Summer means fun in the sun for employees on vacation, but it also often means more assignments to juggle for their coworkers back at the office. To compound the stress, those returning from time off frequently face a mountain of catch-up work, instantly undoing the good vibes. 

Artificial intelligence can help, according to the management consulting firm Korn Ferry. The firm said some companies have started using AI agents, or custom bots, to lighten the summer scheduling load by handling basic correspondence, scheduling meetings and performing other administrative tasks while employees are on break. 

For employers, that approach also helps them balance their business needs with ensuring that workers get the downtime they need to recharge.

“There is a productivity dip when someone is out, so this is about the team taking the smallest hit by having AI make clear what’s due while someone is out,” Bryan Ackermann, head of AI strategy and transformation for Korn Ferry, told CBS News. “It’s also a huge help when that person returns to dig out from vacation.” 

AI is good at summarizing emails and documents, and the technology can perform that task on behalf of a vacationing manager or even a senior leader. That avoids leaving team members in the lurch while the person is out, Ackermann said. 

“AI can make everything that was on my plate visible to colleagues while I’m gone,” he said. 

For example, Ackermann said that Anthropic’s Claude Cowork, an AI agent the company has designed for “knowledge work,” can synthesize research and prepare documents. 

“Coordinating documents, light email writing and summarizing meeting transcripts when the host is on vacation — this is all within the realm of what AI happens to be good at right now,” Ackermann said. “In their current iteration, these tools provide data insights for teams compensating for me being out.” 

To be sure, firing up an AI agent for the summer months could well fuel employee fears that they may be expendable — especially in some industries where increased corporate investment is leading to layoffs and reduced hiring. 

Meanwhile, using AI in this manner could raise privacy concerns, while for an organization, deploying and using the technology is also costly. 

Mark Beare, head of consumer business at cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes, also notes that employees would need to have confidence that an AI agent responding to coworkers and clients on their behalf can be counted on to act competently and professionally. 

“If you give administrative control to an AI agent while you’re not present, allowing it to do things for you and make decisions, that brings concerns with it,” he said. 

Beare added, “If it does something you ask it to poorly and there’s no human in the loop to correct it, eventually these systems decay.”