Managers Get The AI Blues

This time, it’s certain: employees have adopted AI. The groundswell is touching all levels of the company and all countries. According to figures from the third edition of our AI @ Work study, conducted with more than 10,000 white-collar workers in 11 countries, 72% of respondents regularly use AI. That figure is 78% for managers and 50% for other employees, with 64% of U.S. respondents using GenAI several times a week.

The widespread use of AI in companies is not without consequences for employment. In the debate between “augmentation” and “replacement” of workers, the “replacement” side is increasingly numerous and vocal. In recent weeks, the founder of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, announced that he expects 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs in the United States to disappear within the next five years. The same prediction comes from Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, although he believes that, conversely, the “essential economy” — that of blue-collar workers — has a brighter future, with nearly 600,000 jobs open in factories and 1 million in construction in the United States.

If we look more closely at this picture, managers are the most exposed. Globally, 43% of them say they fear for their jobs, compared to 36% of other employees.

There is little doubt that AI is seriously challenging their added value. They no longer have a monopoly on expertise. An employee assisted by AI no longer needs a helping hand or a review of their work by a manager. Moreover, AI is already capable of assigning tasks based on skills, availability, and priorities. It is also capable of analyzing individual and collective performance in real time. It can also contribute to improving communication with teams, notably by personalizing it.

More than ever, the manager risks being perceived as a bottleneck in organizations. Take the example of a bank that cut by two-thirds the time required to prepare loan files by deploying an AI solution, reducing customer wait times slowed by the pace of approval committees.

It is difficult today to imagine what the company of the AI era will look like. However, two trends are clear. On the one hand, the “AI-first” company will be much more horizontal, with fewer managers and fewer hierarchical levels. Coincidentally, less than half of young people envision themselves in a managerial role. On the other hand, each employee will “manage” one or several AI assistants that will support them daily. Another twist: among the 13% of employees who work daily with agents today, 71% find them useful.

So, is everything for the best in the best of AI worlds? Will we soon be celebrating the end of managers? I don’t believe so. Today, 70% of an employee’s engagement level depends on their interaction with their manager. Perhaps the manager of tomorrow will refocus on the fundamentals of leadership: promoting a vision, inspiring and motivating employees, and building team dynamics. AI is not about to take over conflict management, for example. The manager of tomorrow will be less technical and more of a leader, will have to harmonize a world of humans, AI, and machines.