AI is making workers feel replaceable and insignificant

The question managers are asking

A manager at a building materials company said colleagues now ask Copilot instead of asking him for advice.He wondered, "What's my point?"

“No one really asks me anything anymore. They just ask Copilot. Sometimes I wonder, 'What's my point?'”

What AI erodes at work

AI doesn't necessarily eliminate jobs, but it eliminates what makes people feel they matter: feeling needed, making meaningful connections, and contributing something unique.Research links feeling insignificant at work to lower engagement, burnout, and reduced performance.

A school worker replaced by AI

A school worker spent time crafting a children's book and creating artwork but fell ill for a week.Her supervisor replaced her artwork with AI-generated images and finished the book without her.

“I cried all the way home and for the next few hours.”

From creating to curating

A graphic designer described how AI image-generation tools changed his work: it became less about executing ideas and more about curating and refining.

“The job is becoming less about executing the first idea and more about curating, refining, and adding the crucial human touch.”

Workers worry about becoming obsolete

In a poll of more than six thousand employees, forty-four percent said they worry their skills won't be needed anymore.

Why mattering matters at work

Psychologist David Blustein writes that work provides people with a sense of mattering that gives purpose to life. Feeling seen, heard, valued, and needed is linked to engagement, commitment, and organizational performance.

“a sense of mattering that can help give purpose to one's life”

Three experiences that create mattering

Research identified three primary experiences that contribute to feeling like you matter at work: being noticed, being affirmed, and being needed. Leaders can use three questions to evaluate how AI deployment changes each experience.

Question one: feeling seen and heard

Does AI make it easier or harder for people to feel seen and heard?Feeling noticed happens in ordinary interactions like being asked for ideas or having someone check in.

Scan for disappearing interactions

Leaders should catalog interactions that may disappear as AI grows.An employee's outreach to a leader for input also creates time for that leader to check in and learn about their challenges.

Create ask AI slash ask a person norms

The building materials company realized they deployed AI without shared norms for when to use it versus when to ask a person.

Question two: using unique strengths

Does AI make it easier or harder for people to use their unique strengths to make a difference?

Make human contribution visible

Help people identify how their unique strengths still make a difference as tasks change.For AI-assisted work, highlight human contribution rather than just recognizing the final product.Protect opportunities to originate ideas before AI is brought in.

Find new opportunities for strengths

Schneider Electric developed an Open Talent Market, an AI-powered internal talent marketplace that matches employees' interests and unique skills with projects across the company.

Question three: feeling needed

Does AI make it easier or harder for people to feel needed by others and the organization?

Clarify what people are needed for

When introducing AI tools, explain which tasks will be automated and how people are still needed.

Reinvest AI time savings in human work

Sun Life introduced an AI assistant that saves advisors up to thirty minutes per meeting.

“empathy dividend”

Leaders must help people answer the question

Many employees are asking the same question as the manager: What's my point?As technology amplifies efficiency and capability, leaders must become better at amplifying connection and contribution.

“What's my point?”