How AI Affects Mental Health in the Workplace

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“If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to.”
― Lao Tzu

The rise of AI (artificial intelligence) and its increasing presence in the workplace has brought a tsunami of change, creating new mental health challenges for both employers and employees. As humans, we can be resistant to change. Employees may feel frustrated, annoyed, and resistant about learning how to adapt to new ways of working. Some workers may fear becoming obsolete if they lack the technical skills to work alongside AI systems. Meanwhile, leaders are navigating these changes themselves while also needing to motivate and train everyone else.

AI is crashing into workplaces everywhere, bringing monumental changes in its wake. As AI capabilities expand rapidly, employees at all levels are being inundated with new systems, processes, roles, and responsibilities. For many, this AI disruption is causing uncertainty and anxiety. Will my job still exist in a few years? Will I become obsolete if I can't keep upskilling? How can I possibly adapt to more changes when I'm already overwhelmed?

How AI Changes How We Work

AI represents a fundamental shift in how we work—one that is happening at a relentless pace. Humans typically resist change, even when we know it's ultimately beneficial. Learning new technologies, changing roles and responsibilities, and abandoning familiar day-to-day routines can feel exhausting and frustrating.

Compounding the challenge is the pressure many companies put on their workforce to quickly acquire AI implementation and collaboration skills. Employees can experience negative psychological and physiological effects due to their inability to cope or deal with the demands and usage of new technologies in a healthy way. The need to adapt to new AI systems can cause fatigue, burnout, anxiety, irritability, headaches, muscle pain, and sleep problems. Severe cases are linked to depression and other mental health issues.

With all these technological changes, workplace stress and burnout run high. Navigating more ongoing change when already dealing with burnout can be overwhelming. The World Economic Forum estimates that AI will replace 85 million jobs by 2025. As employees worry about losing their jobs, trust and morale can become casualties. Fear of position elimination can create a scarcity mindset and cutthroat competition among coworkers over jobs.

10 Ways Employers Can Support Employee Mental Health with AI Disruption

The increase of AI and automation is causing major disruption in workplaces across all industries. While AI can boost productivity and efficiency, it also brings anxiety, stress, and mental health challenges for employees worried about being displaced by technology. As an employer, it's crucial to proactively support the mental well being of your staff as you keep them engaged, motivated, and resilient throughout this AI tsunami.

1. Realize What You Cannot Control
Accept there are some aspects of technological change that are out of your control as an organization. Rather than fighting an uphill battle, consciously let go and surrender to the broader forces at play. By doing so, you gain peace of mind.

2. Empower Personal Control
Empower employees to take control of the factors within their power—their mindset, emotions, behaviors, and choices. Cultivate an attitude of adaptability, openness to learning, and a growth mindset. This allows a sense of autonomy.

3. Encourage Mindfulness
Promote and encourage self-care practices such as mindfulness, meditation, and yoga to combat stress and anxiety. Such tools help employees stay grounded amidst uncertainty. Research shows that mindfulness at work increases motivation and job performance, positive affect and working memory capacity, problem-solving, work-life balance, focus, concentration, creativity, innovation, safety, and ethical decision-making. It also reduces absenteeism, risk of burnout, and unwanted turnover.

4. Use CBT Techniques
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an empirically supported therapy that is based on the belief that our thoughts precede our emotions and behaviors. CBT principles can help people reframe unhelpful thought patterns by utilizing powerful mantras like:

• I am flexible and unbreakable.
• I am open and adaptable.
• I trust that I will survive, manage all that comes, and refuse to succumb to the fear of rejection or failure.
• I free myself from the powers of fear and doubt. I choose love, faith, and courage as my guides instead of catastrophic thinking.

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5. Build Emotional Intelligence
Foster compassion by creating a culture of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence refers to recognizing, understanding, managing, and reasoning with emotions. It allows you to respond better to stressful conditions and healthily deal with emotions. Employees should have access to mental health support resources and counseling to increase their emotional intelligence.

6. Prioritize Clear Communication
Facilitate open and honest communication so employees can express fears and concerns without judgment. Use plain, straightforward language. Avoid jargon, technical terms, or ambiguous phrasing that could be misunderstood. Communicating ideas clearly and directly builds trust and psychological safety.

7. Be Transparent
Reinforce transparency by openly discussing your organization's AI strategy and how roles may evolve. Dishonesty will only breed more anxiety.

8. Approach Change in Stages
The perceived threat of machines replacing human capabilities can create an us-vs-them mentality. Rather than overhauling everything at once, navigate AI implementation in manageable stages to make the changes more digestible for staff and reduce the human-vs-machine tension.

9. Encourage Work-Life Harmony
Keep employees from getting burned out and depleted during periods of change. Actively promote work-life balance. There are things you can do to improve your concentration and cognition at work and home. Also, note that taking time off from work has positive effects on mental health.

10. Promote a Collaborative Culture of Inclusion
As AI becomes more prevalent, nurture a culture of inclusion, meaning, and belonging at work. This strengthens resilience through connection, especially for hybrid/remote staff.

As we continue to embrace AI's benefits in the workplace, prioritize employees' mental health and well-being. By acknowledging the potential psychological impact of the changes and implementing strategies to support employees through the transition, organizations can cultivate a more resilient and productive workforce capable of thriving in the face of a technological AI tsunami.