How AI threatens to multiply the invisible responsibilities of employees

There is an expression that is forcefully (and unintentionally) entering the lexicon of HR departments: 'shadow workloads', i.e. that set of additional activities, informal responsibilities and tasks not foreseen by the role and function that employees absorb over time. Without a formal redefinition of the position, without economic recognition and, often, without real organisational awareness. The phenomenon does not only concern Italia and some analyses by Eurofound highlight how digitalisation and the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence are transforming work across the Old Continent, increasing operational intensity, task complexity and pressure on skills. In parallel, various research shows that AI, instead of automatically reducing the workload, tends in some cases to amplify it through new expectations of productivity and continuous availability.

It is against this backdrop that a recent survey by Robert Walters, one of the leading players in recruitment on an international scale, is taking place, which photographs a reality that is now structural even in the skilled labour market. According to the research, 81% of Italian professionals claim to have seen their role expand in the last twelve months through non-formalised activities and additional responsibilities. According to the experts, this is a clear sign of an organisational transformation that many companies are gradually and silently undergoing: doing more with the same resources. The pressure comes from well-known factors (the need to contain costs, difficulties in finding specialist skills) but the final effect is increasingly on internal teams. It is therefore not surprising that 51 per cent of those interviewed now work longer hours than in the past, while only 16 per cent have openly discussed the issue with their manager. Perhaps the most significant finding, in HR terms, is precisely the latter: the burden of 'hidden work' tends to remain invisible because it is absorbed individually, without becoming an explicit organisational issue and becoming structural in many cases. "Many organisations," observed Andrew Powell, Chief Commercial Officer at Robert Walters, "are trying to optimise their available resources, but when the expansion of responsibilities takes place without visibility or formal recognition, it creates the phenomenon of shadow workloads, an approach that may seem flexible in the short term but risks compromising operational sustainability in the long run. The issue, as can easily be guessed, directly touches the governance of people: for years, the labour debate has focused on smart working, flexibility and work-life balance, today the problem shifts to the actual sustainability of tasks, as the risk does not only concern individual burnout but also the loss of collective efficiency, declining engagement and increasing skilled turnover.

Within this transformation, artificial intelligence is assuming an 'ambiguous' role, so to speak, on the one hand consolidating itself as an increasingly widespread operational support tool and on the other hand as a 'dangerous' accelerator of corporate expectations. In this sense, the Robert Walters survey shows how 65% of professionals use AI tools and rely on the capabilities of algorithms to fill skill gaps or tackle tasks (from translations to data analysis, from document production to administrative procedures) that would not normally be within their capabilities to perform. By continually moving the bar of expected performance forward, however, the risk of so-called 'workload creep', a phenomenon that is increasingly discussed in HR and among management as a whole, increases. "Artificial intelligence," remarked Powell, "is a powerful tool for improving productivity and accelerating learning, but if it is not implemented with clear limits, it risks further raising expectations on employees, rather than relieving the pressure on them. The central point of the discussion revolves around the impact that technology has on processes and job availability: if a task takes less time thanks to AI, the time freed up is often not returned to the individual employee, while it is not uncommon for the operational perimeter of professional figures to be artificially expanded by calling on people to handle increasingly transversal tasks without adequate training and reskilling.

The other side of shadow workloads is the deterioration of psychological well-being. In fact, Robert Walters' research introduces the concept of 'competence hangover', a sort of cognitive exhaustion linked to prolonged periods of high performance and continuous learning. 44% of the Italian professionals interviewed claim to experience it regularly, while a further 34% experience it intermittently. Mental fatigue, loss of concentration and drop in energy thus become symptoms of an organisational model that tends to progressively shift the burden of adaptation onto people.

"Taking on new responsibilities," Powell points out, "can be an opportunity to grow professionally, but only if accompanied by support and recognition. When this is lacking, the risk is that employees find themselves overwhelmed and demotivated'. For HR departments, the issue therefore becomes strategic. Monitoring actual workloads, redistributing activities, introducing digital tools that simplify processes and above all fostering an open dialogue between managers and employees are assumed to be central elements of organisational sustainability. And companies that manage to make shadow workloads visible, even before making them manageable are likely to have a decisive competitive advantage.