AI is the new workplace issue dividing managers and employees

As companies ramp up pressure on their workers to embrace artificial intelligence, a new source of workplace conflict has emerged. A report released this week by background check company Checkr suggests that managers and employees are increasingly at odds over AI use in the workplace.

Most employees seem to view AI with skepticism, adopting it largely in response to directives from managers and leadership. For many leaders, however, it has become a business imperative as they scramble to keep up with competitors and assuage shareholder concerns—and managers seem to be absorbing that message. The Checkr report, which surveyed 3,000 workers (half of whom were managers and half of whom were employees), found that 64% of managers feel pressure to “adopt AI to stay competitive,” while only 38% of employees echoed that sentiment; another 36% of employees said they feel no pressure to do so. 

In fact, many workers seem unclear on what, exactly, the expectations are around AI: Nearly 40% of managers said leadership is responsible for pushing AI, while employees seem to have less clarity on the matter, with 34% of them stating that they don’t know who is responsible for their company’s AI push.

This divide also extends to how employees and managers perceive the importance of AI. The Checkr report indicates that 58% of managers believe AI use is growing into an “unspoken performance requirement,” while just 29% of employees feel the same. Another 37% of employees are simply unsure of what is expected of them. Nearly half of managers (45%) also seem convinced that people are actually using AI regularly, while just 18% of employees hold that view.

Part of the disconnect might be that managers are finding more use for AI, as they automate more administrative tasks that free them up to spend their energy elsewhere; some managers are even using AI to help make decisions. Employees, on the other hand, find that even when they save time by using AI, it can also create additional work—or they don’t have the support to figure out how AI can help lighten their workload. 

It’s little surprise, then, that managers and employees can’t seem to agree on whether they can trust AI—40% of managers seemed to implicitly trust AI outputs “often or almost always,” while 59% of employees felt the complete opposite.

Previous research has shown that manager adoption of AI can play a significant role in how employees take to it. According to Gallup, employees with managers who support AI use are nearly nine times as likely to believe that it helps them on the job. A lack of strategy or clear vision of how AI can improve their work was also correlated with low levels of adoption. 

There are, however, certain parts of the business where AI adoption has been particularly high. Companies have rapidly introduced AI tools across their hiring and recruiting efforts, and the vast majority of employers are now using AI for some aspect of their hiring process, whether to screen résumés or communicate with candidates. As the Checkr report highlights, many employees agree with the notion that AI use in hiring has become an “arms race.” 

While companies have steadily invested in AI to bolster their hiring strategy, applicants have also become savvier, finding ways to use AI to make them more attractive applicants and circumvent résumé screeners. Managers are well aware of the challenges this presents: According to the Checkr report, the vast majority of managers (81%) have come across résumés that seem to have been enhanced or outright written by AI, and most of them (77%) also believe that candidates use AI to look more qualified for the job. 

With companies relying more heavily on AI tools for hiring, this seems to be yet another issue likely to sow division among workers. Just 27% of employees said they trust AI tools to make fair hiring decisions, and over 40% of employees say they actively distrust them; meanwhile, 70% of managers say they have faith in those tools. In other words, the people who are more likely to be subject to AI in the hiring process are more concerned about how the technology is being wielded—and understandably so, given the growing reports of misuse. 

But there’s one area where managers and employees find some common ground—that as AI grows more commonplace, new hires may not be as qualified as they claim to be. The Checkr report found that at least 80% of both managers and employees share some concern that AI will make it easier for workers to misrepresent their skill set.

Finally, something we can all agree on.