Most workers want a cat-cat to be their best work friends, says a new KPMG study

Could we soon see a world in which AI becomes your darling work spouse? While workers’ loneliness is becoming more and more commercial risk and employment pessimism affects its worst point in a decade, it may not be too far away.

A new study by the consulting firm KPMG revealed that 45% of workers questioned reported feelings of loneliness in the workplace, and the majority would exchange 20% wages in exchange for close friends. And 99% of workers are interested in an AI chatbot who could become a close friend or a companion of confidence at work.

There is also a profitability analysis: almost 90% have said that friendly cultures for friendship are crucial for retention.

I started to wonder how managers should balance the influx of new technologies–And, apparently, a desire to bind him friendship–With the well-being of workers. I called Leslie Hammer, director of Oregon Healthy WorkForce Center, specializing in the effects of working conditions on mental health and well-being. She says it depends on humans – not AI – to ensure that employees feel safe and supported at work.

“Can AI help reduce loneliness? I am very skeptical about it,” said Hammer. “Personal relationships and the history and psychological security that people develop over time, what makes it is that people trust and feel that if they share something, they will not be denigrated.”

Instead of investing in a framework of AI work friends for employees, she advises managers to adopt a three -component human approach to support their workers during this period of uncertainty: growing control (giving people autonomy on the way and when they work); reduce requests (promote a group discussion on how to make work more effective); And growing support (creating spaces and opportunities where colleagues can encourage each other).

“It’s so basic and easy,” says Hammer. “There is a direct line between what they do, how they treat their employees and the results they see.”

Kristin Stoller
Editorial director, Live Media fortune
kristin.stoller@fortune.com

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