By T. Jayani, JadeTimes News
With the responsibility of managing 83 employees weighing heavily on him, Hannu Rauma felt overwhelmed and disheartened. "I was getting bogged down by all the issues within the teams, feeling a lot of disappointment," says Rauma, who works in Vancouver, Canada. He is a senior manager at Student Marketing Agency, a firm that employs university students to provide marketing support for small businesses.
“When bringing on new clients, part of me would think, 'we're going to mess this up,' which dampened my enthusiasm.” However, Rauma's outlook changed last November when the company started using an autonomous AI manager developed by US based Inspira.
The AI manager assists the agency's employees, who work flexible hours remotely, in setting their schedules and planning their workloads. It monitors their timekeeping, sends deadline reminders and regular check in messages, and tracks the time spent on various clients for accurate billing. The AI also offers suggestions to improve written text, answers work related questions, and updates everyone's progress in a central portal. Rauma says the introduction of the AI manager has not only reduced his stress levels but also increased employee productivity. "I can focus on the company's growth and all the positive aspects. It's added years to my life, I'm sure," he says.
Rauma also notes that his relationships with employees have significantly improved. "Before, it felt like a parent child dynamic. Now, we're more equal. Before, it was all about solving problems. Now we can have more light hearted conversations." Not all employees at Student Marketing Agency are using the AI manager yet. Rauma and 26 of his 83 employees participated in a study by Inspira and researchers from Columbia University, Arizona State University, and the University of Wisconsin to compare the performance of the AI manager with human managers.
Participants were divided into three groups, one managed by a human, another by the AI, and a third by both AI and human managers. The AI manager achieved a 44% success rate in getting employees to pre plan their workdays and motivated them to log in on time 42% of the time. These results were comparable to the human manager's scores of 45% and 44%. However, when the AI and human managers worked together, they achieved a 72% success rate in pre planning workdays and a 46% on time success rate.
Despite the study's small scale and focus on a specific type of worker and field, its results have implications for companies introducing AI tools. While firms like UPS, Klarna, and Dell have announced significant job cuts with plans to replace many roles with AI, Prof. Paul Thurman from Columbia University cautions against fully replacing management roles with AI. "Middle management is the most critical layer in any organization," says Thurman, a professor of management. "If this layer starts to turn over, you're in for a wild ride. Employees won't see continuity, won't get mentoring and coaching all the human aspects that human managers excel at."
Thurman adds that AI can free managers from constant reminders and check ins, allowing them to focus on more innovative work. Managers can select project teams based on skills, oversee the brief, and let AI handle details like deadlines. AI can also identify underperforming team members who need more human oversight and recognize star performers who deserve extra acknowledgment. However, companies should avoid using AI managers as surveillance tools. "You don't want to reach a point where you're monitoring not just punctuality but also personal habits," says Thurman. "You need to find the right way to encourage positive behaviors."
AI managers can also help "accidental managers" employees who excel in their roles but lack natural management skills says Tina Rahman, founder of London based HR consultancy HR Habitat. "We conducted a study on why people leave jobs. Almost 100% said it was due to poor management," says Rahman. "They didn't like how they were managed and didn't know what was expected of them or if they were performing well." An AI manager could provide clear instructions and transparency on expectations and outcomes, leading to higher productivity. However, Rahman warns that over reliance on AI management may signal that companies prioritize output over people.
"It will be difficult for a business to introduce an AI system for management and claim to care about employee experiences," she says. The biggest concern about AI managers may not be human related but cybersecurity related, warns James Bore, managing director of cybersecurity consultancy Bores. "With an AI manager, all of your company's processes, procedures, and intellectual property are in the software, which can be cloned or held to ransom," says Bore. "If you rely on it and replace humans with AI, you lack resilience and can't switch back to humans because you don't have them anymore." Bore suggests that extensive AI use might not lead to greater efficiency but instead make companies more replaceable. "The more you automate and remove people, yes, costs will go down. But you will also make your company more replaceable."