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More than a third of UK employees say AI managers could boost productivity, research finds

Attitudes varied considerably by seniority, with nearly two-thirds (64%) of employees at director level and above expecting an AI manager to improve their productivity.

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More than a third of UK employees believe replacing their line manager with an artificial intelligence (AI) system would increase their productivity, according to research from Careerminds UK.

The survey of 600 full-time UK employees found 36.7% expected an AI manager to improve their productivity, compared with 25.5% who believed it would reduce it.

A further 37.8% expected their productivity to remain unchanged.

Attitudes varied considerably by seniority, with nearly two-thirds (64%) of employees at director level and above expecting an AI manager to improve their productivity.

This compared with 42.6% of senior employees, 38.5% of managers and 27.6% of mid-level employees.

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Entry-level workers were the least likely to expect an improvement, at 26.2%, while 50.8% believed replacing their manager with AI would make no difference to their productivity.

Despite the potential productivity benefits identified by respondents, most employees continued to favour human managers when it came to performance feedback.

Almost three-quarters (74.2%) said they would prefer feedback from their line manager, compared with 14.2% who would choose an AI system and 11.7% who had no preference.

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Directors and above were more receptive to AI-generated feedback, with 26% preferring an AI system, compared with 8% of mid-level employees.

Age also influenced attitudes towards the technology. Half (50.6%) of employees aged between 25 and 34 expected an AI manager to improve their productivity, compared with 14.4% of those aged between 55 and 64.

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Amanda Augustine, resident careers expert at Careerminds UK and a certified orofessional career coach (CPCC), said: “We shouldn’t confuse employees seeing potential productivity gains from AI with wanting technology to replace their managers altogether.

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“Middle managers are already feeling the squeeze, caught between growing expectations from senior leaders and the needs of their teams.

“AI may be able to ease some of that pressure by taking certain tasks off managers’ plates, but the feedback findings make it clear that employees still value human judgement, context and connection. The opportunity for employers is to use AI to help managers become more effective, not simply replace them.”

The research also found relatively similar expectations between men and women when it came to productivity, with 37.3% of men and 35.8% of women anticipating an improvement from an AI manager.

However, men were more likely to prefer AI for performance feedback, at 16.6%, compared with 10.9% of women.

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Augustine added: “It’s not surprising to see younger employees showing greater confidence in AI, given how quickly these tools have become part of everyday working life.

“What’s more interesting is the divide by seniority. Senior leaders may be looking at AI through the lens of efficiency and decision-making, while employees earlier in their careers are more likely to think about what they need from a manager day to day, whether that’s guidance, development, reassurance or context. Those are areas where the human element still matters.”

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