New report says staff need more say over AI rollout

A new report says staff should help shape AI at work

Workers need more say over how AI is used in their jobs. That is the central message of a new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research. The TUC backs it.

The report calls this a pivotal moment in the history of work. It wants a package of measures that give employees more influence over how the technology arrives.

The mood among workers is split. Around 20% say AI has made their working life better. About 21% say it has made things worse. And 4% believe they have already lost a job because of it.

For any business owner planning an AI rollout, those numbers are worth sitting with. The same technology is helping some people and worrying others.

Three ways AI lands in a business

The report splits AI’s impact into three outcomes. The split is a useful planning tool for any team.

• Augmentation. AI supports people and helps them do more. The work gets better, not smaller.
• Degradation. AI is used mainly to monitor and manage staff. The experience of work gets worse.
• Displacement. AI replaces the worker altogether.

One tool can produce any of these three. The difference is not the model you buy. The difference is how you choose to use it, and who you involve in that choice.

Why staff need a say

At gecco we have a firm view on this. AI adoption is 80% people and culture, 20% technology. Skip the people and the rollout stalls.

Every successful rollout we run is bottom up, not top down. We start with the people doing the work. We ask what slows them down each day. Then we build AI around those answers.

The framing matters enormously. A rollout that says "use this tool so we can cut headcount" will fail. Staff resist. Adoption flatlines. Trust leaves with it.

A rollout that says "use this to clear the admin you hate" works. People lean in. They find uses you never planned for. That is the augmentation path the report describes.

This is also why we run discovery sessions with each department before we build anything. The people in the work know where the manual tasks pile up. They are the best source of ideas you have.

If you want a clear read on where your business stands, take the AI readiness assessment.

Burying your head is not a strategy

There is a flip side, and it sits with workers themselves. A say in how AI is used is not a veto on AI itself.

Ignoring the technology is the riskiest choice of all. The job market is shifting now, not in some distant future. The 4% who say they have already lost a job to AI are early evidence.

The workers who do best take training early. They engage with the tools. They make AI work for them, rather than waiting to see what happens to them.

This is not a comfortable message. But pretending the change is not coming does not slow it down.

The honest position sits in the middle. Employers should involve staff and design for augmentation. Staff should lean in and build the skills. Both sides have a job to do.

What this means for your business

If you run a team of 20 to 200 people, the report is a useful prompt. Here is where to start.

• Involve staff before you pick tools. Ask each team where the admin and manual work build up.
• Frame AI as help, not threat. Be honest about what it does and why you are doing it.
• Train everyone, not only the keen few. Confidence is what turns access into real use.
• Name a few AI Champions inside each team. Peer support beats a mandate from above.
• Measure adoption and listen. If a tool is not helping, change it.

We see the effect of this in our own work. Across recent gecco engagements, staff confidence with AI rose by 63% after training. Onboarding completion reached 92%. People use what they understand and trust.

A note of realism

Giving staff a say is not design by committee. Someone still has to lead and decide.

The point is simpler than that. Bring people into the process early. Listen to where the friction sits. Then deploy AI to remove it.

Do that and you head towards augmentation. Skip it and you drift towards the other two.

Next step

The report is a signal worth reading, whatever the size of your business. The firms that involve their people will get more from AI than the firms that impose it.

gecco helps UK SMEs roll out AI the people-first way. We build custom Assistants, Automations and training around your teams.

Source: Institute for Public Policy Research, TUC-backed report on worker influence over AI, reported by The Guardian, 29 May 2026.