Employee Discomfort with AI in Payroll Is Rising, PayrollOrg Survey Finds
A PayrollOrg survey of 11,000+ workers finds 46% uneasy about AI in payroll — up from 39% in 2024 — with only 25% comfortable. Payroll still lags the broader business in AI adoption.
Key facts
- 46% of respondents are uncomfortable with AI in payroll (22% very, 24% somewhat); only 25% are comfortable.
- Discomfort rose from 39% in 2024 to 46% in 2026.
- The PayrollOrg survey drew 11,171 respondents nationwide; 9,451 answered the AI-comfort question.
- Quoted: Dan Maddux (Executive Director, PayrollOrg) and Patrick Tripp (Senior Director, Product Marketing, UKG).
- PayrollOrg framed the gap as an opportunity for payroll leaders to build trust and explain how AI supports — not replaces — payroll.
Employee discomfort with the use of artificial intelligence in payroll is growing, according to a new survey from PayrollOrg. Announced from San Antonio on September 22, 2026, the survey found that 46% of respondents are uncomfortable with AI in payroll processes — 22% "very uncomfortable" and 24% "somewhat uncomfortable" — while just 25% said they are comfortable.
The unease has increased since 2024, when 39% expressed discomfort. The survey drew 11,171 respondents nationwide, of whom 9,451 answered the question about their comfort with AI.
"As AI becomes more integrated into the workplace, payroll leaders have an opportunity to help employees understand how the technology is being used and how it can support payroll processes," said Dan Maddux, executive director of PayrollOrg.
"When it comes to AI, payroll is at an inflection point, still largely in evaluation and pilot mode while the rest of the business moves from experimentation to transformation," said Patrick Tripp, senior director of product marketing at UKG.
The findings point to a trust gap that payroll and HR technology vendors will need to close through human oversight and transparent communication as they roll out AI-driven and agentic features.
Source: [PR Newswire](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/survey-finds-employee-caution-around-ai-in-payroll-persists-302884225.html) / PayrollOrg.
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Payroll is uniquely trust-sensitive — mistakes hit people's paychecks — so employee wariness is a real adoption barrier just as vendors race to ship AI and agentic payroll features (UKG, ADP and others launched such tools in 2026). The survey quantifies a widening gap: sentiment moved the wrong way since 2024 even as the rest of the business embraces AI. For HR and payroll buyers, it signals that AI rollouts in payroll will hinge on transparency, human oversight and change management rather than features alone.
