One in Three Gen Z Workers Ask AI Before Their Manager as Training Lags

AI Just Became the First Stop for Your Team. Here's How Managers Keep Control

AI is now the workplace's first line of support. Research from Robert Walters shows 33% of Gen-Z professionals ask AI before their manager, and 39% of UK professionals ask their line manager fewer questions because of AI.

This is a shift you can't ignore. Without a plan, you risk silent decision-making, biased outputs, and a slow leak of team capability.

What the data says

• 33% of Gen-Z go to AI before their manager or colleagues.
• 39% of UK professionals now ask fewer questions of their line manager due to AI.
• 71% of UK managers haven't received guidance or training on managing in an AI-enabled environment.
• Of the fifth who did receive training, over half said it was too limited.
• 35% of young managers cite overwork and burnout as the top challenge.
• 69% of Gen-Z want to avoid management roles due to high stress and low reward.

The risk to your team

• Invisible decisions: AI answers bypass you, creating blind spots on how decisions are made.
• Quality drift: AI can be wrong or biased, and errors compound without checks.
• Lost mentorship: fewer questions means fewer chances to build judgment and context.
• Manager overload: reduced availability pushes more queries to AI, feeding the cycle.

Set guardrails without slowing people down

• Define use cases: What's OK for AI? Examples: drafting emails, summarizing docs, generating options, quick code fixes. What's not: final legal/financial advice, performance decisions, sensitive data.
• Create an "AI first, manager final" rule: Use AI for simple queries, then share the prompt, output, and decision in a quick note or stand-up for visibility.
• Standardize prompts: Provide templates for role tasks so quality is consistent and faster to review.
• Mandate verification: Require sources, disclaimers, and a human check for anything customer-facing or high impact.
• Red flags: "Feels right" with no source, sensitive data in prompts, hallucinated facts, or advice beyond AI scope.
• Data hygiene: No confidential or personal data in public tools. Use approved, logged platforms.

A simple workflow your team can follow

• Step 1: Ask AI for options, not answers. "Give 3 approaches with pros/cons."
• Step 2: Verify key facts. Link sources. Mark assumptions.
• Step 3: Share a 5-line summary in Slack/Teams: goal, prompt, output, decision, open risk.
• Step 4: Escalate to manager for high-impact or ambiguous calls.

Manager playbook: how to stay in the loop

• Weekly AI stand-up: 15 minutes to review wins, misses, and prompts worth reusing.
• Prompt library: Keep a shared doc of approved prompts by task and role. Update monthly.
• Decision journal: Track high-stakes calls where AI was used, with rationale and outcome.
• Office hours: Short, consistent slots beat "I'm always available." It reduces silent AI-only decisions.

Policy and risk essentials

• Document policy: what tools are approved, data rules, review thresholds, and audit trails.
• Bias checks: For hiring, performance, and customer decisions, require human review and bias prompts.
• Compliance: Align with recognized frameworks like the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and guidance from the UK ICO on AI and data protection.

30-60-90 day rollout

• Days 1-30: Approve tools, publish a one-page AI policy, run a team demo on the workflow, start the prompt library.
• Days 31-60: Add review thresholds, set up weekly AI stand-up, implement decision journal for high-impact work.
• Days 61-90: Audit a sample of AI-assisted work, refine prompts, run a manager training session, and update policy based on findings.

Metrics to watch

• Time-to-answer for common queries.
• Rework rates on AI-assisted tasks.
• Incidents: accuracy issues, data leakage, bias flags.
• Mentorship signals: 1:1 frequency, questions asked, cross-team idea sharing.
• Manager capacity: hours saved vs. time reinvested in coaching.

Skill up your managers

If your managers are part of the 71% without guidance, close the gap now. Give them practical training on prompts, verification, review thresholds, and team workflows.

• AI courses by job role
• Popular AI certifications

Bottom line

Your team will keep asking AI first. Your job is to make sure the second step is better leadership, not silence. Set clear rules, keep visibility high, and turn AI into a force multiplier for judgment, not a replacement for it.