Ask a board member or CEO how they feel about AI, and you’ll likely hear phrases like these sprinkled throughout their answers: efficiency, cost reduction and innovation. That enthusiasm can be heard in press releases, investor conference calls, and company town halls.
Employees are often more wary of technology that brings them closer to humans than ever before in their lives.
recent research We found that of 2,400 Gen Z workers, 48% believe the risks of AI in the workforce outweigh its benefits. The survey was conducted by Gallup in partnership with Making Caring Common, a program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the Walton Family Foundation.
Meanwhile, a 2025 Pew Research report found that AI experts and the public are deeply divided over the impact of AI on work. Of the 1,013 AI professionals surveyed, 73% said AI will have a positive or somewhat positive impact on the way people work over the next 20 years; 23% of 5,410 US adults The survey agreed.
CIOs ignore that disconnect at their own peril. They are expected to spearhead enterprise AI adoption and deliver business value. Success depends in part on bridging the gap, which requires bridging the disconnect between leaders’ full-throated enthusiasm and employees’ skepticism.
understand negative emotions
Employee concerns about AI are many. They are concerned about how it is changing the way they work, their job security and their impact on the environment.
“You can’t stick your head in the sand and pretend like this.” [concerns] Because it doesn’t exist. They’re in the headlines every day. It’s on TV every day, and it’s what you watch, what you listen to, and what you listen to,” said Thomas Phelps, CIO and senior vice president of corporate strategy at Laserfiche.
Job insecurity is one of the biggest concerns for employees. Efficiency gains are AI’s biggest selling point for executives and boards of directors. The idea of ”doing more with less” is an attractive prospect for companies.
However, at the employee level, this could mean: Expectations for further work. They are accomplishing more with less.
We’re also putting a name to the mental fatigue people are feeling when using and monitoring more and more AI tools at work. ”AI Brainfly. ”
Workplace surveillance adds to these concerns. In some companies, employees are not only supervised by their superiors; AI monitoring tools Track how they are working. Meta uses the data captured by these tools to Train an AI modelReuters reported in April. Working in such an environment can make you feel as if you are training your ultimate abilities. Alternative to AI.
Not all companies excited about AI are using it to monitor workplaces or reduce headcount. AI will eventually create more jobs than they replace. But that doesn’t change the reality that employees see today. mass layoffs and””low fire, low employment“Job market.
Whether AI is a proximate cause of layoffs or layoffs; Recruitment of young people is delayedI have a lot of anxiety about my job. just 22% of workers worldwide An ADP Research survey of more than 39,000 working adults found that they feel safe and excluded from their jobs.
Environmental concerns are increasing. In addition to job insecurity, people are increasingly concerned about the impact of AI on the environment. a Gallup poll of 1,000 adults We found that 70% of Americans oppose building AI data centers in their local communities.
Diagnose and address AI backlash
Given the high levels of job insecurity, understanding the true sentiment of AI within the enterprise is no easy task for CIOs.
Darren Cassidy, CIO at Sitecore, said, “My job as a CIO and the responsibility I have for AI means that most people are probably not going to come to me and say, ‘Darren, I don’t like this.'”
Usage data provides an early signal of employee sentiment. Usage is one of the metrics that can be used to measure employee enthusiasm for AI, or lack thereof. Are your employees taking advantage of the tools available to them?
“If that engagement is down… is it emotional? Maybe they don’t see the value in it?” asked Galen Counselman, senior vice president and CIO at PenAir Credit Union. “That’s an indicator, at least for me, to dig into it a little bit more.”
At Laserfiche, Phelps said he sees varying levels of usage for each tool, which can influence decisions about which tools are having a positive impact.
“Copilot is a limitedly licensed tool. It’s not used very often,” he said. “But OpenAI and Anthropic tools are finding even more uses. Gemini, we’re finding even more adoption. From an IT perspective, we want our employees to know that we’re listening to them. We’re not going to license tools to everyone. We want to do it the right way and choose the tools that best serve our employees.”
Usage metrics are helpful, but they don’t tell the whole story. CIOs can gain deeper insight into how employees feel about AI through conversations with their own teams, other business unit leaders, and internal employees.
“We had meetings and asked some of our employees, ‘What do you think about AI?’ And we often heard, ‘It’s scary,'” Counselman said.
Last year, PenAir began hosting biweekly meetings open to everyone at credit unions with the goal of creating a platform for Copilot users to openly discuss. Approximately 30-40 people join us each week for a wide range of conversations focusing on issues such as prompts, how people use tools, and how AI uses water.
“We found this to be an effective way to remove some of the fear and make people more comfortable using the tool,” Counselman said.
Sitecore conducts quarterly surveys to understand how employees feel about the technology they use. Do they feel like they have the right tools, training, and support?
Cassidy noted that the company has been making changes to its AI metrics as it works to implement AI.
“We gave everyone global KPIs for the use of AI. So, I’m not saying AI wasn’t popular, but it wasn’t like hallelujahs were going up all over the world,” he said.
Instead, Sitecore has moved to tracking a set of different metrics.
“It’s been a learning curve trying to move away from financial success metrics to, ‘What do productivity metrics look like? What do sentiment metrics look like?'” Cassidy explained.
Employee advocates can help build support for AI initiatives. If the CIO has a clear understanding of where employees are dissatisfied, the CIO cannot solve the problem or set of problems on his own. Identifying and empowering people across your team who are interested in using AI can significantly increase employee collaboration. Give them the tools. Elicit their feedback. Listen to what they have to say, good and bad. Their voices can influence and support a company’s AI strategy.
“I’m not the only one saying, ‘Hey, you should use this,'” Counselman said. “We also have 40, 50, 60 people saying, ‘Oh, yeah, this is great. This is going to help me.'”
But finding those people and knowing their honest thoughts requires the right company culture to push through without fear of losing their jobs.
“We want to create a culture where employees feel comfortable raising their hands, sharing their concerns, and knowing that feedback will be given on actions and initiatives that will benefit employees, rather than negatively impact them,” Phelps said.
The risk of ignoring employee concerns
“Get on board or be left behind” is a well-worn slogan in the AI field. There is a good chance that employees will be left behind, but if CIOs and companies choose to ignore employee concerns, they risk being left behind.
“If a CIO isn’t paying attention to this and is just pushing the issue and forcing it, they’re likely to have big issues with culture and morale, and they could end up losing a lot of top talent,” Counselman said.
Even if companies don’t lose talent, CIOs can find themselves in the unenviable position of championing technology that people aren’t actually using.
“Without employee engagement and the recognition that change is always difficult in many organizations, we’re going to end up in a situation where we’re overspending on AI and employees aren’t using it,” Phelps warned.
As pressure mounts to move from pilot projects to real ROI, CIOs will face tough questions from executives and boards of directors. CIOs need to justify their AI spending with measurable results while ensuring strong governance.
“If the CIO can’t do that, the CEO just replaces the CIO,” Cassidy said.
Communication with leaders and employees
If CIOs want to succeed, they need to figure out how to meet internal expectations without compromising employee reluctance or anxiety.
“As an IT leader, you have to listen to people, understand their concerns, and find ways to bridge the gap, preferably by understanding what motivates individuals and what motivates teams and departments,” Phelps said.
Transparency is a valuable tool for assuring both boards and employees. CIOs can be upfront with the board about why employees are concerned and how addressing those concerns will benefit the business. CIOs can talk to employees about management’s overall AI goals and strategy. Is the goal to reduce headcount? Is the goal to slow hiring of junior staff?
CIOs cannot promise employees they will never lose their jobs, but they can be honest about the board’s intentions and what that means for employees.
While Sitecore leaders worked to establish AI policies, they also spent time messaging employees. Cassidy said he has discussed with employees how much the company is investing in internal AI tools and the expected benefits.
“We had to do three to four months of groundwork, along with the PR side of selling this to employees,” he added.
Successful communication around AI ultimately comes down to trust, Counselman said. “Please discuss the problem,” he said. “Be honest with your board about those things, and then be honest with your team about what you’re doing and why, and try to build trust.”
Open lines of communication up and down the organization can help CIOs build a consistent strategy for AI adoption that supports the company’s expectations without ignoring the realities of the employees who will use the technology. According to Cassidy, deploying AI tools without a deliberate strategy is a mistake. “Deploying all the tools to everyone without forward-thinking and planning will only frighten, frustrate, and disempower the employees who are trying to embrace AI.”
