Futurity · AI

AI Creates New "Glue Work," Disproportionately Affecting Middle Managers and Women

New research indicates that AI adoption is not just changing work but creating new, often invisible tasks, referred to as "glue work," which are falling heavily on middle managers and, in some cases, women.

Workshops involving AI implementers and leaders revealed that while AI adoption increases the value placed on speed and productivity, it also lowers overall standards, fostering a "good enough" work mentality.

Essential new tasks supporting AI transformation, such as validating AI outputs and employee training, are often not formally recognized in job descriptions or performance metrics.

Middle managers frequently absorb this "glue work," with some participants noting that this labor disproportionately falls to women within organizations.

Concurrently, executive leaders question the future necessity of middle management and express concerns about "distributed deskilling," the erosion of expertise development pathways.

This highlights a tension where the skills executives fear losing are already being performed, often invisibly, by the middle management tier whose role is being questioned.

Recommendations for organizations include more deliberate and transparent measurement practices, and intentional inclusion of diverse voices in AI decision-making processes to shape a more human-centered AI future.

Participants suggested that increased deliberation before AI adoption, protecting opportunities for learning, and ensuring efficiency gains benefit workers could lead to better AI integration.

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