EXCLUSIVE: Employees fear AI impact on their jobs
Artificial intelligence is spreading through the workplace, and many employees are worried about how it will affect them.
More than half (53%) of employees feel concerned that AI tools will make their role feel less necessary. Those employees cited the ChatGPT (35%) and Google Gemini (18%) agentic AI platforms most often. In addition, 52% of U.S. professionals who participated in a Software Finder survey exclusively shared with Chain Store Age say AI tools are not significantly changing their value, while 21% say they increase their value.
Senior managers/executives were most likely to say AI is increasing their value (45%), compared to respondents who are managers (26%) and individual contributors (15%). Respondents with four to six years of tenure were more likely than those with less than one year to say AI is increasing their value (26% vs. 15%).
The survey also analyzed different aspects of how respondents react to the introduction of new workplace software tools:
Training & support
- Seven-in-10 (69%) respondents do not receive enough time and support before performance expectations are set during software rollouts.
- Six-in-10 (59%) employees feel evaluated on their performance while they are still learning a new system.
- Almost half (49%) of respondents feel less confident in their ability to do their job after a software transition.
- More than four-in-10 (42%) respondents have pretended to understand a new workplace tool when they actually didn't.
- Four-in-10 (39%) respondents react mostly positively when new software is introduced, while 44% feel neutral and 17% react mostly negatively.
- Respondents say clear documentation or tutorials (49%) are the most helpful type of support when learning new software at work, followed by formal training (44%) and peer support (39%).
Pressure sources
- More than four-in-10 (43%) overall respondents feel pressure related to performance, expectations, or job security during software changes. Among technology industry workers, 46% report feeling this way.
- Managers are the most likely job level to cite job security or being replaced as their top pressure source (27%), compared with individual contributors, whose top pressure source is learning quickly (30%).
- More than one-quarter (27%) of employees have also avoided using a new workplace tool entirely out of fear of making mistakes.
Demographic trends
- Gen X workers are the respondent generation most likely to worry they won't keep up with new tools (40%), compared to Gen Z (31%), millennials (32%), and baby boomers (35%).
- Gen Z respondents are the most likely to feel pressure during software changes (47%), with learning quickly as their top pressure source (35%).
- Female respondents are more likely than male respondents to worry about making mistakes in front of others (44% vs. 35%).
- Female respondents are also more likely than male respondents to report that peer support is helpful (42% vs. 36%).
- Respondents with less than one year of tenure are the least likely to react positively to new software (25%), compared to those with 10-plus years of tenure (43%).
[READ MORE: Survey: 'Confidence gap' exists between Gen Z workers and peers]
Software Finder conducted an online survey of 1,006 U.S. adults who use software at work in March 2026.
