Dive Brief:
- Artificial intelligence adoption may not be making employees feel positively about themselves, with many workers reporting that while they think AI has had a positive impact on their company, they’re not certain it’s been good for them personally, according to a recent survey from business insight firm Gartner.
- The study found that less than 35% of workers say they have “good levels of overall wellness.” In addition, 47% of respondents who said they were asked to use AI at work said they have been resistant to adopting the technology.
- Nonetheless, the findings also identified several ways AI can help companies pinpoint “patterns and signals that may indicate emerging challenges for individual employees,” the study said. Gartner said companies may be able to use AI to help workers avoid potential burnout, disengagement or reduced performance.
Dive Insight:
In Gartner’s survey of nearly 12,000 employees, conducted during the first quarter of 2026, the company found that AI may be able to help identify some of the problems associated with employee detachment, even as the technology is potentially contributing to the issue.
“While AI is often associated with efficiency and automation, organizations can also use AI to support the human side of work,” Nicole Paripurana, senior principal analyst in Gartner’s HR practice, said in a statement. “AI can be leveraged by organizations to identify unhealthy work patterns, reduce friction, personalize support and proactively address well-being risks.”
Using AI to analyze behavioral issues including “frequent context-switching, exclusion signals, shifts in communication tone, and signs of disengagement or exclusion,” can provide HR leaders with important context clues and early alerts into potential employee engagement problems before they escalate.
Companies that leverage the benefits of AI monitoring to examine employees’ emotional states may be able to “move beyond periodic surveys and take a more proactive, data-driven approach to supporting employee well-being and empowering healthier employees,” per the research.
“The future of AI at work isn’t simply about productivity,” said Paripurana. “The organizations that see the greatest value from AI will be those that use it to improve employee well-being, build resilience and create healthier, more sustainable ways of working.”
Specifically, companies can use AI to get insights into “employees’ well-being preferences, recovery styles and needs,” and subsequently create tailored support programs that focus on topics such as “meeting toleration, connection preferences, stress signal opt-in, and customized well-being nudges.”
In the first quarter of 2026, a study from Glassdoor identified a 65% year-over-year increase in burnout. Another study from the same period, fielded by Monster, found that 59% of employee respondents felt that their jobs were actively hurting their mental health.
Meanwhile, 16% of employees from a recent study from HR enterprise platform Workday said that AI had led them to have less patience for small talk, with another 33% saying they “rarely or never” talked to co-workers during the week apart from simple work-related conversations. In addition, 14% reported that they took time off in the past year due to feelings of loneliness or social isolation.