'Employees' biggest AI fear is also its clearest benefit'

The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in workplaces is delivering hourly employees more time to work instead of costing them hours, according to a new report from Legion.

Its 2026 State of the North American Hourly Workforce report revealed that employees' biggest AI concern is also the "clearest benefit" that they can get from the technology.

Nearly three in four (72%) hourly workers in the survey reported concerns that AI will reduce their hours or shifts at work.

But the report found that AI-driven scheduling is the clearest way to close the gap for 35% of employees who feel they don't get enough hours at work.

"Employees' biggest AI fear is also its clearest benefit," the report read.

"The same AI capabilities that raise scheduling concerns are exactly those that can automatically match an employee's skills, availability, and preferences to open shifts, helping them receive more of the hours they actually want."

Benefits for managers

Even among managers, where 11% are concerned that AI will replace them, the report found that AI has led to a meaningful drop in time spent on administrative work, such as scheduling and attendance.

As a result, 39% of managers said they plan to reinvest the free time to coaching and developing their team. Their other plans include:

• Focusing on team performance and productivity, not just coverage (24%)
• Interacting with customers (22%)
• Take the time off (11%)

"For years, employers have been working to give hourly employees greater flexibility while also improving workforce performance. This research shows we're making progress with modern technology to help them accomplish," said Sanish Mondkar, Founder and CEO of Legion Technologies.

"AI can manage the complexity of delivering flexibility at scale by matching employee preferences and availability with business demand."

What's next?

Meanwhile, the report stressed that the next step for organisations is to combine automation with "explainability and human accountability."

"The goal is to automate more of the checking, matching, correcting, and routine execution around those decisions while giving managers the information they need to understand, verify, and ultimately own the outcome," the report read.

"That combination can give employees more control and managers more time for work that requires judgement."