---
id: "quote-job-loss-org-chart"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ Professional identity and trust take a hit."]
tags: ["employee-morale", "org-design"]
related: ["claim-identity-erosion"]
speaker: "Study Participant"
speakers: ["Study Participant"]
quote: "If you want people to feel like they will lose their job to AI, or can be easily replaced by AI, then put it on the org chart."
sources: ["agentic"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-agentic"
originDay: 6
articleStem: "hbr-ext-16-dont-treat-agents-like-employees"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/05/research-why-you-shouldnt-treat-ai-agents-like-employees"
sourceTitle: "Research: Why You Shouldn’t Treat AI Agents Like Employees"
---
# Org Charts and Job Security

> "If you want people to feel like they will lose their job to AI, or can be easily replaced by AI, then put it on the org chart."
> — Study Participant

A blunt articulation of [[claim-identity-erosion]]: formally listing an AI agent on the org chart signals **substitution**, not augmentation, heightening job-security fears and eroding trust. It is direct testimony against [[concept-ai-employee-framing]] and supports the enrichment finding that job insecurity mediates AI-related distress (see [[evidence-frontiers-distress]], [[evidence-sciencedirect-depression]]).