Are Managers Really Winning the AI Era?

In a recent study, managers were the only role to show a significant productivity lift with AI use, suggesting these roles are emerging as the biggest winners of the AI era.

Reports of individual worker productivity with AI circulate regularly. Undoubtedly, however, the decisions and tasks carried out by managers and senior leadership will impact employees, which means we could see big changes to both executives and juniors as AI becomes more integrated into workplaces.

Today’s managers are using AI in different capacities. Many are seeing productivity benefits, but all agree the real win is expanding these gains to the rest of the company. I spoke to managers across various industries to find out where the future of management lies now that AI has entered the building.

New Study Finds Managers are Seeing the Highest Productivity Lift Thanks to AI

In a new study from Prodoscore, managers recorded the highest productivity uplift resulting from AI use.

“We felt a manager’s role relies on collaboration, communication, and reviews of your subordinates. All of those activities and actions AI could really help [with], so they’re motivated to use AI,” says Sam Naficy, CEO of Prodoscore, in an exclusive interview with Tech.co.

Overall, Prodoscore recorded a 14.6 day annual uplift in productivity for AI adopters, equating to roughly three additional weeks per year. Data is from analysis of over 20,000 employees across 102 companies.

How Are Today’s Managers Using AI?

I decided to go straight to the source. And, like everyone else, managers are seeing similar gains within routine and repetitive tasks with AI. Kelsey Bailey, Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Marketri, says she uses the tech for summarizing meetings and drafting emails, for example.

Bryan Wall, Senior Competency Leader of Cloud Engineering at Experis, described using AI in a similar way. Mostly, he uses it to “get through some of the more time-consuming administrative work that can otherwise take me way from my team.”

It’s not just managers though. We’ve seen as AI has matured in the past year, it’s now being trusted more by workers. Many employees are now asking agents questions over their managers, suggesting AI has become somewhat of a non-judgemental and reliable information source, or even a colleague.

Along this vein, some managers told me they use AI to “pressure-test” certain situations. Bailey, for example, said she uses AI when she’s approaching a sensitive client conversation. Wall, too, says he uses it to test out ideas.

Philip Huthwaite, CEO at 5app, says AI helps him challenge his own assumptions and encourage new ways of thinking.

“Asking tools like ChatGPT or Claude to find faults in your current assumptions or ideas will help you achieve better outcomes and tighten up your plans, which makes them very powerful sidekicks.” – Philip Huthwaite, CEO at 5app

This shift from AI simply speeding up repetitive tasks to becoming a managerial confidante has been a productive one for managers. Bailey and Huthwaite both named productivity gains as a benefit of AI use. Likewise, Wall and Steve Fenton, Director of Developer Relations at Octopus Deploy, said the technology has freed them up for higher value work.

Ultimately, higher value work, when you consider managers, involves connecting and communicating effectively with the people that work for you. This task of human connection is one that needs preserving, not replacing, as AI develops.

Forget Managers, Who Else is Benefiting from AI?

AI prompted clear use cases and benefits from the managers I interviewed. However, findings were mixed on whether these gains were specifically related to their managerial status.

On the one hand, Wall said the result of the Prodoscore study “makes sense.” He added, “managers are in the intersection of gathering information and decision-making, so they can use AI across a broader range of tasks.”

And indeed, as AI becomes a higher value tool in decision-making, managers might even be able to use AI more than employees. Prodoscore’s own software, for example, helps managers complete 360 reviews, Naficy told me. While it varies across roles, the average manager likely makes more decisions than the average employee.

On the other hand, Bailey and Huthwaite didn’t necessarily agree with the survey’s results. “I think the people who benefit most put in the work to figure out how AI fits their specific role, regardless of title,” Bailey explains.

Huthwaite instead turned my attention to junior employees. Entry-level roles are tough to navigate in today’s climate, so it’s understandable that younger workers, who have more experience with technology in their day-to-day, “are pioneering new and innovate uses of AI,” as Huthwaite says.

Furthermore, both Fenton and Wall mentioned having specific AI champions within their companies, that are spreading their expertise and experimentation. Fenton’s champion discovers new ways of using AI, and then passes this on to the rest of the team, who in turn apply a “taste test,” as he describes it.

Similarly, Wall encourages teams to share what they’ve learnt from using AI, with each other. “When someone finds an AI application that saves significant time or improves the quality of their work, that can become a lesson for the broader team rather than an individual productivity hack,” he explains.

How Managers Can Extend Productivity Gains

Huthwaite believes anyone can benefit from AI in the workplace, “as long as you’re using it for a real purpose rather than using AI for the sake of it.” Research supports his claim, too, as employees tend to do better with AI when there is a clear plan in place from management.

Kriszta Grenyo, COO at Suff Digital, points out something similar. She found employees “usually aren’t hiding AI because of ill intention, it’s because they aren’t sure what’s acceptable when there weren’t clear guidelines in place on when and how to use it.”

First and foremost, therefore, managers should prioritize transparency. Provide a clear and accurate AI policy that outlines how the technology should be used, which is regularly revised and revisited as AI develops. Having a policy doesn’t just provide guidance for employees, but it also minimizes the security risks that come with using AI.

Likewise, Wall sees the role as the manager in today’s age as one of a cheerleader. “My job as a manager is to make sure AI helps the team work smarter without losing the human elements that make a team effective,” he says.

“I want my teams to feel empowered to experiment with AI and identify where it can genuinely improve their work. Of course, I also want them to identify where human judgement, accountability, and oversight are essential.” – Bryan Wall, Senior Competency Leader of Cloud Engineering at Experis

The second key step for managers is ensuring they’re encouraging employees to experiment, to give them the space to try new things with AI. In reality, every team works differently, and has different bottlenecks. Allowing teams to work within themselves to design AI for their specific use cases is the best way to ensure productivity genuinely goes up.

Wall says he doesn’t see AI making middle managers obsolete. He does say, however, “the strongest middle managers in the AI era will be the ones who can translate the intersection between technology and the workforce. These candidates must understand where AI can improve productivity and how to help their teams adapt as workflows continue to evolve.”

Even if it isn’t replaced, the role of the manager seems set to change. What will set managers apart in the future might genuinely be an ability to change – to reap the benefits AI provides for repetitive tasks and ideation, and use the time gained to connect and empower employees.