Good morning!
As companies try their hardest to get employees onboard with AI at work, managers may be finding that some employees are taking to the new tech more than others. Although it’s still early days, signs of a gender gap are already emerging.
Around 30% of AI users are “maximalists,” who use the tech often and shout it from the rooftops, while another 20% are “underground” users, who use the tech but stay quiet about it, according to a new report from Salesforce. Within both of these groups, there is a skewed male presence: Around 63% of “maximalists” are men and only 37% are women, while 57% of “underground” users are men and 43% are women.
“Men just tend to use AI more than women across the board,” Christina Janzer, SVP of research and analytics for Slack, which is owned by Salesforce, tells Fortune. “That's a trend that we've seen since the beginning.”
Meanwhile, women are much more skeptical of the technology and overrepresented in groups that use it the least. Out of “rebel” AI users, who avoid using it altogether, around 58% are women and 42% are men, according to the report. And “observers,” or workers who haven’t integrated the tech into their workflow but are watching with interest and caution, are almost evenly split. Around 49% are women, and 51% are men.
“Women are more likely to see AI as a threat,” says Janzer. “There is a lack of trust with their company, or a lack of trust with their manager to think that AI is potentially going to replace them.”
They may have good reason for their reservations. Some studies have found that AI is likely to disproportionately impact women. Around 80% of women work in jobs that are at risk of disruption compared to 60% of men, according to research from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.
But direct managers can play an outsized role with getting their workers of all kinds onboard with the technology, and women in particular, by addressing hesitation head on, and setting clear goals and guidelines.
“Workers need to know that they won’t be quickly discarded if they become more efficient at their job. That means that bosses must take it upon themselves to outline how AI could change and enhance workflow, and what particular tasks it could take done by AI. That relieves the employee of the pressure of ‘waiting for something bad to happen,’” says Janzer.
And building rapport between managers and their direct reports is critical to AI adoption. “If you feel trusted by your manager, you're more likely to adopt AI,” she says. “If you trust your boss, then you realize that they're going to see that as an asset, and they're going to see that as a way to make you even more productive versus replace you.”
Emma Burleigh
emma.burleigh@fortune.com
