69% Of Workers Are Disengaged In The AI Era. A CEO Explains Why
By Rachel Wells
AI is making leaders faster. It’s also making leaders worse.
It’s optimizing productivity, reducing costs, and saving resources, even unlocking four-day workweeks. But artificial intelligence, when taken too far, is also responsible for the breakdown of trust in organizations.
Employees feel a disconnect now more than ever before, according to a 2025 Gallup report, which noted that 69% of U.S. employees feel disconnected or disengaged at work, the highest level of disengagement since 2014.
And for good reason:
Because of AI slop being pumped out by managers and leaders, studies show that employees do not trust in their leadership or in their communication.
Workers are also in a constant state of fear because they’re worried about the likelihood that their jobs will be replaced by an AI agent just as capable or even more capable than they.
The first few months of 2026 alone have seen more than 70,000 layoffs in tech. And the figures set to surge further as we progress throughout the year.
AI Raises Productivity, But Kills Innovation
Most of these layoffs are AI-related, which raises the question:
How can leaders create an environment of safety and trust when AI is threatening the very foundation of that trust?
After all, without trust, employee engagement tanks and your efforts at AI implementation and a future-proofed organization become counterproductive.
So I sat down with Tiffany Gaskell, CEO of Performance Consultants and co-author of the book Coaching for Performance, to understand what leaders can do to keep their workforces more connected than ever in the age of AI.
I asked her,
“A lot of leaders are using AI to work fast and move faster. Everyone wants to be more efficient. With that speed, do we risk compromising that deeper work of self-awareness and accountability?”
“Psychological safety is still the environment that people need in which to flourish,” Gaskell said.
She pointed to the example of employers seeking to boost efficiency and performance through using AI coaching tools as a replacement for the human coaching element, rather than a supplement.
“Essentially what prevails depends on the leadership, the leader’s intention. So on the one hand, you know, we see leaders who are sending notes for a conversation they weren’t present at. They’re doing performance appraisals and development plans--at least the appearance of a development plan without actually listening to the motivation of the person there,” she reflected.
“This is the reason why coaching skills in leadership are so important right now because of that adaptability, that awareness of self,” Gaskell said. “You’ve got to have that centeredness.”
“So on the one hand, there are organizations who are chasing productivity gains through AI metrics, and they are winning the efficiency game. But they are losing the innovation game,” she warned.
Psychological safety has to be present for creativity and innovation to happen
Tiffany Gaskell
"They’re losing the innovation game because psychological safety has to be present for creativity to happen, and that is not in these organizations. Those employers will find out that in due course.”
“Then there are more thoughtful organizations that are looking at the tasks that can be handled by AI and they are enabling people to do more as a result of AI. And that means that people are stepping into strategy and into transformation, and leaders are enabling people to work on the business rather than getting sucked into the business the whole time. That’s the whole point of AI enablement.”
How To Implement AI As A Leader In 2026
Here’s what this looks like in practice:
Taking the insights uncovered from AI and using these to get better at leading people and understanding what they really need
Using AI as leverage to cut out admin and busywork as a leader, freeing up the time for coaching your team and investing in the employee experience and their development
Using AI tools to coach your workforce for practical upskilling
Empowering team members to experiment, innovate, and use AI in their workflows, by creating a culture of growth, embracing risk, and asking the right questions
What type of leader are you going to be?
Are you empowering your workforce to enter an era of supercharged growth, productivity, and awareness, enabling them to bring out the best of themselves?
Or are you simply chasing short-term AI gains to look good on paper?
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