Dive Brief:
- Attitudes about “workslop” — meaning low-quality artificial intelligence-generated output — are changing, with 21% of employees reporting that it is somewhat acceptable and overlooked if deadlines are met, and 9% reporting that it is completely acceptable, with speed prioritized over polish, according to research released Feb. 11 from resume templates service Zety.
- As AI tools become more embedded in daily workflows, workslop is more widespread, the report noted. Nonetheless, 39% of employees said it was completely unacceptable and corrected, and 31% said it was somewhat unacceptable but tolerated. Generational differences existed as well, with 53% of workers reporting that younger generations are more tolerant of workslop than older colleagues.
- Time lost is significant, the report said, noting that two-thirds of workers reported spending up to 6 hours or more each week correcting workslop-related errors, resulting in “a new and often invisible burden at work.”
Dive Insight:
The Zety research underscores another recent report from enterprise AI platform Workday, which found that nearly 40% of productivity gains in the workplace due to artificial intelligence were being lost to rework and low-quality output.
Dealing with workslop has become routine for many employees, who are often left to correct AI-generated problems themselves, Zety said. As a result, workers report increased stress (29%), lower morale (25%), reduced productivity (25%) and burnout (21%).
“Workslop creates a layer of invisible labor that rarely shows up in job descriptions or performance reviews,” Jasmine Escalera, career expert for Zety, said in a statement. “Employees are quietly fixing mistakes just to keep work moving, often outside their core responsibilities. Over time, that extra, unrecognized work adds up to exhaustion, frustration, and disengagement.”
As workplaces recalibrate expectations around output and prioritize speed over accuracy, the lower-quality work produced, particularly in fast-paced environments, could also make it “harder to hold teams accountable,” per the report.
When workslop shows up in workers’ inboxes, 49% said they fixed problems themselves rather than escalate or reject the work. This added labor often goes unrecognized, the report said, but as a result, employees say workslop significantly or moderately harms their stress levels, productivity and overall morale.
Companies also risk organizational consequences, including wasted time and lost productivity (36%), the spread of misleading or false information (30%) and damage to a company’s professional or organizational reputation (24%).
