Connection is the Missing Metric: What Gen AI Can’t Replace in Workers’ Compensation 

With the rise of Generative AI in 2025, one question continues to surface: Will AI replace our jobs? This question is rooted in fear, curiosity, and sometimes hope. But after spending more than two decades in the workforce, spanning leadership, education, and the workers’ compensation space, I believe we have been asking the wrong question. The more urgent concern is this:  

Are we losing our humanity in the process of optimizing everything else? 

From keynote stages to college classrooms, organizational retreats to executive leadership, the conversation that keeps showing up is around empathy, emotional intelligence, and the power of human connection. These have never just been nice-to-have concepts. These elements are the cornerstone of what it means to be seen, supported, and, ultimately, to heal, especially in the world of workers' compensation. It is so simple: it’s being human! 

A Technological Shift, But Not a Human One  

The recent Harvard Business Review article, How People Are Really Using Gen AI in 2025, showcases the surge in AI adoption. The efficiency gains are significant, from writing assistance to data analysis and administrative automation. In the insurance and workers' compensation sectors, we are seeing AI tools support everything from claims triage to predictive analytics. AI is helping process information faster, flag inconsistencies, and guide decision-making. The potential for improved outcomes is real. 

While we celebrate these advancements to improve our effectiveness and efficiency, we must be careful not to conflate speed with support or efficiency with empathy. AI can process a claim. It can flag a red flag. Where AI falls short is listening for what is not being said. AI cannot sense when to ask a scared injured worker how they are feeling and mean it. AI cannot read the pause in someone’s voice or notice the fear in their silence. AI cannot understand when someone needs reassurance, patience, or kindness in a moment of vulnerability. And while it continues to advance, the energetic exchange between two human beings, having a meaningful and purpose-driven conversation, remains priceless. 

We are seeing a technological leap without an equal emotional one. Our systems may be evolving, but many of our people are not. Emotional intelligence is declining, burnout is rising, and connection is fading. As human beings, we cannot afford to lose that human touch in a field where people come to us at one of the most vulnerable moments in their lives.  

Workers’ Compensation Is Still a Human Experience  

When someone gets injured at work, their world changes instantly. They may lose mobility, security, income, identity, and sometimes all of the above. They are not a claim, claim number, or just another file. They are human, navigating a deeply emotional experience. They are experiencing a loss of control over their own lives, their routines, and their future. A multitude of emotions can exist at the same time, with more than one feeling being true at once. 

I have had the opportunity to work with thousands of injured workers over the years, and the most powerful moments, the ones that transformed lives, not just outcomes, were never about processes. These experiences have been about people. These impactful moments were about connection. They were the more significant pieces to an injured worker's life. The small, what some would find as insignificant movements that truly made the difference. Every person has the ability to change the trajectory of an injured worker's life single-handedly. What difference have you made? What ripple effect did you start? How did you leave people feeling? The energy matters.  

A claim manager who takes the time to explain what is happening in plain language that is easy to understand through consumable information. An employer who calls to check in, not to check up. A nurse case manager who treats a worker with dignity and warmth, not just protocol and process. These are the connection moments that reduce litigation. These connection points build trust. And yes, these pivot points even speed up recovery. What a crazy concept! When people feel seen and supported, they are more likely to engage in their healing. They respond with resilience when they feel like a valued human being instead of a task to complete.  

The Data Is Clear: We Are Disconnected  

We have more than 20+ social media platforms and countless technological ways to stay connected. Yet, we feel unappreciated, lonely, and isolated more than ever before. This isn't just intuition; research confirms it. The data tells us loud and clear that people feel disconnected, isolated, and unseen. 

In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an Advisory naming loneliness and isolation as a public health crisis, on par with smoking and obesity in terms of risk. The report outlines how lack of connection affects everything from productivity to life expectancy. In fact, social disconnection can increase the risk of premature death by over 25%. 

The American Time Use Survey shows that the people we spend the most time with outside of sleep are not family or friends…they are our coworkers!! Which means work culture is life culture. The quality of our relationships at work is deeply intertwined with our overall well-being. When work is isolating or stressful, the impact bleeds into every other part of our lives. Organizational culture is imperative to get a pulse on and ensure employees are feeling good in the workplace. When someone is removed from their workplace due to injury, their social capital can take a hit, affecting their foundational relationships.  

Gallup’s Q12 Employee Engagement Index includes a single but powerful question: "I have a best friend at work." This statement may seem simple, but it is one of their most predictive engagement questions. When people feel like they belong and have meaningful connections, they are more productive, more loyal, and more fulfilled. Sharing situations with someone who understands, like a work context, produces validation in another human. These relationships matter. They produce a bond, increase oxytocin, and remind us of a core tribal mentality: we are not alone. 

Leadership, Education, and the Power of Knowing People  

I have seen how the best leaders do something different in leadership spaces. The leadership differential in people is seen in how leaders get to know their people individually, not just by leading their team's work. These leaders ask about families. They notice stress. These leaders adapt based on energy and emotion, not just productivity charts and scorecard metrics. These are the leaders people follow, stay for, and grow under. 

Leadership is about more than metrics and management. Leadership includes influence and presence, understanding when to push and when to pause. The leaders who make the biggest impact are those who create psychological safety, trust, and consistent connection. These leaders cultivate environments where people feel valued, supported, and empowered. 

In education, I live this every day. I start each of my classes with a ritual called Three Good Things. It is a quick reflection where students share what is going well, what they are grateful for, or what they are looking forward to in their current life or since they last saw one another. This shared moment is more than a gratitude practice. This experience is a window into where my students are spending their time, resources, and energy. I get to learn who they are, what they prioritize, and where students place value in life, far beyond what they have been learning in my class. Through repetition, this exercise builds trust and rapport and sets the tone for how we treat one another in the space we share.  

This same principle applies to workers' compensation. When we pause to ask, What’s going well? or What do you need right now? we open a door that AI cannot because we create a moment of humanity in a process that too often feels cold, bureaucratic, or transactional. This is an opportunity area where we humanize a dehumanized system, building individualized care into a routine procedure, road mapped by statute, process, and misunderstanding. Want to start to change how you impact this system? Start by asking How are you? Then, actively listen for the response. Take action based on what you observe and hear. Doing what you say you will can make all the difference to someone in an injured worker's position. 

Action Time for the Workers’ Comp Industry  

What does this mean for those of us in the workers’ compensation industry? 

It means we need to stay human. As our systems become more automated, our approach must become more compassionate. It means creating space for connection in a world built for speed. It means slowing down just enough to listen, to care, and to connect. 

Whether you are a claims professional, an employer, a provider, or a policymaker, you hold the power to shape how people feel during one of the most vulnerable times in their lives. Please do not underestimate the power of a kind voice, a well-timed call, or a simple How are you holding up? These moments matter. These experiences leave a lasting impression. It can be as simple as a text message to check in and remind people that they matter. Simple. Effective. Efficient. EFFORT. Effort is the real key to making authentic connections happen.  

Let Gen AI do what it does best. But never forget what you do best because that human element and energetic exchange is irreplaceable. 

Workers’ compensation is far beyond the business of insurance and claims. We are in the business of people. In this fast-moving world, connection is a sought-after leadership skill, a cultural strategy, and a healing mechanism. Connection allows us to move from transactional to transformational, from oversight to impact, from compliance to compassion, from noticed to validated. This experience leaves people feeling seen, heard, and valued.  

We need to double down on emotional intelligence. We need to train our teams in empathy, not just systems. We need to measure our success not only in closure rates or scorecard metrics and dollars spent but also in how supported people felt along the way. Have no idea where to begin? Reach out to me. I do this ALL THE TIME. I am happy to help get you, your team, and your organization on the path to connection. 

At the end of the day, no matter how advanced our technology becomes, what people will remember most is how we make them feel. 

And connection? That is our superpower. 

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