Extensive AI use makes employees lonely, nervous

Employees suffered profound sadness and isolation shortly after routine tasks were automated by AI, according to a study published in The Harvard Business Review.

“Interactions with AI made them more efficient and capable of doing much more work, but at the same time left them feeling lonely, which resulted in employees being more likely to resort to alcohol and suffer from insomnia,” the study said, adding that these were “telltale and worrying signs of social malaise and ill-being, which research shows have negative impacts on quality of life, mood, cognitive function, behavior, and health overall.”

The upshot of the research is that CIOs need to emphasize their focus on technology users, making them feel valued and important. That can mean reenvisioning how the workforce needs to function, including possibly retraining many of them. 

“Many organizations have lost sight of their most important asset — the humans whose jobs are being fragmented into tasks that are increasingly becoming automated. From a human-centered perspective, this may be a worrying trend, as a primary focus on technology may bring unwanted human costs such as reducing job satisfaction, motivation, and mental well-being,” HBR said. “If you want to make AI adoption projects successful and viable, you need to focus on humans first and AI second.”

To a limited degree, the study noted, this reaction to AI is “surprising” because of the enterprise focus in recent years on worker well-being. 

“Modern organizations are increasingly sensitive to the physical and mental well-being of their employees, and they are going to great lengths to promote both inclusiveness and social connection. This is good business: Research shows that when people feel a strong connection with others at work, they will consider the interests of the organization as important to their own interests,” the authors wrote. “Indeed, such studies consistently show that employees who feel socially connected and emotionally fulfilled at work are more engaged, productive, and committed to their organizations. They’re more likely to collaborate, innovate, and go above and beyond in their roles. In contrast, employees who feel isolated and disconnected are more prone to burnout, absenteeism, and turnover.”

Working with AI leads to social isolation

The study noted various factors related to AI deployment that caused some of these employee morale issues, including a reduction in co-worker interactions. “The more employees collaborated with AI — as it helped to complete more tasks than ever — the more they felt socially deprived as work took over their entire day. This situation of not being connected to humans during the workday awakened a strong human desire to connect with others at work. So, while their interactions with AI made employees less socially connected with their coworkers, this situation led them to take action to reconnect. However, despite these actions, these employees still reported feeling isolated and socially adrift.”

The study suggested that enterprises monitor employee well-being, redesign workflows and emphasize tactics that used AI to help employees focus on more strategic tasks–explicitly ones that AI cannot do. 

Enriching jobs, not shareholders

“Instead of simply layering AI on top of existing processes, organizations must redesign workflows around the unique strengths of both humans and machines. They must create opportunities for employees to collaborate with AI in ways that enhance their autonomy, their sense of control and mastery, and their feeling that their job provides them with a sense of purpose,” the study said. “Instead of viewing AI merely as a means to automate and optimize, they must see it as a tool for enhancing the human experience at work. What does this mean for organizations? Namely that the goal of deploying AI systems should be to enrich employees’ jobs. The efficiency these systems create is an opportunity to support employees’ social and emotional needs. For example, AI can take over more tasks, and at the same time leaders must create dedicated spaces and times for employees to connect face-to-face. This might mean carving out time for team-building activities, social events, or even just casual coffee chats. The goal should be to foster a culture where social interaction is valued and encouraged, not seen as a distraction from ‘real work.’”

But the study did not mention what some might described as the most-obvious morale factor related to the introduction of AI: That employees will worry about losing their own jobs to AI, as well as being worried about their colleagues getting laid off. 

Consultant Vijay Pendakur, a former HR executive at Salesforce, Dropbox, and Zynga, saw the study as mostly correct.

“Businesses are going to look for AI to help them increase efficiency and reduce cost. That’s table stakes. The unlock here is using AI to increase human connection. The workforce is disconnected and lonely, so CIOs need to actually consider what to do with the human time recaptured through AI implementation,” Pendakur said. “Consider bringing teams together for hack-a-thons on key technology challenges faced by the business, or design-thinking sprints to ideate potential market moving-initiatives. These activities serve a dual purpose: They have the chance to surface real value to the business, but they also create strong bonds between employees, which bolsters workplace engagement and resilience.”