AI professionals praise diversity and work-life balance, criticize senior leadership

A sweeping analysis of employee reviews in the artificial intelligence sector reveals high overall satisfaction with work-life balance, diversity, and career opportunities, but points to persistent dissatisfaction with senior management. The findings come from a longitudinal sentiment study which tracked workplace satisfaction trends across more than 1,500 employee reviews spanning seven years.

Published in Electronics, the study titled “Employee Satisfaction in AI-Driven Workplaces: Longitudinal Sentiment Analysis of Glassdoor Reviews for Future HR Strategy” offers rare insight into how AI-focused employees view their employers over time. It also provides a methodology for mining employee sentiment data to inform human resources policy and organizational strategy in high-tech industries.

Tracking employee sentiment in the AI era

The research team compiled a curated dataset of 1,500 Glassdoor reviews from 126 companies employing AI professionals in nine core roles. Around 70% of the reviews were posted between 2018 and 2025, providing a robust view of workplace perceptions during a period of rapid AI adoption.

To extract meaningful patterns, the authors used a two-pronged approach: numerical star ratings across standard workplace dimensions and textual sentiment analysis of narrative reviews. They processed the text with Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK) preprocessing and TextBlob for polarity scoring, classifying comments as positive, neutral, or negative based on defined thresholds. Subjectivity scores were recorded but not used in the classification labels.

The researchers validated their sentiment analysis by comparing TextBlob results with VADER sentiment scores on a 10% sample, achieving an 88% agreement rate. They also conducted human label verification on 200 reviews, yielding 85% precision and 82% recall, ensuring the robustness of the automated method.

What drives AI employee satisfaction?

The longitudinal analysis revealed consistently high satisfaction levels across the sector. The average overall rating was 4.24 out of 5, with diversity and inclusion topping the list at 4.29. Culture and values scored 4.23, work-life balance 4.21, career opportunities 4.12, and compensation and benefits 4.10. Senior management, however, lagged behind with a 3.94 average.

Sentiment analysis of review narratives reinforced these findings: 80.7% of comments were positive, 15.7% neutral, and just 3.6% negative. Positive reviews often highlighted flexibility, meaningful work, and inclusive cultures. Neutral feedback frequently focused on procedural or structural issues, while negative sentiment concentrated disproportionately on leadership shortcomings and communication gaps.

Statistical testing using ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis methods found no significant year-to-year changes in satisfaction scores. This suggests that despite fluctuations in market conditions, technological disruption, and public debates over AI ethics, AI sector employees have maintained a stable, largely favorable view of their workplaces.

Implications for future HR strategy

The authors argue that their methodology can serve as a model for organizations seeking to track and respond to employee sentiment over time, particularly in rapidly evolving industries like AI. By pairing quantitative ratings with qualitative text analysis, employers can pinpoint strengths and weaknesses more precisely than relying on either metric alone.

For companies in the AI sector, the findings carry a clear message: investments in diversity, inclusion, and work-life balance are paying off in employee satisfaction. However, leadership effectiveness remains a vulnerable area. The lower scores for senior management point to potential issues in strategic alignment, decision-making transparency, or employee engagement from the top down.

The stability of sentiment over the seven-year review window also suggests that once a company establishes a positive workplace culture, it can withstand external shocks such as market volatility or shifts in public perception of AI. This resilience may be a competitive advantage in retaining top talent, especially as demand for AI professionals continues to outpace supply.

For HR leaders, the study shows the importance of continuous sentiment monitoring. The authors note that periodic, data-driven evaluations allow organizations to detect subtle shifts in employee perceptions before they escalate into turnover or disengagement. They recommend integrating such analyses into broader HR dashboards, alongside recruitment, retention, and performance metrics.