How to Talk to Employees Who Fear AI Will Take Their Jobs
To talk to employees about AI when they fear for their jobs, tell them what's decided, what's still open, who makes the decisions about roles, and when they'll hear more. Answer the direct question when someone asks it. Promise only what you control, such as the scope and dates of your rollout.
Leadership announced the AI tool, and you're the one running the rollout. Since then, people have asked you in chat and in meetings whether the tool means layoffs. If you don't decide headcount, you may not know the answer yourself.
Why Do Employees Fear AI Will Take Their Jobs?
Part of the fear is about what could happen. If the tool does tasks people are paid to do, they have reason to ask what happens to their jobs.
The other part is not knowing. Archy de Berker and colleagues ran a lab study in which people learned to predict whether they were about to get an electric shock, while the odds kept changing (de Berker et al., 2016, Nature Communications). The researchers asked people how stressed they felt and measured their pupil size and skin conductance. All three measures tracked how uncertain people were about the next shock. Stress was highest when people thought a shock was about as likely as not. It was lower when they expected a shock and when they expected none. The study measured short-term stress in a lab, and the authors say they don't claim that longer-term stress works the same way.
Prashant Bordia and Nicholas DiFonzo describe a workplace case, a downsizing in a manufacturing division where employees were surveyed several times as it went on (Bordia and DiFonzo, 2013, The Psychology of Organizational Change). Their uncertainty and anxiety peaked shortly before the layoffs were announced and dropped after the announcement.
In a study of a public sector organization going through change, Bordia and colleagues grouped the uncertainty people felt into three kinds (Bordia et al., 2004, Journal of Business and Psychology). People were uncertain about the organization's direction, about how units and reporting lines would change, and about their own jobs. Their sense of control accounted for the link between uncertainty about their jobs and psychological strain.
In your role, you can reduce what people don't know about their jobs, and you can give them some control over how the tool changes their work. The decision about headcount may belong to someone else.
How Do You Talk about AI and Layoffs When You Don't Decide Headcount?
Tell people what you know and what you don't, with a scope and a date wherever you can. Four things cover it.
Say what's decided, with its scope and its date. For example, "The tool goes to the support team on March 3. No one's role changes as part of this rollout." Say the second sentence only if it's true and the person who decides headcount has confirmed it.
Say what isn't decided. "Whether the tool affects staffing next year hasn't been decided."
Say who decides. Name the person or the group. "The department head and HR decide that, as part of budget planning."
Say when people will hear more. "Budget planning finishes in October. I'll send you what I know the week after."
You can confirm each of these before you say it, and people can check each one later. Nicholas DiFonzo and Prashant Bordia drew on interviews with managers and public relations staff at multinational companies (DiFonzo and Bordia, 1998, Human Resource Management). They argued that poor communication about changes such as restructures, mergers and downsizing goes with widespread rumors, and that rumors thrive when uncertainty is high. The communication campaigns they describe as effective shared information openly and worked to build and keep trust.
Leave out anything you'd be guessing at, including what you think leadership plans to do.
Can You Reassure Employees AI Won't Take Their Jobs?
You can, with a statement whose limits you can confirm. "Nobody is losing their job" has no time period, and it doesn't say which people it covers, whether that's your team, your department or everyone who uses the tool. It also doesn't say who made the decision. If you don't decide headcount, you'd be making a promise about a decision you don't make.
A promise people can't check leaves them with the questions they came in with. Bordia and DiFonzo describe what happens when official communication is inadequate or isn't trusted. People work out what's going on together through informal channels, and rumors come out of that. In a study they describe at a large public hospital going through a restructure and a move to a new building, the most common rumors were about what the change would do to people's jobs, including predicted job losses.
If headcount changes later for any reason, the promise will have been wrong. Say the narrower version you can confirm. "No one's role changes as part of this rollout" covers the rollout, which you run.
How Do You Answer "Is This Going to Replace Me?" in a Meeting?
Answer it in the meeting. Everyone there heard the question.
Give the same four parts out loud, in your own words. An answer might sound like this.
"That's a fair question. This rollout doesn't change anyone's role. Whether the tool affects staffing later hasn't been decided. [Name or group] decides that, and they're planning in October. I'll tell you what I hear the week after."
If you don't know whether anything has been decided, say so, and say when you'll find out.
"I don't know yet. I'm meeting with [sponsor] on Thursday, and I'll ask. You'll hear from me by Friday."
Don't guess at what leadership will decide. A guess from the person running the rollout can be passed on as if it were a decision.
After the meeting, send the answer in writing to everyone the rollout affects, so people who weren't there get the same words.
What Do You Send after Leadership's AI Announcement Scared People?
Send a short message to the people your rollout affects, and send it soon. Bordia and DiFonzo note that the more often people hear a rumor, the more they believe it, and that the longer a rumor circulates, the harder it is to counter.
Use the same four parts, and tell people where to send questions. A message might look like this.
Hi all. After Tuesday's announcement, some of you asked what the AI tool means for our team.
The tool comes to our team on March 3. No one's role changes as part of this rollout.
Whether it affects staffing later hasn't been decided. Leadership decides that during budget planning in October. I'll send you what I hear the week after.
Send me your questions. I'll answer them in writing for everyone.
Before you send it, ask your sponsor to check every line about a decision you don't own. Don't explain what leadership meant or guess at their plans. If you don't know yet what part of the announcement means for your team, say which part you're asking about and when you'll have an answer.
What If You Don't Know Whether the Tool Changes Headcount?
Say that you don't know. Then say who decides and when you'll know more. If you don't have a date, say when you'll ask for one.
Bordia and DiFonzo point out that the people leading a change may not have all the information themselves, which makes it hard to commit to firm plans. A survey they ran of experienced corporate communication professionals pointed to a way to handle that, which is to put limits on what people are uncertain about. One way to set those limits is to explain how the upcoming decisions will be made. Citing research on fairness at work, they add that people who are confident the process was fair are more likely to accept the outcome.
An answer that explains the process might sound like this.
"I don't know yet whether the tool changes staffing. Department heads send their staffing requests to finance in September, and finance decides in October. I'll tell you what I hear the week after it's decided."
Keep the date you gave. If the decision is delayed, tell people it's delayed and give them the new date.
How Do You Ease Employees' Fears about AI during the Rollout?
Tell people which tasks the tool will do, which tasks stay with them, and what you expect them to do differently in the first week. Specific answers about tasks leave people less to guess about.
Give people a say in how the tool gets used in their work. In Bordia and colleagues' study, taking part in decisions about the change went with lower uncertainty about jobs and about structure, a greater sense of control, and less strain. In your role, you can ask the team which tasks to try with the tool first and which ones should stay with a person.
Watch where the questions go after you answer them. Elizabeth Morrison and Frances Milliken argued that many organizations have strong pressures that lead employees to hold back information about potential problems, and that people can come to share the view that speaking up is unwise (Morrison and Milliken, 2000, Academy of Management Review). If a meeting goes quiet after you answer the question about jobs, that doesn't tell you the question is answered. Listen for the same question coming back through a peer, a manager or a private message. When you hear a rumor, answer it in writing to everyone it may have reached, with what you know and when you'll know more.
Before your next rollout meeting, write down what's decided, what isn't, who decides it, and the date people will hear more. Check each line with your sponsor, and send it to your team before the meeting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it ever right to say nobody is losing their job?
Yes, when it's true, it has limits, and the person who decides headcount has confirmed it. A line like "No one's role changes as part of this rollout" covers the rollout, which you run, so you can check it before you say it. If you say nobody is losing their job and headcount changes later for any reason, that promise will have been wrong.
What if leadership told me to say it?
Ask what it covers. Leadership may have meant something narrower, such as this rollout only. You can ask, "Can I say no one's role changes as part of this rollout? That's the part I can confirm." If leadership means every job for a set period, ask them to say it themselves, since the decision is theirs.
Should I answer the question about jobs in the meeting or follow up later?
Answer it in the meeting, then follow up in writing. Everyone in the meeting heard the question, and waiting leaves them without an answer until you send one. If you don't know, say that, name who decides, and give the date you'll report back. The written follow-up gives people who weren't there the same answer.
What if I've heard about job cuts I'm not allowed to share?
Don't say anything you know is false, including "nobody is losing their job." Tell people that decisions about roles belong to [the person or group] and that they'll be the ones to announce them. Then tell your sponsor what your team is asking, so the people who decide hear the questions.
What if the honest answer is that some roles will change?
Then tell people who decides, how they'll decide if you know it, and when people will hear. Share each decision as soon as you're allowed to. In the downsizing Bordia and DiFonzo describe, employees' uncertainty and anxiety dropped after the layoffs were announced. A rumor that reaches people first gets harder to correct the longer it circulates.
If you're running a rollout and want a plan for each stage, The DANCE System gives you 29 tools across five phases, from defining the change to keeping it in place after launch.
Related Blog Posts:
Why Isn't My Team Using the AI Tools We Paid For?
How do I Announce a Change When Some Answers are MIssing?
How Do I Update the Team When Nothing Is Final?
What Is the Team Asking That the Announcement Didn't Answer?
How to Introduce AI to Your Team
References
de Berker, A. O., Rutledge, R. B., Mathys, C., Marshall, L., Cross, G. F., Dolan, R. J., & Bestmann, S. (2016). Computations of uncertainty mediate acute stress responses in humans. Nature Communications, 7, 10996. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10996
Bordia, P., & DiFonzo, N. (2013). Rumors during organizational change: A motivational analysis. In S. Oreg, A. Michel, & R. T. By (Eds.), The psychology of organizational change: Viewing change from the employee's perspective (pp. 232-252). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139096690.015
Bordia, P., Hobman, E., Jones, E., Gallois, C., & Callan, V. J. (2004). Uncertainty during organizational change: Types, consequences, and management strategies. Journal of Business and Psychology, 18(4), 507-532. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOBU.0000028449.99127.f7
DiFonzo, N., & Bordia, P. (1998). A tale of two corporations: Managing uncertainty during organizational change. Human Resource Management, 37(3-4), 295-303. https://doi.org/10.1002/%28SICI%291099-050X%28199823/24%2937:3/4%3C295::AID-HRM10%3E3.0.CO;2-3
Morrison, E. W., & Milliken, F. J. (2000). Organizational silence: A barrier to change and development in a pluralistic world. Academy of Management Review, 25(4), 706-725. https://doi.org/10.2307/259200
