AI office hours: where worries come before fear

When companies introduce AI tools without talking openly about people's worries, what grows is not trust but silent stress. A monthly, drop-in AI office hour turns rumours into something that can be raised — before it turns into a psychological strain.

Why does silence make the fear bigger than the AI itself?

In a global survey of around 37,000 employees, the share worried about their own job security because of AI rose from 28 % in 2024 to 40 % in 2026. At the same time, 62 % of respondents believe their leadership underestimates how much AI weighs on them emotionally (source: Adecco Group / Mercer, cited in the Global Wellness Institute Workplace Wellbeing Trend Report 2026). That gap between the worry and the attention people feel from leadership is the actual stressor — not the technology itself.

What are larger companies modelling — and how can it be done smaller?

Larger companies such as IBM and Qualcomm are now addressing that gap actively: IBM deliberately redesigned roles around AI instead of cutting them, and Qualcomm offers employees fixed office hours and workshops on using AI (source: Global Wellness Institute Trend Report 2026, citing WEF and company reports). Smaller businesses can scale the same principle right down without a global corporation's budget: a single recurring, low-threshold appointment is enough to start.

How do you make the office hour real rather than symbolic?

What matters is the attitude, not the format: a manager who comes to reassure loses trust. A manager who comes to listen and to allow uncomfortable questions too — about job security or data protection, say — earns it. Unanswered questions may stay open, as long as they are visibly noted and answered in the next round. That is exactly what separates a real office hour from a token event. How strain caused by AI fits into the risk assessment is explained in the guide AI and the psychosocial risk assessment. A good complement is the best practice Transparent AI role communication: explain it before the rumours do.