Empathetic Workplaces Boost AI Adoption by 32%

Empathy Drives AI Adoption and Employee Confidence

New research from Businessolver’s 2026 State of Workplace Empathy AI Special Report reveals a striking connection between workplace culture and employee attitudes toward artificial intelligence. The report, released in August, surveyed more than 1,000 working U.S. adults across six industries and found that nearly nine in ten employees in empathetic workplaces say they received adequate AI training and feel positive about AI adoption.

That number stands in stark contrast to the broader workforce. Among all employees surveyed, only 51% reported feeling positive about AI adoption and their training. In workplaces that employees describe as toxic, the figure drops dramatically to just 33%.

Notably, the companies surveyed—whether employees consider them empathetic, neutral, or toxic—operate with similar budgets and resources. The decisive factor was not financial investment or access to technology. Instead, the real differentiator was company culture, specifically how empathetic that culture felt to employees.

Empathy Drove Improvement Across Every Metric Measured

The benefits of an empathetic culture extended beyond training satisfaction. In empathetic workplaces, 83% of employees said AI makes them more optimistic about their future with their organization. Among all employees, that figure falls to 61%.

Similarly, 80% of employees in empathetic cultures said AI gives them more agency and control over their work, compared with just 54% overall. The data shows that when employees feel supported and understood, they are more likely to view AI as a tool that enhances their role rather than a threat to it.

The inverse pattern also holds true. In toxic cultures, 51% of employees worry they will fall behind on using AI effectively. The same share expressed concern about what AI means for their future at the company. These fears persist despite the fact that these organizations have comparable resources to their more empathetic counterparts.

These numbers function as an adoption forecast. Organizations that fail to cultivate an empathetic culture will likely struggle to convince employees to integrate AI into their daily work, even with aggressive training initiatives. Conversely, companies with strong empathetic cultures could take a lighter approach to training and still see better adoption outcomes. The implication is clear: culture, not training alone, determines whether employees embrace or resist AI.

Why This Is a Matter of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to your ability to recognize and understand emotions in yourself and others, and to use that awareness to manage your behavior and relationships effectively. It is a skill set that directly influences how leaders communicate, how teams collaborate, and how employees respond to organizational change.

EI can be broken down into four core skills:

• Self-awareness: Recognizing your own emotions and how they affect your thoughts and behavior.
• Self-management: Controlling impulsive feelings and behaviors, managing your emotions in healthy ways, and adapting to changing circumstances.
• Social awareness: Understanding the emotions, needs, and concerns of other people, including picking up on emotional cues.
• Relationship management: Knowing how to develop and maintain good relationships, communicate clearly, inspire and influence others, and manage conflict.

To measure where you stand across these four competencies, experts recommend taking a validated emotional intelligence assessment. Such tools provide a baseline for understanding your strengths and identifying areas for development.

The Businessolver data suggests that fear of AI is not fundamentally a technology problem that can be solved with a better upskilling program. It is, at its core, a matter of building a high-empathy culture. That requires managers who are skilled at creating an environment of empathy within their teams, so that team members feel heard, understood, and cared for. When employees feel psychologically safe, they are far more likely to approach AI adoption with optimism rather than anxiety.

The Research: Empathy Needs To Be Interactive

Many leaders fall into a common trap when attempting to demonstrate empathy: they concentrate all their energy on imagining how their team members feel. While well-intentioned, this approach often misses the mark. Nicholas Epley, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, along with colleagues Tal Eyal and Mary Steffel, tested this very idea across 25 experiments. Their findings, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, reveal that simply asking people to adopt another person’s perspective produces no reliable gain in accuracy.

In fact, the research suggests that this exercise frequently makes individuals less accurate while simultaneously making them more confident in their assumptions—a particularly potent combination for leaders navigating complex team dynamics. The researchers discovered that a far more effective approach is what they term “perspective-getting.” This involves actively asking people about their perspective rather than guessing. Epley’s results illustrate how a manager who attempts to guess at their team’s AI-related fears will likely be wrong about what their team actually worries about, yet remain confidently certain that they are right.

A Simple EI Strategy You Can Use To Create An Empathetic Environment As A Leader

As you navigate the inevitable fears and anxieties surrounding AI’s impact on the working landscape, make a conscious effort to actively seek out the perspectives of your team members. Rather than relying on intuition, use this straightforward four-step process to guide your conversations and build a genuinely empathetic environment:

• Write your guess down first. Before speaking with anyone, privately note what you believe each person on your team fears about AI. This helps you establish a baseline of your current awareness.
• Ask something concrete. Skip vague questions like “How do you feel about AI?” Instead, try asking a specific question such as, “What part of your job would you least want AI to touch?” This invites a more actionable and honest answer.
• Compare your guess to their answer. After the conversation, reflect on the differences between your initial assumption and what your team member actually shared. You’ll quickly see the gap between your perceived awareness and your actual awareness of their concerns.
• Act on the exact thing your team member named, ideally within a week. A fear that gets named and then ignored can quickly curdle into cynicism. However, acting swiftly and visibly on their specific concern will build an environment where your team feels genuinely heard, valued, and cared for.

Putting This Research Into Action

Knowing how to improve your emotional intelligence is one thing, but applying it consistently is where the real growth happens. If you manage a team, challenge yourself to try this strategy with three direct reports this week. For those not in a managerial role, the same principle applies to your personal relationships. Instead of assuming you know what your partner or child is thinking, ask them directly for their perspective. You might be surprised by what you learn.

At its core, emotional intelligence is about building stronger relationships. That process depends on your willingness to remain open to people whose emotions and viewpoints differ from your own. Many of us spend a significant amount of mental energy trying to guess how others feel. While well-intentioned, this approach is often exhausting and frequently inaccurate. A more effective method is to conserve that energy and simply go straight to the source, gathering firsthand perspective rather than relying on speculation.

By prioritizing direct communication, you not only reduce the cognitive load of guessing but also demonstrate genuine respect for the other person’s experience. This practice builds trust and fosters a deeper connection, whether you are collaborating with colleagues or navigating family life.

Kevin Kruse is the Founder and CEO of LEADx, an emotional intelligence training company. He is also a New York Times bestselling author. To get a clearer picture of your own strengths and areas for improvement, you can take his free EI Assessment. The tool is psychologically validated and provides a detailed score breakdown across each of the four core emotional intelligence skills, offering a practical starting point for your development journey.