The Biggest Issue People Face at Work Is Not A.I. Invasion. It’s Something Primitive.

It’s time we come clean

5 min read

1 hour ago

A young lady working with her laptop, sulking. — A.I. invasion is not the only issue at work. Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Is Artificial Intelligence the root of all workplace stress?

It seems so. Everyone is busy blaming it for retrenchments and the mystical disappearance of junior roles. There is some truth to it.

Some of the senior management professionals I met over many weekends are already debating how to downsize headcount by leveraging artificial intelligence.

Everywhere I go, it is A.I., A.I., A.I.

Yes, A.I. is sucking all the oxygen out of the room. Yet, that is not the full picture. It does not fully account for the dread I encounter every Monday morning.

And mind you, I don’t hate work. In truth, I embrace it more than most.

The ultimate dread is something [really] primitive

I will pin excessive check-ins to the dread wall.

Some folks prefer to deal with machines in front of them and hate client-facing work. Others prefer to spend time talking to clients and avoid administrative issues at all costs. This or that. This or that.

There is one genuine exception.