Workers across the globe are placing low levels of trust in their bosses to implement AI effectively, according to research from Qualtrics. Recent findings also reveal differing views on AI’s immediate benefits in the workplace.
Just 53% of employees of managers and individual contributors trust leaders to implement AI effectively—a figure nearly 20 points lower than senior leaders. Added to this, only half of employees at manager level and below (52%) believe their boss will prioritize their well-being over profits when making decisions about new technologies—17% lower than senior leaders. Even more, 47% say new technology is being deployed with clear principles, ethics, and guidelines, compared to 69% of senior leaders.
“We’re seeing sizable perception gaps between employees and their senior leaders, which reveals a lack of trust. We also know that trust can be harder to earn during times of change and disruption, exacerbating this gap,” says Dr. Benjamin Granger, chief workplace psychologist at Qualtrics. “AI is a prominent source of change right now and the importance of building trust to unlock AI’s full potential cannot be overstated. For organizations to bring their employees along, they must prioritize the leadership behaviors that build trust – including demonstrating care for employees, acknowledging and listening to their concerns (even if unfounded), and over-communicating the rationale for change.”
Just 27% of employees say they will use the time saved from using AI to increase the amount of work they produce. Instead, they’re far more likely to use that extra time to improve the quality (47%) and efficiency (42%) of their work.
The misalignment between bosses and their teams about AI is once again apparent. Senior directors are more optimistic about how AI can help them at work. More than half (54%) of senior directors and above say they’ll use the time saved by AI to improve the quality of their work, which is slightly higher than what managers and below say (45%). Approximately 32% say they’ll use it to increase their amount of work, compared to 25% of managers and below.
Workers who have a positive employee experience – they are engaged, have their expectations exceeded by the organization, and can share feedback – are more trusting of their bosses to implement AI, more excited by it, and use it more frequently.
When employees have their expectations met, they are more than three times as likely to trust their leaders to implement AI, more than twice as likely to have a positive perception of AI, and nearly three times more likely to use AI on at least a weekly basis.
