Workslop is the new busywork. And it’s costing millions.
Research from BetterUp Labs and Stanford Social Media Lab uncovers how AI-generated “slop” masquerades as productivity.
Workslop is AI-generated content that looks good, but lacks substance.
It creates the illusion of progress – slick slides, lengthy reports, overly tightened summaries, or code without context.
Rather than saving time, it leaves colleagues to do the real thinking and clean-up.
The Hidden Costs of Workslop
40%
Percentage of U.S. desk workers who received workslop last month.
2 hrs
Average time it takes to resolve each incident.
$186
Monthly cost per employee caused by these incidents.
$9M
Annual cost for a 10,000-person company.
* Insights are based on an online survey of 1,150 full-time U.S. desk workers conducted in September 2025 by BetterUp in partnership with the Stanford Social Media Lab.
Workslop spreads when AI becomes a crutch instead of a tool for collaboration.
Individuals: feel frustrated, confused and disengaged.
Teams: waste cycles, duplicate efforts, and lose trust.
Organizations: lose time, are misled by false productivity and experience stalled AI adoption.
Receiving workslop negatively impacts our relationships and changes perceptions of colleagues.
How did receiving this work change your perception of your colleague?
"Receiving this poor quality work created a huge time waste and inconvenience for me. Since it was provided by my supervisor, I felt uncomfortable confronting her about its poor quality and requesting she redo it. So instead, I had to take on effort to do something that should have been her responsibility, which got in the way of my other ongoing projects.”
Workslop spreads when AI work loses context and accountability.
Our research shows that leaders can curb it by setting clear guardrails, modeling thoughtful AI use, and cultivating “pilot” mindsets that use AI to enhance collaboration rather than avoid work.
BetterUp’s Human Transformation Platform turns AI investments into real performance gains - embedding development into daily workflows, scaling the mindsets and skills that fuel sustained growth.
Help scientists at Stanford University and BetterUp understand how AI is affecting modern work. Add your voice to the largest study on workslop and help us uncover what’s really happening.
