How to tackle Technostress and growing AI anxiety

By Neal Riley, Innovation Lead at Adaptavist

Digital transformation, supercharged by AI, has promised better productivity, smarter workflows, and faster career progression. PwC’s 2025 Global AI Jobs Barometer reveals AI is making workers more valuable, boosting wage premiums, and increasing job numbers even in roles considered automatable. But Adaptavist’s recent report, ‘The human cost of digital transformation,’ exposes a parallel reality: technology is becoming a source of stress, anxiety, and workplace friction. “Technostress,” the overwhelm from constant connectivity, notifications, and tool overload, leaves nearly half of workers (43 per cent) feeling stressed and anxious. And as AI becomes more embedded in daily work, that anxiety is intertwined with another pressure – the fear of being replaced.

This stress can trigger a cascade of self-preservation behaviours that fracture teams and undermine the collaboration these tools often promise to improve. Anxious about their relevance in an AI-driven world, workers are hoarding skills and knowledge rather than sharing them; 38 per cent say they’re reluctant to train colleagues in areas they consider their strengths. Technostress starts to turn collaborative workplaces into siloed ones.

Yet, the data reveals the problem isn’t AI or the technology itself, but how organisations implement it. Clarity, training, and a supportive culture around both can begin to calm this growing tide.

What’s causing technostress and AI anxiety?

Workers are drowning in digital demands. Over a quarter (27 per cent) regularly feel overwhelmed, and this pressure doesn’t stop at the office door; nearly one in five feel compelled to stay connected outside working hours. The result is an always-on culture that blurs work–life boundaries.

But digital overload is only half the problem; the other half is insufficient training. A fifth of knowledge workers say a lack of guidance on new tools heightens their stress, forcing them to navigate unfamiliar platforms through trial and error. Notably, when asked what employers should prioritise, 43 per cent of workers cite “more training,” “technical support,” or “training resources” as the top three actions.

When workers lack the training and support to feel confident with new tools, AI anxiety intensifies. Since 2022, entry-level positions, graduate roles, internships, and junior jobs have declined by 32 per cent, a real shift in the job market. However, this concern isn’t limited to younger workers; the research found that the same fears still impact over a quarter (26 per cent) of workers aged 55 and above. The anxiety surrounding AI and job losses transcends generations.

These causes don’t exist in isolation. Digital overload without proper training creates stress. Anxiety and stress then trigger self-preservation. Each cause amplifies the others, creating a cycle of disengagement.

The cost of technostress and AI anxiety

The impacts of technostress, driven by insufficient training, poor tool implementation, and rising AI anxiety, are creating a work environment where collaboration breaks down, employees hoard knowledge, and workers retreat into self-protection mode.

Over a third of employees (35 per cent) are actively protecting their job security by hoarding knowledge. Younger workers feel this pressure most, with 40 per cent of Gen Z experiencing AI-driven job insecurity. The impact extends across the organisation: three in five worry that critical knowledge will disappear when a colleague leaves.

This fragmentation undermines collaboration, teams become siloed, and institutional knowledge is lost. According to team data from the ITDA (UK), 88 per cent of respondents say poor team cohesion hurts productivity, and workers lose, on average, seven hours a week, a full working day, dealing with the fallout. Gallup’s findings echo the wider impact, estimating that declining engagement in 2024 may have cost the global economy up to $438 billion.

Overwhelmed workers are also more likely to disengage, underperform, or seek new opportunities: 23 per cent of knowledge workers looked for a new job in the past year, 12 per cent took sick leave due to technology-related stress, and 5 per cent quit entirely. With over a billion knowledge workers globally (Gartner), unchecked technostress could drive 50 million resignations and 120 million job searches annually.

This isn’t just a business problem; it’s also a health one. A recent study found that technostress is associated with measurable biological stress markers. Participants showed increases in burnout symptoms like emotional exhaustion and disrupted sleep patterns, along with changes in cortisol levels over time. Technostress can alter how workers’ bodies respond to stress, with long-term health implications that extend far beyond the workday.

Practical steps: reduce AI anxiety and build a culture of technojoy

The research shows that the impact of technostress and AI anxiety depends heavily on workplace culture, training, and how well AI is embedded into daily work. When employees feel supported, confident, and energised by their environment, technology becomes a source of motivation, not stress. In positive AI cultures, workers report better collaboration, higher engagement, and stronger career progression.

Build an open, supportive, feedback-focused culture

Employees value support and empowerment; nearly half (48%) say “a culture where people feel comfortable asking for help” is a top priority. Involving employees in decisions around AI adoption, workflow design, and experimentation builds confidence, ownership, and trust, turning potentially stressful technology into an enabler.

Engagement is another area where good AI implementation makes a measurable difference. Only 3 per cent of employees in companies with a positive AI culture feel frustrated or disconnected, compared with 14 per cent in environments where AI has been poorly embedded. When organisations build a positive work culture, employees feel far more connected to their jobs and teams.

Invest in training, resources, and capability

Confidence comes from capability. Structured onboarding, refresher sessions, and accessible support channels help employees master AI tools, reducing stress and boosting satisfaction. When workers feel capable of using technology, the tools become empowering rather than overwhelming.

Use AI intentionally to turn anxiety into satisfaction

When AI is implemented in a structured, thoughtful way, it reduces anxiety about job security, encourages experimentation, and helps employees genuinely benefit from automation. Used intentionally to, for example, surface the right information at the right moment, AI streamlines decisions, strengthens team alignment, and makes knowledge accessible to everyone who needs it. The result is a measurable lift in productivity and quality of work life.

But this only works when AI is embedded into workflows in a way that serves people, not the other way around. Technology rollouts rarely fail because of the software; they fail because of poor change management. The organisations that avoid disengagement prioritise the humans behind the tools.

Digital transformation doesn’t have to come at the cost of employee well-being. By embedding technology and AI thoughtfully and supporting the people who use it, companies can start to combat technostress and AI anxiety.