You bring in an AI tool to make everyone’s job easier. You expect relief, maybe a little gratitude. Instead you get foot-dragging, polite scepticism, the odd eye-roll, and it’s loudest from your youngest, most digitally fluent staff, the ones you assumed would lead the charge. The easy explanation is that they’re afraid of change. The easy explanation is wrong, and acting on it will cost you.
Start by throwing out the word “Luddite.” Your younger staff aren’t frightened of technology, they live on it. They use AI to write code, plan trips, draft messages and settle arguments. When they push back on it at work, they’re not rejecting the tool. They’re objecting to something specific: how it’s being used, what it costs, or who carries the risk.
