Marlene Cosain - AI Without Layoffs

What if AI adoption didn’t lead to layoffs, but instead created new opportunities for your workforce?

In this episode of the People/AI Strategy Forum, Sam Reeve speaks with Marlene Cosain of Abbey Connect about how organizations can adopt AI without displacing employees by turning fear into upskilling, internal mobility, and long-term growth.

As AI adoption accelerates, many organizations face a common challenge: employees fear replacement. That fear often slows adoption, limits innovation, and creates resistance to change. But it doesn’t have to play out that way.

Marlene shares how Abbey Connect scaled its business while introducing AI in a way that strengthened its people, not replaced them. By investing in learning, creating space for experimentation, and building trust through transparency, they transformed AI from a threat into a growth opportunity.

If your organization is navigating AI adoption and concerned about employee engagement, retention, or resistance to change, this conversation offers a practical and people-centered approach.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why fear of AI is one of the biggest barriers to adoption
 • How to introduce AI without triggering layoffs or disengagement
 • The role of training, education, and communication in building trust
 • How to create a culture of experimentation and curiosity
 • Why internal mobility is a key outcome of successful AI adoption
 • How to measure success beyond course completion
 • The importance of leadership transparency during transformation
 • Practical ways to turn workforce fear into momentum

Key takeaway

AI adoption does not have to reduce your workforce.

It can strengthen it.

When organizations invest in their people, create clear communication, and build learning into the process, AI becomes a driver of growth, not fear.

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Guest:
Marlene Cosain
Leader at Abbey Connect, helping organizations adopt AI in a way that builds trust, develops talent, and drives internal mobility without displacing employees.

#PeopleStrategy #Leadership #AIinHR #FutureOfWork #WorkforceStrategy #EmployeeDevelopment #AIAdoption #Upskilling

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About the People/AI Strategy Forum
The People/AI Strategy Forum explores how leaders navigate the intersection of people strategy, leadership, and artificial intelligence. Hosted by Sam Reeve, Founder & CEO of CompTeam, the Forum features conversations with executives, practitioners, and experts shaping the future of work.

Learn more about CompTeam and the People/AI Strategy Forum at compteam.net.

Transcript

Sam 0:05

AI didn't mean layoffs, but Liftoffs in 2026. The company's winning trust aren't cutting headcount. They're upgrading skill sets and redeploying talent before fear takes hold. Welcome to the People Strategy Forum where we turn disruption into leadership strategy. I'm Sam Reeve, your host, and CEO of comp team, where we help organizations design people, systems that attract, retain, and grow top performers. Today's topic. AI without layoffs, how to turn your workforce fear into upskilling and internal mobility. And our guest today is Marlene Sain, HR Director at Abbey Connect, a company that operates at the intersection. People in automation every single day. So Marlene has navigated the tension. Many organizations are facing how to integrate AI tools without triggering fear, disengagement, or unnecessary workforce reduction. So if you're an executive asking, how do we adopt AI without losing our culture or our best people, this conversation will give you the practical roadmap that you're looking for. So welcome, Marlene.

Marlene Cosain 1:21

Thank you Thank you for having me

Sam 1:23

Yes. And so Marlene, as a, as a first action that we'd like to take all the time on this podcast is to really dive in deep and learn a little bit more about you and, and of course your background and what has driven your passion in HR and just sort of the people that you do. So can you tell us a little bit about your, your history there?

Marlene Cosain 1:43

Absolutely So I've actually been with the company about 12 years I'm going on 13 Um I think a fun fact about me is that I started straight out of high school I started right at 18 Now you're gonna do the math on how old I am but um I started at 18 and I really anyone else I needed a job I needed to make a living and I just fell in love with the culture with the people Back then there was about five of us Now there's we grew the team to about a hundred So it's just been such a pleasure being through every phase of that and every evolution of the company Um for me I think throughout the years I've worked many different positions worn many hats but the people side of things is where I really shine Really have a care for people and making sure that people have actionable solutions that employees feel heard that they feel taken care of And what was really important to me throughout these transitions of the company is that our culture remained the same if not better and that we never lost sight of our people And what makes Abby so special as we

Sam 2:46

Well, that's really impressive, starting when the company was at five and now growing it to over a hundred people. So your true founder level for sure. That's great. Well, well, Abby, I'd love to, to dive into, uh, your four pillars of, of really AI adoption that you were talking about. So internal buy-in, providing resources, communicating the vision, and turning fear into ownership. So, uh, so as you were. So can you tell us a little bit about how, um, the onset or where, where you knew you had to take action in artificial intelligence and so forth? What was the trigger there that, that said, Hey, we had to do something?

Marlene Cosain 3:28

Yeah absolutely I think being Abby Connect we've been in business for about 20 years We had just seen stagnation we saw market shifts We knew that we had to do something different and we weren't going to be able to scale and grow the company to what we had envisioned um with live receptionist services uh and and remaining in that space So I remember CEO came to a leadership meeting and he's like we're gonna build an AI receptionist And the first thought like anyone else in this company is probably fear Um when you run a receptionist company and you start talking about ai then your frontline team immediately thinks are we automating ourselves out of a job Are you building something that's gonna replace me Um so we had a lot of conversations back and forth and I think his conviction for where where the market's going where just the future of technology is going was so strong You just You had to get on board I knew we couldn't see it yet We didn't know what that was gonna look like for us or for the workforce but it's kind of like the internet It's a no brainer You you have to hop on board You have to be proactive If not you're gonna be left behind And I think that's how we've uh stayed in business for so long is making sure that we could evolve and we can keep up with um technology

Sam 4:41

Yes. And so the, and the technology is, is really good and it's getting better all the time. And so I, I can understand that your employees felt this fear. It's like, oh, are we being replaced? I mean, should we. Really be engaged in this effort to potentially replace ourselves. I mean, there must have been a really good trust level between employees and, and the company. Yeah.

Marlene Cosain 5:01

Yes for sure I think that trust is what carried us through a lot of that um because it's hard to say two years from now when we build this AI receptionist you're gonna have more jobs we're gonna have more opportunities we're gonna bring you along For the road And I'm sure uh some of the feedback is like is it though is it going to how does that look like Especially when our AI literacy um when it came to our AI literacy wasn't so strong so people didn't really know what AI was So what they hear on the media what they see online it's scary Nobody's talking about it in in a positive way So uh I think without that literacy that's where we started off And that's why we were so passionate about making sure that if we were gonna evolve into this space that we brought our people along And part of that was making sure that we built courses and we educated them and we brought them along the journey so we could have those conversations with them and we can equip them in the future or the future

Sam 5:57

Okay. And I, I know that was part of the, you know, getting buy-in, which is your step one. But, but, uh, is, is,

Marlene Cosain 6:03

Be because

Sam 6:03

was there, uh, was there a dialogue or, or a conversation that leadership had with everyone to kind of explain the initiative? Or is that, is that how things kind of established the, the buy-in.

Marlene Cosain 6:16

Yeah a lot of conversations we're very communicative and very transparent overall and I think that's a great way to lead and it's why we have so much trust Anyone can basically ask anything and uh we'll make sure that they know why we made decisions and why certain things are happening So we um first we named the fear We understood how that could come across fearful Um second we made sure that we told people early on this is what we're doing that way That was a conversation like do we tell them now or do we tell them once we develop it We just felt like that was the wrong thing to do because if two years later we're like Hey we built this thing that we didn't tell you about now they're gonna be extra fearful So if anything we just um had continuous conversations of this is where we're going this is where we're going These are the updates on development Now we're in beta testing This is the feedback that we're getting This is why you are so special This is why you are still contributing This is how you're gonna Fit into um this future and I think that really helped

Sam 7:14

Yeah. So that, that big piece as you, you mentioned in step one is, is making it real or be real with, with the situation. But the next is, is, uh, really make it fun. It sounds, uh, counterintuitive in a, in a serious business environment where people are thinking about their jobs, but, but why does playfulness accelerate adoption?

Marlene Cosain 7:34

Yeah absolutely I think um especially when it comes to AI and when it came to our business model it's you have to let people experience it in something that's low stakes So at first we're like figure out how to have AI give you a better workout plan Figure out how to have ai um you know create your meal plan or plan your itinerary So we made it fun that way but just at our core we found that having fun Makes it less fearful and people are less afraid to try something Um so first we removed it from their work and we're like go try AI out in the world and see how it helps you Then we saw light bulbs like oh my gosh it did that so quickly Oh my goodness That saved me so much time Um but two we did different initiatives too Like we had a AI bingo that we created and we actually rewarded people if they created the whole card Um I think they got like $400 the

Sam 8:27

Wow. Yeah.

Marlene Cosain 8:28

Um we gave them extra PTO just anything that we could use to motivate them to take the courses To try different prompts to have conversations um at their huddles or at work things like that Um it made it fun It made people want to do it because again they also have a full-time job uh which is our reception service So for them to want to do anything extra or outside of that especially for something that's fearful we're like let's make it fun Let's reward them Who doesn't want $400

Sam 8:59

Right. For sure. And I think this is a good challenge for our listeners that are, that are, uh, listening in right now onto this, uh, this, this great pointer. Uh, what is one low stakes AI experiment that you could introduce into your organization that will make things fun for people and, and help with adoption. So I would challenge, uh, people to, uh, do that. And if you come up with, uh, the great one, put it in the comments below and share it with your colleagues. Alright, so,

Marlene Cosain 9:25

I think

Sam 9:26

go ahead, Marley.

Marlene Cosain 9:27

interject

Sam 9:28

Yeah.

Marlene Cosain 9:28

maybe that's where we go wrong We're like let's teach em how to use it in their workflow Let's show them how it's gonna help them write an email better They're scared

Sam 9:35

Yeah.

Marlene Cosain 9:36

Now they're realizing oh this thing can do it better than me possibly faster than me It is gonna replace me Show them how it's gonna work in something low stakes and something fun You're creating that buy-in and now they found how it helps them in their personal life Then add it into their professional life it again in something low stakes and then start building on top of that

Sam 9:54

Right. And, and, and there's, I mean, if we just, and here's another thing that just be real, right? I mean, who's in a job out there that there's not something that they don't like in their job? I mean, they wish that they could, they could hand off to somebody else. There's always something like that. So, uh, you know, people, I mean, sometimes when we think about, you know, having ourselves. Operate better in, in this new world of automation, just think about, Hey, what could I hand off that I really don't like? And, and what are the things that I could be more strategic in or be en enjoy my work more? You know? So I think that's, uh, something that we can think about when we're look using ai. So when, so the next thing that on your list here you have step two is, is uh, you know, like really providing some resources. So can you tell us on, on how you entered into that phase of, of the adoption?

Marlene Cosain 10:43

Yes absolutely Um we signed on to an LMS so we got a learning management system and we really proved ROI with that because we wanted to make sure that our staff was literate especially when it came to ai way it could help Once we launch the AI receptionist they could step into roles um um that were tailored for them So we started at the very beginning just AI foundations What is ai What is bias Uh what is terminology that you're gonna hear about ai How does it work How does it communicate Um and we got the staff to take that That took a few months Um and then from there we leveled it up A little bit and it went into agent ai then we went into prompt engineering So just taking it step by step and taking employees through this journey And it's really nice because we've been able to see what interests people about ai Um some people really like the prompting of it Some people really like the QAing of it and that really helped us nail down okay then how can they help in the positions that we're gonna create and how does their experience make sense there and their education make sense

Sam 11:51

I love what you're saying because you're saying, oh, over the past six months, a lot of leaders think that this is a, oh, we'll provide training, it's a one and done. And that's not true. I mean, there's certain steps and plus things keep on evolving, right? It's, it's like a constant learning process almost every day. And so, uh, when you are there. In your training that you've provided, did you find that there's some, uh, foundational capabilities that every employee should develop regardless of their role and, and stage in, in acknowledgement there?

Marlene Cosain 12:23

Yeah absolutely I think for us where where we started is the history of ai but I think um machine learning bias is important Um AI misinformation how to uh prevent that bias Um What else is there Prompt engineering I think is important especially um for our line of industry with our AI receptionist It's extremely important Um so yeah there's a lot of different topics when it comes to ai a Gentech ai I think it just depends what your workforce is in what you're trying to get them to do what you're trying to get them to learn

Sam 12:56

Now developing these, these different learning programs sounds expensive. Was it expensive for you?

Marlene Cosain 13:02

Uh yeah the LMS was quite an investment but we've really seen the payoff especially if our commitment um is to make sure that our staff Grows We don't want to do layoffs We don't wanna be that company that replaces their humans That's just not who we are at our core Our core has always been for the past 20 years that we promote internally we elevate our own staff So we really put our money where our mouth is and followed through on our values for our employees Um and I think that's where the trust also came into play They trusted us because they saw us Implementing trainings putting in resources paying for the things like the bingo um having round tables All of that takes company time It takes labor Um the systems that we have in place that we have to pay for definitely is uh a cost but I think it's well worth it

Sam 13:51

And, and obviously this has worked out well for you, but have you been tracking certain metrics for success in this, this program as you were going along?

Marlene Cosain 14:00

Yeah at first it was completion rates We just wanted to make sure that we had completion rates Um now we're in the phase of um retention when it comes To retention and application of that Also being able to create positions and make sure that we have people and talent science within the company Uh making sure that we can promote our own people into these positions So we've been able to do that successfully and our employees have been successful in these roles for about uh about a year now I believe Um so so that's what we're tracking

Sam 14:34

Great. Now, now the next step you have is communicate. And I know this is, is really a part of almost every step. Of course you're communicating and so forth through the, the process. But you mentioned, uh, round tables. Can you tell us a little bit more of how the round tables really were a part of this? I.

Marlene Cosain 14:50

Yes round tables are super important at this point We're doing them um if not monthly quarterly Uh a round table is where our CEO we all gather in the training room Our CEO is there the executive leadership team is there and then we bring in pretty much every Employee um that we can our receptionist answer 24 7 so we can't pull them all off the phones at all times but we try to make sure that we have someone from every department there if not everyone Um and at first it just started talking Uh it was just talking points about Ai our vision where we're going I think it's important to communicate the vision to repeatedly tell our staff and let them know that they are our focus and that we will take care of them We will invest in them Um and then creating space for questions creating space What we found is very transparent So they stated their fears They let us know what they were afraid of They asked questions like what should I learn What positions do you envision How do you see the company growing Um with our AI receptionist now that we have ai could I be learning it better So it created a great dialogue for us to be able to communicate the vision let them know that we appreciate them and that they're gonna be the center of of a lot of the decisions that we make

Sam 16:08

You know, and, and there's one other thing as far as this, uh, you know, open communication and, and a lot of this is around the concept of curiosity. You know, how to, to basically, you know, engage your workforce, so they're asking questions and so forth. Now, before you did mention that, that, that you, you found that when you were doing training, you found that certain people were more curious in certain elements or, or were more interested in certain elements, but did, did, um. Did you find any, or did you take any action to stimulate curiosity and, and people, because I know that sometimes when we see something new, some people really jump in because they're really curious by nature. But then others were like on, oh, I don't know. I'm not really an early adopter. So Did you do anything there?

Marlene Cosain 16:50

For curiosity I through those round tables Yeah I'm making sure that they're ju we have a curious bunch I will tell you that So just curious in even the sense of how many clients do we have now What is business looking like They'll ask us things like that which is fine Um but Oh um round tables are such a great forum for that because everybody gets to hear the answer Everybody gets to then jump in So what we found is one person asked something that triggered another curious thought within someone else and we were able to just have really open discussions So I think throughout the round tables naturally there was a lot of curiosity there Um we also Empowered our middle managers as well throughout the process Not necessarily in the round tables but just in general when communicating change And we um encourage them to talk about AI in their weekly huddles to at their one-on-ones things like that That way we could spark curiosity in that way as well

Sam 17:47

I think this is, uh, one place. That I see a lot of organizations going wrong. I mean, the old model, of course, with, with doing communications and so forth, is saying, okay, we're gonna have that town hall, you know, where there's that top down communication. But your concept of using round tables really kind of equals the playing field. And people are, they come, this, the name in itself says that, Hey, we're going to have dialogue as equals.

Marlene Cosain 18:11

Mm-hmm

Sam 18:11

so I think that's a, uh, a great, uh, a great win. So thank you for bringing that to the, to our leaders here.

Marlene Cosain 18:18

Of course I think an email's not enough I think that that's what I've seen in other organizations They send out an email I want you to be using ai It's important That's not enough Get in there get on the ground Talk to them face to face if you can If it's possible for for your business maybe that's an investment for you Like the LMS was an investment for us Maybe the investment is making sure that you have that Face-to-face interaction Um and that just goes with communicating being real and making sure that people feel like there isn't decision makers uh sitting in some office far away from them making these decisions about their future and not helping them equipping them and bringing them along the journey

Sam 18:56

So the next phase we have here is of course turning that fear into ownership, and this is where you've, of case, after these town halls, I imagine. You've, you've got a lot of great ideas and for new workflows and how to enhance those workflows. Um, so what was the stage or how did you take that dialogue and turn it into action?

Marlene Cosain 19:16

Of course uh a lot of the ownership came within taking the courses Uh like I said that has to be done either worked into their workday or done outside of the workday So taking ownership about their future is important Um one of my key recommendations to people that said that they were afraid of ai I said great learn it you learn it you're gonna be less afraid of it Because when it comes down to the workforce when it comes down to hiring if someone came down to having the same skill sets as you and the only difference is that they know ai who would you choose as the hiring manager The person that has that one extra skillset So learn it you'll be less afraid of it and now you'll be more empowered So really either making space making time for them to take the courses or encouraging them to find um the space to take those was really I Anytime anyone had an idea about a workflow or something that they wanted to create a an agent a chat bot things like that making sure they bubbled it up to management and then we could review how that worked with their workflow the security of it all and if we could implement it into their uh day-to-day

Sam 20:21

I like it that you, you had that, uh, that your managers had that important dialogue to of when people were fearful around that and say, Hey, we need to lean in. To this, it's, it's not, uh, a, a, uh, a compliance or AI user compliance as you're, you're saying, okay, you have to use this. It's more of like, think of this as a, a new mindset that we all have to get around. It's, uh, something that is going, that's something that can help us all if we're, if we're taking active ownership in it. So I love how you, you took to leadership there. So, um, did, did, um. And were there any kind of signals? I mean, so you, you, I guess I think that you, uh, you mentioned that there were some people that em embraced it, some people that were concerned about it, and that you had conversations around those that, that were concerned about it. And, and you had that change of mindset. Uh, but is there anything else you, anything else that you did to, to really, uh, create that, that AI growth mindset or that native, um, you know, being. Native in AI as a company, uh, that you can share with leaders here.

Marlene Cosain 21:30

Yeah I think um our CEO it it all comes down to communication He was just very communicative all the time Sharing our excitement sharing where we are with our developments sharing how we use it in our work Flows Um than that really encouraging people that were curious to step up to raise their hand and saying Hey this is where I see myself or Hey I wanna learn more about that Right now I'm actually building with our director of learning and development and AI fellowship program and that's where our um employees can go in and actually build their own AI receptionist so they can put what they've learned about prompt engineering and QAing um into practice and they're gonna build their own Workflow their own AI receptionist Um so that's something that I'm really excited to launch uh because everything else up to this point has been learning videos um things like that This is gonna be the application piece of it that I'm really excited to to see how successful it is and what it helps them with

Sam 22:25

Wow. That's great. That sounds like an excellent program. So thank you for sharing. So the, the, and, and for our listeners out there, of course, I mean, you're, you're hearing about Marlene is, is, uh, uh, has, has all these great ideas and, and I know that many of you listening in probably have workflows or haven't even started with AI adoption. So what I would challenge is, is think about what workflows you could redesign this quarter. So, uh, every employee sees AI as a benefit, something that they can work. With, and it's not a threat. So I think that's a, is an important way forward. So, Marlene, as we kind of wrap up our discussion, I mean, uh, when you think about all of what you've spoken about, the, the different steps of AI adoption, what are the the key things that you think that leaders out there that should be thinking about, uh, that were once in year or that are starting out where you started in AI, a number of, uh, months ago.

Marlene Cosain 23:24

Absolutely I think the first thing is communicate that vision It's so important for people to know where the company's going why it's important for them to learn um ai And from there put resources in place where you can educate them Even if you don't have an LMS don't let that stop you What can you create within the tools that you have Um We could use PowerPoint we could use the word you could use conversations Find someone that could really spearhead that for you and for your organization Um have culture advocates Have people that can walk around uh the company and talk about uh how AI helped them It started as little as that it wasn't everybody hearing from me or from the CEO like AI's the future They heard that but who they believe the most was the person that sits next to them at their cubicle It's the person that they sit with in the break room If you can impact them and then they start influencing everybody else That's how you create change So find out who your influencers are Teach as many people as you can answer as many questions as you can Don't roll off their fear Don't roll your eyes at it Name it Explain why their fear makes sense and why and how you're gonna help them towards the future

Sam 24:34

I was gonna say that that's, that's golden. I mean, finding those key stakeholders, those influencers across the organization that you, that can be kind of those cheerleaders that go out there and, and, uh, help with adoption. Take that fear away. Boy, you've, if you've really done some great things there, Marlene, thank you for sharing. So a, as for our listeners out there, as we know, um, buy-in doesn't happen automatically. It's, it's engineered through honesty, structured learning, and consistent communication. Invisible ownership. So when leaders introduce AI thoughtfully, starting small and then supporting learning and then empowering growth, fear transforms from into basically forward momentum. So I think Marlene's really showed us a path here that we can adopt in many organizations. So once again, Marlene, thank you so much for sharing your success in ai, uh, adoption and how we can really tru, truly turn this, this, this automation technology into something that can help people move up to the next level and, and, uh, really take hold of their careers and, and enjoy their, their life and, and the new things that AI automation can bring.

Marlene Cosain 25:47

Thank you

Sam 25:48

Yes. And so for our listeners out there is this, if this conversation sparks some ideas, please ensure that you subscribe and rate and share this episode with one of your colleagues that, that needs help in ai, AI adoption. And, uh, this can definitely show their way. So, Marlene, uh, do you have anything that you're looking forward to this year as you, as you go along in 2026?

Marlene Cosain 26:14

Yes Um if you haven't been up to date with Abby Connect we actually just launched our San Francisco Innovation Hub so we're now hiring in San Francisco We're really excited to tap in excited to tap into the talent market there and we have a lot of great things in store when it comes to the company

Sam 26:30

Wow. Yeah. So, and it sounds like there's Abby's just doing a lot of, of growing and I mean if, of course, just in the things that you were telling me about as far as how you. Took this initiative and, and really took control of it, took power into it. I mean, it's just that the culture seems like it's just a wonderful place to work. So thank you for sharing your journey, and I really appreciate your time today, Marlene.

Marlene Cosain 26:54

I appreciate you Thank you

Sam 26:56

All right. For all those listening into the People Strategy Forum, we'll see you next week. All right. Take care. All right, Marlene. We're all.