Navigating Burnout in the AI-Integrated Workplace

How can leaders effectively manage the emotional impact of technological change on their teams?

The integration of AI brings numerous benefits, but it also introduces stressors. Employees often worry about their roles becoming obsolete or feeling overwhelmed by the need to adapt to new technologies quickly. This has led to increased job stress and anxiety, which can negatively impact work affective well-being.  Burnout is a complex response to chronic workplace stress that affects feelings, emotions, organisational behaviours, and cognitions (Briner, 1997, 1999). Reflecting on my experience with AI integration in the workplace, I have observed that introducing AI technologies often brings excitement and apprehension among employees. In AI-integrated environments, emotional labour becomes particularly relevant, as employees may suppress anxieties about job security while displaying organizationally desired emotions, impacti

Paris

ng their mental state and well-being (Hochschild, 1984).

In this context, surface acting, where employees display emotions that contrast with their authentic feelings, is linked to decreased job satisfaction (Lee, 2016). On the other hand, deep acting aligns more closely with genuine emotions, leading to better job satisfaction and organizational commitment. To mitigate these challenges, leaders must apply emotional intelligence (EI). Leaders should be aware of employees’ signs of emotional exhaustion (e.g. fatigue or irritability), which can hint that employees are expending more emotional effort to manage their emotions. Observing the employee's consistency in an emotional expression, such as displaying positive emotions despite the challenging situations (surface actings) and genuinely engaging with empathy, is likely done by deep acting. Leaders should establish open communication channels to encourage employees to share their emotional experiences and challenges. This can help identify instances of emotional labour and provide insights into how to support employees better (HBR, 2022).

The Future of Leadership is Here

The next few years will be pivotal for leaders seeking to remain relevant and practical. You can position yourself at the forefront of this leadership revolution by creating the synergy between emotional intelligence and artificial intelligence.

I am dedicated to supporting the next generation of business leaders in integrating emotional intelligence with artificial intelligence. If you have a unique perspective on this topic or insights that could shape future articles, let's connect!

Cite:

Briner, R.B., 1997. Improving stress assessment: Toward an evidence-based approach to organizational stress interventions. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 43(1), pp.61-71.

Briner, R.B., 1999. The neglect and importance of emotion at work. European journal of work and organizational psychology, 8(3), pp.323-346.

Hochschild, A.R., 1984. The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling. University of California press.

Lee, JungHoon, Ok, Chihyung, Hwang, Jinsoo (2016). An emotional labour perspective on the relationship between customer orientation and job satisfaction. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 54:139–150

Smith, D.D. and Grandey, A.A., 2022. The emotional labor of being a leader. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr. org/2022/11/the-emotional-labor-of-being-a-leader.