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For some employees, using AI at work has become a requirement, rather than an option.
The trend isn’t new: Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said in September 2025 that the company plans to cut employees who can’t “retrain and retool” on AI. In early 2026, the company told senior employees that “regular adoption” of AI tools was a prerequisite for promotion, around the same time that Google and Meta leaders told workers that AI usage would become a performance metric.
The number of U.S. workers who say their organization has integrated AI technology reached a record high, 47%, in the second quarter of 2026, up from 41% in Q1, according to a Gallup report published on July 20. Just 25% of those employees say that their organization has communicated a clear plan for integrating AI into their workflow.
It’s unsurprising that many companies are pushing AI adoption so hard, says Xenia Wade, Ph.D., a change management consultant who formerly worked at Accenture: “They’re spending a lot of money on a tool being rolled out, and they want to see some benefits out of it.”
However, pressuring employees to use AI can also cause what Wade calls “checkbox adoption”: Employees “use AI for the sake of using it” to comply with the company’s goals, but they don’t actually integrate the technology into their workflows or apply it to “become more efficient at their jobs,” she says.
That could hinder both the employees’ and their companies’ ability to reap the reputed benefits — such as increased productivity — of integrating AI at work.
Instead, Wade and other experts share their best advice for companies to integrate AI without overwhelming workers.
Let workers choose how and when to use AI
Companies should allow employees to weigh in on “where they think AI should be used and where it shouldn’t,” rather than urging them to use AI for all tasks, according to Benjamin Shiller, associate professor of economics at Brandeis University.
Workers with hands-on experience are “best able to judge whether AI is actually helpful or a time saver” for each of their job functions, Shiller says.
Ranjit Bawa, chief technology and ventures officer at Deloitte, also recommends giving employees autonomy to make thoughtful decisions around when to use AI.
For example, Bawa says that some software developers at Deloitte decided not to use AI for certain coding tasks because they found it beneficial to have “more control over the code.” That kind of insight wouldn’t be possible if the company had pushed employees to use AI for every assignment, he says.
Prioritize clear communication
A Reuters survey published in June found that 53% of Americans fear that AI could put them or someone in their household out of work. And when companies aren’t clear about how their AI strategy will impact employees, it can create “additional stress and anxiety,” according to Dennis Stolle, head of applied psychology at the American Psychological Association.
Stolle says that leaders should engage in “open and honest conversation” with workers about how integrating AI will shape their organization. That includes sharing explicit expectations around AI use, providing timely updates when possible and engaging with feedback — or even pushback — from employees.
Another Gallup report published in July 2026 found that employees whose organizations provided a “clear plan” for integrating AI were 15% more engaged than those without one.
It’s up to employers to demonstrate how using AI can benefit each worker as an individual — for instance, by helping them eliminate busywork or by providing opportunities to upskill, Wade says.
“Companies need to understand that [AI adoption] is not only a technological project, it’s a people project,” she says.
Leave room for learning (and mistakes)
Most importantly, companies need to make sure that employees “feel psychologically safe” as they navigate AI implementation, according to Wade.
Employees need to feel certain “that they will not be punished if they make mistakes” in the process of learning how to use AI, Wade says – otherwise, nobody will have the guts to experiment and innovate with the technology.
When someone does make a mistake, leadership should treat it as a “learning opportunity,” rather than a failure, she says.
Another way to build a psychologically safe environment is to designate five or ten minutes at the end of regular meetings for employees to openly discuss “how AI is working for them and what is not working for them,” Wade says.
In her experience, giving workers a designated space to talk about the AI implementation process can help them feel more comfortable trying new things and asking for help.
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