Korn Ferry says some companies are using AI agents to handle basic email, scheduling, and document work while employees are on vacation—reducing the productivity dip when someone is out. But cybersecurity leaders warn that turning over administrative control w
Summer is when the calendar starts to feel lighter—right up until the first out-of-office reply arrives and the inboxes around it get heavier. For many employees, vacation doesn’t end when they leave. It shifts to whoever has to catch up the moment they return.
Korn Ferry says artificial intelligence is increasingly being pulled into that gap. The management consulting firm points to companies that have started using AI agents—custom bots designed to handle basic correspondence. scheduling meetings. and other administrative tasks while employees are on break.
“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 Ackerman. head of AI strategy and transformation for Korn Ferry. told CBS News. Ackerman also frames the benefit for the return itself: “It’s also a huge help when that person returns to dig out from vacation.”.
AI. in this setup. takes on work that often piles up fast: summarizing emails and documents and turning scattered updates into something colleagues can act on. Ackerman said it can perform those tasks on behalf of a vacationing manager—or even a senior leader—so other team members aren’t left trying to infer what’s urgent.
“AI can make everything that was on my plate visible to colleagues while I’m gone,” Ackerman said.
He offered an example from Anthropic: Claude Cowork. an AI agent the company has designed for “knowledge work.” Ackerman said it can synthesize research and prepare documents. He added that coordinating documents. light email writing. and summarizing meeting transcripts when the host is on vacation are tasks “within the realm of what AI happens to be good at right now.”.
“In their current iteration, these tools provide data insights for teams compensating for me being out,” Ackerman said.
The pitch is clear: keep the team’s workload from swelling during time off, and give workers a smoother landing when they’re back. For employers, Korn Ferry argues, it’s also a way to balance business needs with the downtime employees need to recharge.
But the decision to delegate even routine tasks to an agent comes with a different kind of risk—one that doesn’t show up on a schedule. Ackerman’s approach still runs into fear that many workers already carry during periods of aggressive corporate change. especially in industries where increased investment is being paired with layoffs and reduced hiring.
Then there’s the other side of the equation: privacy and cost. The technology may protect time, but deploying and using it can be expensive, and it can create privacy concerns.
Mark Beare, head of consumer business at cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes, says confidence matters just as much as capability. Employees would need to trust that an AI agent responding to coworkers and clients on their behalf can 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. ” Beare said. He added that when there’s no human in the loop to correct mistakes. problems don’t always stay small: “If it does something you ask it to poorly and there’s no human in the loop to correct it. eventually these systems decay.”.
That tension—between the relief of not drowning in catch-up work and the reality of what happens when decisions are automated—may decide whether “AI vacation coverage” becomes a practical tool or something employees hesitate to rely on.
AI agents vacation productivity Korn Ferry Claude Cowork Anthropic scheduling bots email summarization cybersecurity Malwarebytes privacy human in the loop