Managers let AI assess raises, promotions, even layoffs, survey finds
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Managers are trusting AI to help make high-stakes decisions about firing, promoting, and giving their direct reports a raise, according to a new study from Resume Builder.
Why it matters: AI-based decision-making in HR could open companies up to discrimination and other types of lawsuits, experts tell Axios.
The big picture: Employers are increasingly pushing workers to incorporate genAI into their workflows, and gaining AI skills has been linked to better pay and increased job choices.
- But genAI training and policies at work are still rare, and the tools are changing so fast that it's hard to keep up.
- Using AI to assess people's careers is risky, especially when the tools are prone to hallucinations and poorly understood.
What they did: The study was conducted online late last month with 1,342 U.S. full-time manager-level employees responding.
What they found: 65% of managers say they use AI at work, and 94% of those managers say they look to the tools "to make decisions about the people who report to them," per the report.
- Over half of those managers said they used AI tools to assess whether a direct report should be promoted, given a raise, laid off or fired.
- A little over half of the managers using AI in personnel matters said they used ChatGPT. Others used Microsoft's Copilot, Google's Gemini or different AI tools.
- A majority of these managers said they were confident that AI was "fair and unbiased," and a surprising number of managers (20%) said they let AI make decisions without human input.
- Only one-third of the managers who are using AI for these decisions say that they've received formal training on what the tools can and cannot do.
Managers are looking for new ways to implement AI, probably under pressure from their organizations, Stacie Haller, chief career adviser at Resume Builder, told Axios.
- "Everybody's sort of trying things out. But to me, it raises a huge red flag when you're talking about people's careers," Haller said.
- "If somebody's making a decision to fire you based on AI, I'm imagining there could be lawsuits. I mean, people who felt they were fired unfairly [sued] before AI."
- "I think they're ahead of their skis on this," she added.
Yes, but: It's not clear from the data exactly how managers are using AI to automate managing.
- They could be using it to organize data for performance reviews. Or they could be asking ChatGPT, "Who should I lay off next?"
Zoom in: AI can help synthesize employee feedback or highlight patterns across team assessments, Lynda Gratton, professor of management practice at London Business School, told Axios via email.
- But there could be issues with the quality of the data going into the model, she says.
- And even if it is accurate, Gratton said, "it replicates any bias already in the system."
