AI may be squeezing its way in across benefit design, but the trust we put in the process will decide what works.

We know how much AI and other tech have become part of our everyday workday and lives. But we keep focusing our conversations on productivity gains over anything else. (In fact, we recently wrote about AI investment’s impact on HR.) There’s also a big shift in employee trust around the AI tools employers choose to implement.

Recent data shows us just how embedded AI already is in our work. According to MetLife’s annual U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study (EBTS), eight out of ten employers say AI tools are now part of daily work, and most report improved efficiency. But, as you would expect, that progress comes with a tradeoff. Employees are increasingly unsure what this rapid change means for their roles, their skills, and their long-term stability.

More than half of employees (61%) are concerned about ethical risks, like bias and accountability, while others (59%) worry their jobs could become obsolete faster than new opportunities emerge. Some even feel like they are actively “competing” with AI at work. There’s even been stories of employees having to test themselves against AI.

For employers, this creates a new kind of pressure. How do you manage the ways technology changes your employees’ experience?

Benefits strategy becomes more important.

Traditionally, benefits support health, retirement, and financial security. They are still the pillars of what employers must offer. But now you need to think about the context. The inclusion of AI makes work more complex by requiring employees to constantly learn new systems, adapt to new processes, and become good at auditing AI work.  And it raises expectations given AI’s supposed ROI is increased productivity.

So trust is becoming harder to hold on to. In the same Metlife survey, nearly two-thirds of employers say AI is introducing new friction or mistrust between employees and leadership. This is a big, new issue to think about. Trust is tied to overall workforce stability.

It’s possible for benefits to play a role in closing the trust gap. When designed thoughtfully, benefits can help employees feel more confident in their role and purpose at a company. Beyond healthcare and retirement planning, there’s also mental health support, financial wellness resources, and tools that help employees adapt to working situations. Given the trust gap created by AI, ironically, technology also makes personalized benefits more attainable so support feels more relevant.

Employers are increasingly adopting AI-driven tools to improve benefits delivery and decision making. We’ve seen many already open to using AI to determine benefit recommendations. While this can improve efficiency, it also raises important questions about transparency, accountability, and employee understanding.

But there’s a balance to watch. If employees do not trust how decisions are being made, even well-designed benefits programs can fall short. Fiduciary guidance can help.

There’s compliance and, even more essential, evaluation of whether programs are supporting employees in a more digital environment. Here are some of the questions we recommend you ask:

• Are employees confident in how benefits decisions are made?
• Do offerings reflect the realities of new work?
• Are programs helping to reduce uncertainty or adding to it?

‘Trust the process’ sounds like corporate jargon. But it’s technically what is needed as employers incorporate AI. Ultimately, employers need their teams to believe in, engage with, and stick around for the long-term bets they’re making, benefits included.

Read more from the survey.