Managers are emerging as essential levers in the AI transition — the people that organizations are counting on to translate AI ambition into everyday work redesign. The research indicates that AI is making the middle manager even more important, and raising the stakes for companies to get their enablement right for the AI era.

The findings align with Salesforce’s investment in what it calls Agentic Managers. In the agentic enterprise, managers don’t just manage people anymore – they redesign how work gets done with AI. “Managers are on the frontlines of our agentic transformation,” said Pallavi Sebastian, Senior Vice President of Agentic Talent Experience at Salesforce. “Investing in managers is an investment in not only our business, but our future – that’s why we’re equipping today’s great managers to become Agentic Managers, ready to lead human and agent teams with confidence.” 

Detailed Findings:

Managers are all-in on AI, and seeing real benefits. 

Two-thirds of managers surveyed are optimistic about AI's role in the future of work, and the productivity gains are already tangible: 77% are saving more than three hours per week with AI tools. The research finds managers are becoming confident practitioners: 73% say they feel equipped to evaluate which tasks to delegate to AI.

Data analysis leads as the top use case, reflecting how deeply leaders rely on AI to reinforce data-driven decision-making. Creative projects and research follow closely — a sign that AI is becoming a lever for upstream strategy and ideation, not just an efficiency tool.

But they feel accountable for their team’s AI adoption and are nervous about keeping up.

For managers, adopting AI themselves isn’t enough. 78% agree or strongly agree that they are personally responsible for ensuring their team successfully adopts these new technologies. 

But 51% also report feeling anxious about keeping up with AI themselves, suggesting that organizations have designated managers as AI adoption leaders without ensuring those leaders have the footing to deliver on that mandate.

Nearly half (48%) of managers feel pressure from leadership to demonstrate AI adoption — not just enable it – even though just 32% work in organizations with formal AI tracking. Managers are being held accountable for outcomes they cannot yet measure or document. 

Managers are motivated; they just want practical support.

When asked what would help most, managers prioritize hands-on training (37%), a clear organizational AI strategy (35%), and IT/technical support (34%). Managers are sold on using AI, now they want the tools to support and enable their own teams. 

Read more: 

• Learn more about Manager Agent and the 50,000 hours it saved for managers
• Find out how you can prepare your workforce for the agentic enterprise
• Learn how emerging talent can help build an AI-ready workforce

Methodology

Data in this report are from a double-anonymous survey conducted from March 10 to March 18, 2026. The survey generated 538 responses from professionals in management roles within the US. Respondents were asked about their use of AI tools, emotional reactions to AI integration, supports needs, and expectations for the future.