Discordant AI rollouts are leaving workers burned out and disengaged, exposing a critical gap between leadership expectations and workforce readiness.
By Frank Jaquez
AI was supposed to help us work better. While it has helped companies increase output, it has also increased employees’ stress levels. Tools that were brought in to boost worker productivity are instead causing “AI brain fry,” leading employees to feel disempowered, burnt out, and ultimately disengaged.
HR leaders sit at the center of the AI transformation, having to respond to both dissatisfied employees and frustrated company leaders who aren’t seeing a clear ROI from their AI investments. As a result, HR has become a scapegoat, with leaders across sectors openly doubting the need for HR at all in the AI era.
The reality is that AI cannot replace human capability, and it is not the sole cause of tensions playing out in today’s workforce. AI has exposed and accelerated the consequences of decades of underinvestment in employee growth, capability development, and workforce readiness.
Far from making HR less relevant, this moment underscores why the function matters. As organizations navigate this transformation, HR leaders have a critical role to play in building skills, trust, and culture needed for people and technology to succeed together.
Whose Bot is it Anyway?
To understand the growing accountability gap happening right now, look no further than the change in buzzwords employees use to describe their AI apathy, from “workslop” to “botsitting.”
While “workslop” implies someone’s mediocre work, “botsitting” suggests a shift in responsibility to the AI agent while employees take on the role of begrudging supervisor. As AI is taking on more work, workers are feeling less connected and, therefore, taking less responsibility toward their work.
This apathy can be attributed to the stark perception gap between employers and employees about the effectiveness of AI rollouts.
Recent research shows that while 77% of leaders believe they’ve set employees up for AI success, only 24% of employees feel equipped to use it. That sharp disconnect is driving a decreasingly engaged workforce as leaders continue to underestimate the role workforce readiness plays in AI adoption.
The price of inaction—faulty work, high turnover rates, decreased ownership in AI outputs—far outweighs the cost of investing time and resources into helping employees understand not just how they can use AI strategically, but also why companies have invested in these technologies in the first place.
AI adoption is not a one-time change initiative. As technologies evolve and roles continue to shift, transparency becomes increasingly important. Leaders need ongoing conversations with employees about how AI is reshaping work, where new opportunities are emerging, and what support is available along the way.
Those conversations can help reduce anxiety, build trust, and give employees the confidence to experiment with and learn from these tools.
Enhancing the Skills AI Cannot Replace
As AI continues to automate more administrative tasks, skills like critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity are even more crucial in day-to-day work. Without continued investments in developing these skillsets alongside AI usage, employees may start outsourcing the very capabilities that got them hired in the first place.
At the same time, organizations can’t expect workers to succeed with the same skillsets they came in with. Leaders need to prioritize continuous learning opportunities where employees can develop new skills. Skills visibility can help leaders identify the skills their teams need, which will also allow for more personalization in development efforts. This approach helps restore a sense of ownership and agency while giving employees a clearer connection between their growth and the organization’s success.
On a smaller scale, leaders should also model the behavior they want to see. When leaders are focused solely on output, employees will either follow their example or head toward the exit door. But if they’re proactively upskilling and strengthening their own curiosity, empathy, and leadership skills, employees are more likely to buy into development initiatives.
AI didn’t create today’s engagement challenges. It revealed them. But how leaders respond in this moment can impact what their companies look like five, ten years down the line.
Organizations that treat AI adoption as a technology initiative alone will continue to struggle with employee trust, accountability, and readiness. Those that pair AI investments with investments in skills, growth, and meaningful work will be better positioned to realize both the human and business benefits of transformation.
From developing guidelines for AI adoption to fostering growth opportunities and cultures where people can thrive, HR leaders are uniquely positioned to help organizations ensure AI-driven efficiency doesn’t come at the expense of its people.
Frank Jaquez is head of talent and culture for Skillsoft.
