Organisations have embraced digital transformation at speed and scale, driven by a desire to be leaner, faster and more productive. From early automation to today’s generative and agentic AI, workforces have been equipped with smarter tools and increasingly autonomous systems. These technologies are not only changing how work gets done, but also how decisions are made, how people interact and what is expected of them. On nearly every front, operational efficiency has improved.

But beneath that surface, something else is shifting. As output is optimised, the quieter elements of work such as empathy, trust, etiquette and human connection are becoming harder to maintain. Not gone but stretched. And in some cases, quietly deprioritised. 

This is not a crisis. It is a pattern. The kind that does not cause headlines but quietly reshapes culture if ignored.

This piece explores that pattern. Not as a rejection of innovation, but as a reminder that presence, engagement and cultural consistency must evolve alongside performance. If organisations want sustainable, resilient cultures, they cannot afford to let efficiency dilute the experience of the people delivering it.

Efficiency as a Cultural Force

Technology has delivered meaningful improvements to how work is structured, measured and executed. Automated workflows, intelligent systems and AI-driven optimisation have changed how organisations hire, communicate, manage and scale. These systems are effective and often essential. But they also shape behaviour, expectations and culture in subtle ways. 

The more efficient work becomes, the more transactional it can feel. Conversations are shorter. Feedback loops become templated. Systems remove friction but also reduce the context and texture that create belonging and trust.

As agentic AI becomes more embedded in workflows, taking actions on behalf of users or systems, the pace and expectations of work are shifting again. Routine decisions are now handled autonomously. Communications are drafted and sent without direct input. This creates new efficiencies, but also raises questions. 

When fewer human moments are required, are the right human signals still being sent?

These developments are not inherently negative. But they highlight the need to design culture as deliberately as systems. Without that balance, organisations risk optimising for delivery while quietly eroding connection.

Candidate Experience: A Signal Worth Watching

One of the most visible early indicators of this shift is candidate ghosting. A 2023 SHRM study found that 42 percent of candidates had been dropped from hiring processes without any follow-up. In the UK, CIPD research shows nearly one in three candidates report similar treatment.

In most cases, this is not due to poor intent. It often reflects overloaded systems, ambiguous process ownership or automation designed without human closure points. But to a candidate, it sends a clear message. Their time and effort did not warrant a response.

Candidate experience is more than a hiring issue. It reflects how communication, feedback and responsibility are handled more broadly. The way an organisation treats people it chooses not to hire can often signal what it values in the people it does.

I previously wrote about the emergence of hyper-personalisation in hiring, where the candidate journey is becoming far more ‘choose your own adventure’ and consumer-inspired. But even the most curated experiences can fall short when communication and closure are absent. These foundational signals still matter.

Small cultural breakdowns often surface at the margins, in hiring, onboarding and exits, before they appear in performance metrics. These are moments worth paying attention to.

Etiquette as Cultural Infrastructure

Professional etiquette still matters. It is not about formality. It is about signalling consideration and reinforcing mutual respect. Responding to messages. Following through on commitments. Acknowledging effort. These are the habits that make people feel seen and valued.
In high-output environments, these behaviours are often the first to be deprioritised. 

Efficiency becomes the justification for silence. Courtesy becomes optional.

Where etiquette slips, clarity suffers. People begin to fill gaps with assumptions. Silence is misread as disinterest or avoidance. Over time, this creates emotional distance, weakens collaboration and erodes confidence in leadership.
These are not major incidents. But they accumulate. And when they are not addressed, they become norms.

Leaders who consistently model responsiveness, transparency and care help embed a culture that feels accountable and considered, even under pressure. 

It is ironic that in 2023, Sam Altman noted that people being overly polite to ChatGPT was costing OpenAI millions in unnecessary energy. Yet in many workplaces, the opposite trend is taking hold. Human interactions are being stripped of basic courtesy in the name of speed.

Politeness to machines may be optional. Politeness to people is not.

Empathy in Leadership: Intentional, Not Assumed

Empathy has always been a core leadership trait. But it now requires a level of intentionality that many organisations are still adapting to. 

In digital-first and hybrid environments, the signals that once guided leaders are less visible. Casual check-ins, hallway conversations and off-the-record comments no longer happen as naturally. This makes it easy for leaders to drift into operational oversight without maintaining emotional connection.

Empathy in this context is not just about personal warmth. It is about being attuned to what is happening in the spaces between meetings. It is about noticing when tone changes, when contributions drop or when feedback slows. These are often the early signs that someone does not feel safe or supported.

A 2024 study by MIT Sloan Management Review found that leaders rated highly for empathy were nearly three times more likely to lead psychologically safe teams. However, the same study also found a significant drop-in informal one-to-one time since hybrid models became the norm.
Empathy does not scale in the way technology does. But it can be embedded through leadership habits. 

Checking in without an agenda. Listening without fixing. Noticing, and then acting.

Psychological Safety: A Barometer, Not a Backstop

Psychological safety is a known driver of innovation, retention and performance. But it can be difficult to measure accurately, especially in systemised environments. 

Many organisations rely on engagement scores or survey data as indicators. While useful, these tools may only capture what people feel safe to share, not what they truly experience. 

High scores may suggest alignment. They can also suggest caution. In some contexts, people provide answers that feel appropriate rather than reflective. This is especially true where AI-driven feedback tools or performance analytics create pressure to perform visibly at all times. 

The more efficient the system, the more important it becomes to validate sentiment in human ways. Conversations. Observation. Follow-up.

Psychological safety cannot be assumed. It must be reinforced through action. Leaders who create space for disagreement, who follow through on difficult feedback and who model vulnerability set the tone for others to do the same.

Presence as a Strategic Leadership Skill

Presence is often misunderstood as proximity. In reality, it is about consistency, attentiveness and relevance, especially in distributed teams and tech-driven environments. 

Presence means responding quickly when it matters. Being visible in decision-making. Showing up not just in crises or high-stakes moments, but regularly and reliably. It connects performance expectations with emotional commitment.

As agentic systems handle more decisions autonomously, leadership presence becomes more critical, not less. Employees still want to feel that their experience is being considered. That their effort is recognised. That their concerns are heard by someone who can do something about them.

Organisations that develop presence as a leadership competency are not resisting automation. They are complementing it. They are creating cultures where people still feel that human judgement matters, even when machines are making suggestions or taking action.

Reimagining Culture as Work Evolves

As AI redefines the nature of work itself, including how it is structured, who performs it and which decisions are delegated to machines, organisations have an opportunity to reimagine culture in parallel.

Culture can no longer be thought of as a fixed layer beneath operations. It must be adaptive, intentional and designed to evolve alongside new models of collaboration, automation and scale. If AI is changing what work looks like, then culture must change how work feels.

At AMS, we firmly believe in keeping a human in the loop when it comes to AI enablement. As work continues to be reimagined, our goal is not just to optimise tasks, but to create more space for meaningful engagement, better decision-making and human-centric interactions. 

Automation should elevate the work experience, not erase the human presence from it.

Five Questions for Leadership Reflection

1.    Are our systems improving connection as well as performance?
2.    Do our cultural indicators reflect real sentiment or reported behaviour?
3.    Where are small breakdowns in etiquette or feedback becoming normalised?
4.    Are leaders equipped to recognise and respond to signals of disengagement?
5.    How are we designing for presence in an increasingly autonomous workplace?

Final Thought: Balancing Automation with Human Connection

Culture does not unravel in obvious ways. It wears thin in the spaces we stop paying attention to. It shifts in tone, in pace and in the cues, people receive from leadership and systems.
The next wave of change will be shaped not just by technology, but by how leaders respond to what technology makes possible. Generative and agentic AI will continue to create new efficiencies, but those efficiencies cannot come at the cost of connection.

Organisations that thrive in the future will be those that integrate automation without losing humanity. That move fast but stay close. That understand presence, empathy and trust are not nostalgic values. They are strategic imperatives.

Progress and presence are not trade-offs. They are partners. And leaders who balance them well will shape cultures built to last.
 

If AI is changing what work looks like, then culture must change how work feels.