Positive Workplace Cultures with AI

Dianne Stefanko, Director, Employee Relations & Safety, The North West Company

With over 25 years of experience in Human Resources, Dianne Beaurivage is a strategic HR Executive known for driving innovation, fostering diverse workplace cultures and aligning organizational growth with talent management excellence. Dianne’s expertise spans various HR disciplines, including talent acquisition, organizational development, employee relations, compensation & benefits, leadership development and performance management. Her strategic vision and people-centric approach have helped companies build high-performing, engaging teams and establish HR frameworks supporting operational efficiency and employee satisfaction. As a Senior Leader in Human Resources and Health and Safety at the North West Company, Dianne drives strategic HR initiatives that foster a positive, high-performance workplace culture while supporting the business’s long-term success.

In 2025, effective leadership will be more critical than ever as we navigate complex change and challenges. Positive leadership influences foster resilience, guide teams through change and inspire innovation. Effective leadership ensures organizational success and influences the workplace culture and overall well-being of employees.

Leaders must champion best practices and stay on top of trends or new tools. This means looking at all aspects, from ethical and social impacts to technical and existential threats. Don’t just look at the good; that’s how we let our people down.

AI is here. You’ll hear or read stories about how advanced companies use AI, but I don’t hear much conversation about being aware of the risks to privacy, confidentiality, bias and human connection.

“Being afraid to implement AI in the end will leave you behind as our world quickly changes. Don’t be fooled, if you’re not supplying your teams with a safe AI site to use, they are finding AI sites to use at work”

As HR professionals, ask yourself, are you setting your people up for success with AI? There are ways to support your teams and make it fun;

• Role play to ensure they are using it correctly Show them why it’s important to Fact Check

• Teach your teams how to prompt or:

• Use AI ethically It can be a great tool for defining gaps, driving coaching, removing bias, mapping skills to strategic objectives and identifying talent. If you know how to use it right, it can also help identify stress in the workplace.

Another area AI can be used as a great support for Leaders is skill mapping vs. career pathing. Matching the role’s skills will support high-performing teams and increase productivity.

AI is here to stay, but not being aware of its pros and cons isn’t going to create the positive workplace culture you’re looking to develop. Being afraid to implement AI will leave you behind as our world quickly changes. Don’t be fooled; they will find AI sites to use if you’re not supplying your teams with a safe AI site.

Ever hear, “ops sorry we didn’t see that coming”? AI is a great tool, but building a positive workplace culture means creating a trusting workplace, which means dotting your I’s and crossing your T’s when taking care of your people.

I often talk about the “shiny new balls,” building that positive work culture means doing the right things for our teams every day, which means being aware of the risk; it means shiny new stuff like AI needs research to ensure we’re using the tool correctly. If we do this as shiny new balls come into play, our workplace will remain strong and a positive, trusting culture will thrive!

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