You don’t go to Google to ask how much PTO you have left.
You don’t spend 20 minutes clicking through outdated PDFs to find your last pay stub.
So why are we still asking employees to do this at work?

Search—once revolutionary—is now a relic. Generative AI isn’t just a better way to find information. It’s a smarter way to not have to go looking at all.

Every day, employees spend 3.6 hours just searching for information at work. Not doing their job. Not collaborating. Just... searching. That’s nearly half a workday wasted—not because people lack skill, but because the systems they rely on are stuck in the past.

If you’ve ever tried to find a document on your intranet or portal, you know this pain firsthand: wrong version, outdated policy, buried in five folders and seven tabs deep.

Let’s call it what it is: the search bar is broken. And it’s time we stop pretending otherwise.

Search Is Dying Because It Was Built for a Different Era

Search was built for a world where patience was a virtue, keywords were king, and employees were trained to navigate complexity. The earliest digital workplace tools mimicked the structure of file cabinets and organizational charts. If you knew where something lived, you could find it. If not, good luck.

But the digital consumer changed. Fast. Outside of work, employees ask Alexa, Siri, or ChatGPT and expect answers—not breadcrumbs.

Meanwhile, most workplace search tools are still designed like it’s 2005. They're not intelligent. They're not adaptive. And they definitely don’t learn from behavior or context.

Generative AI flips this dynamic. It doesn’t wait for the perfect query—it anticipates intent. It doesn’t serve links—it delivers knowledge.

From Searching to Knowing: The Value Shift

Traditional intranets and HR portals were built to store information. Generative AI is built to surface it—contextually, conversationally, and fast.

“Show me my latest pay stub.”
“Where’s the PTO policy for part-time employees in California?”
“How do I refer someone for a job?”

These are not "searches." They’re conversations. And GenAI doesn’t need training to handle them. It just needs access and trust.

When implemented correctly, this unlocks an entirely new experience layer. You stop asking people to learn the system and instead let the system learn the people.

"We Already Have a Chatbot..."

Let’s clear something up: most workplace chatbots are scripted, brittle, and frustrating. They rely on predefined flows, can’t handle nuance, and often lead users in circles.

Having a chatbot doesn’t mean you’re ready for GenAI.

Generative AI is fundamentally different. It adapts in real time, understands intent, and can pull from massive knowledge sources to create context-aware responses. It’s not just smarter—it’s usable.

Think of it this way:

• A traditional chatbot follows rules. Generative AI understands requests.

• A chatbot escalates. GenAI resolves.

• A chatbot needs maintenance. GenAI learns.

Before & After: What This Looks Like in Action

Before GenAI

• HR policy lookup: 12 clicks to find a buried PDF

• Benefits questions: Log a ticket, wait 3 days

• Onboarding support: Sift through outdated LMS modules

• Tech support: Submit a help ticket and hope for a quick response

After GenAI

• HR policy lookup: Ask a question, get the answer instantly

• Benefits questions: Personalized answers in real time

• Onboarding support: Conversational Q&A in the flow of work

• Tech support: Smart, guided troubleshooting in seconds

This isn’t productivity theater. It’s real transformation.

From Keywords to Conversations: The New Era of Search

Let’s consider a simple question and Happy Mother’s Day in the US by the way if you are reading on Sunday!

“Do all countries celebrate Mother’s Day on the same date?”

Traditional Search Experience

Typing this into a conventional search engine yields a mix of:

• Wikipedia entries listing various dates.

• Articles from different years, some outdated.

• Lists of countries with no clear pattern or explanation.

You're left clicking through multiple links, piecing together information, and still lacking a concise answer.

Generative AI Experience

Now, pose the same question to an AI tool like ChatGPT or Perplexity:

“Do all countries celebrate Mother’s Day on the same date?”

Response:

No, Mother’s Day is celebrated on different dates worldwide. For example:

• United States, Canada, Australia, and many others: Second Sunday of May.

• United Kingdom and Ireland: Fourth Sunday in Lent (Mothering Sunday).

• Mexico: May 10th.

• Arab countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia: March 21st.

• Thailand: August 12th, coinciding with the Queen’s birthday.These variations stem from cultural, historical, and religious differences across countries.

A clear, concise, and comprehensive answer—no additional clicks required.

The Takeaway

This simple test illustrates a broader point:

In our workplaces, adopting AI tools can transform the way employees access information. Instead of navigating complex systems or waiting for responses, they can get immediate, accurate answers—enhancing productivity and satisfaction.

Try it yourself: Next time you have a question, ask ChatGPT or Perplexity and experience the difference.Employee Expectations Are Shaped by Consumer Realities

We need to stop pretending employees leave their expectations at the office door. They don’t.

If someone can order groceries, book a vacation, and get a tailored movie recommendation in seconds on their phone—why does it still take them 15 minutes to find the PTO policy at work?

Generative AI meets employees where they are—used to instant, intuitive, and personalized service. It’s not just about speeding things up. It’s about meeting the emotional baseline people already have from their lives as consumers.

When workplace tools lag behind consumer tech, the message is loud and clear: "You matter less here than you do out there." That creates friction, disengagement, and eventually, turnover.

This is why experience design matters. This is why GenAI isn’t just a productivity tool—it’s a relevance engine.

Why the Interface Is the Innovation

It’s not just the content that matters. It’s how people access it.

"A dumb interface with smart content is still dumb. A smart interface makes everything feel smart."
"If the interface still makes people feel stupid, it’s broken. We don’t need better users—we need better systems."
"Stop training people to work around bad design. Start designing systems that work the way people think."
"The intranet shouldn’t be a scavenger hunt—it should be a conversation."

GenAI brings the intelligence to the edge. It removes friction. It builds confidence. And it raises the bar for what digital experience should feel like.

The real shift? From passive systems to proactive partners. That’s the future of work.

Provocative Truths Leaders Need to Hear

• "Your intranet is not a knowledge base. It’s a black hole with a search bar."

• "If your AI or systems still needs a training manual or a class, it’s not AI. It’s homework."

• "We don’t need more dashboards. We need fewer questions."

• "The goal isn’t to adopt GenAI. It’s to make work suck less."

• "People don’t want a better search experience. They want no search experience."

Final Thought: Stop Searching. Start Finding.

Let’s stop treating this as a tech trend and start seeing it for what it is: a shift in how people experience work.

Your employees are not content miners. They’re not detectives. They’re doers.

Give them tools that work the way they think. Layer intelligence over your existing systems. Say goodbye to the search bar.

Because when people stop wasting time looking, they can finally start doing.

Jason Averbook is a globally recognized leader in digital strategy, generative AI, and the future of work. With more than three decades at the intersection of human capital and technology, he’s spent his career helping organizations shift from simply adopting tech to fully embodying a digital, human-first mindset. Named one of the Top 25 Global Thought Leaders in HR and Work, Jason is the founder of Leapgen and Knowledge Infusion, and the author of two books on digital transformation.

He’s known for pushing the conversation forward—with sharp insights, practical frameworks, and a call to action leaders can’t ignore. Whether in the boardroom or on a stage, Jason’s mission is clear: build organizations that don’t just react to change—but lead it.