A research team at Slack recently surveyed 5,000 full-time desk workers to understand what drives their use of AI-enhanced workplace tools. They found that people typically fall into one of five distinct personas, as identified by Slack’s Workforce Lab:
- The Maximalist (30%): Maximalists are frequent AI users, leveraging it multiple times a week to improve their work. They’re vocal advocates, eager to share their enthusiasm.
- The Underground (20%): Undergrounds also use AI often, but they prefer to keep it under wraps, not sharing their usage with colleagues.
- The Rebel (19%): Rebels reject AI, seeing it as unfair when coworkers use these tools. They avoid it entirely.
- The Superfan (16%): Superfans admire AI advancements but aren’t yet fully integrating it into their work routine.
- The Observer (16%): Observers are interested in AI but remain cautious, yet to adopt it into their workflow.
What’s fascinating about this approach is how it aligns with the concept of managing people through “employee personas.” If you’re unfamiliar, workforce platform Envoy defines employee personas as “semi-fictional characters that represent the behaviors, needs, and preferences of a group of employees,” based on data and interviews. These personas help organizations tailor communications, plan training, and develop career paths, offering a data-driven approach to workforce management.
Slack has extended this framework to AI adoption strategies. As reported by HR Dive, Christina Janzer, Slack’s SVP of research and analytics, noted during a press call that AI adoption is complex, with individuals experiencing it differently. She suggested that understanding employees’ emotional responses to AI could help predict whether they’ll experiment with or avoid the technology.
This research mirrors the approach of the Slack-backed Future Forum, which surveyed 10,000 global workers each quarter on topics like flexibility, burnout, and hybrid work. Slack’s Workforce Lab takes a similar approach but focuses on productivity and employee experience across desk workers globally, including those at Slack, Salesforce, and beyond.
The release of this report on AI personas—complete with a quiz—continues this work by asking how management can foster effective AI adoption. It’s crucial to note that personas aren’t fixed; people’s attitudes and enthusiasm for AI can evolve with experience. If Slack’s findings reflect broader trends, only a third of employees are truly excited about AI, with the rest hesitant or disengaged. A future challenge for Slack Workforce Lab may be uncovering what can motivate the remaining personas to embrace AI.
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