Artificial intelligence promised to be a productivity game-changer, but for many, it’s adding new layers of pressure to an already strained workforce. While the hype suggests AI will streamline work and reduce workloads, new research from within the agency sector reveals a different story: it’s creating hidden tasks and fuelling burnout.
According to a recent report, one in five UK agency workers say AI has actually increased their workload. The promise of efficiency is often mistaken for reality, leading clients to assume campaigns can be delivered faster and cheaper. This perception puts extra pressure on teams, who are dealing with a new set of hidden costs and time sinks.
Instead of simply hitting a button and getting perfect results, teams are spending more time on AI-related tasks. This includes building detailed briefs to get usable outputs from the tools, and meticulously fixing errors and ‘hallucinations’ in the generated content. In many cases, these fixes take longer than doing the work from scratch. Teams are also managing client expectations, conducting privacy checks, and explaining the limitations of the technology. All this extra work is often invisible to both clients and management, leading to unrealistic deadlines and uncompensated effort.
Perception vs Reality
This disconnect between client expectations and the reality of AI’s implementation is a major source of stress. Sean Begg Flint, Founder of agency Position Digital, notes that clients often ask if delivery times should be cut in half or if fees should shrink simply because an algorithm is involved. This mindset, he argues, shows how far expectations have drifted from reality.
“If agencies keep absorbing that pressure, it’s not just teams that suffer, client relationships and business models start to break down too,” Begg Flint explains.
Simon Tokic, Co-Founder of Mind Methods, shares a recent experience where a client became fixated on whether the work was “AI-generated” despite the agency delivering beyond the scope of work. He notes that the problem wasn’t the technology, but “perception, expectation and boundaries.”
Redefining Your Value
These pressures are piling onto existing problems in many workplaces. Demanding clients and unrealistic deadlines were already major drivers of burnout, with one report finding nearly half of burnt-out workers cite demanding clients as the cause.
So how can leaders address the issue? The solution lies in how a business positions itself. Instead of selling a tool, leaders must focus on selling the result. Agencies that offer commoditised services, such as simple SEO or design, are vulnerable to client pressure to deliver faster and cheaper. In contrast, firms that position themselves as experts solving complex business problems can use AI to become more efficient without eroding their value.
Another key solution is gaining visibility into the work itself. Leaders must build clear, ‘iron-clad’ scopes and track where new, hidden AI-related work is landing. Without a clear view of capacity and workload, these tasks go untracked, workloads spiral, and AI risks fuelling the very burnout it was supposed to help solve.