91% of employers surveyed for Littler’s 2026 Labor Survey Report have a labor relations strategy, yet only 29% of those have reviewed and updated that strategy since the start of 2025. The report is based on a survey of business executives, HR professionals and in-house lawyers from a variety of industries with U.S.-based operations. It examines how labor relations are shaped by AI, leadership communication and interest in union organizing.

“In today’s labor environment, preparedness is a competitive advantage,” says Brooke Niedecken, co-chair of Littler’s Labor Management Relations Practice Group. “Employers that invest in proactive planning for union activity and workforce disruption move from reacting under pressure to leading with confidence, protecting both operations and long-term business objectives.”

Labor Relations

When asked about the components of their companies’ labor relations strategy, respondents most often cited employee engagement (80%), legal compliance (79%) and manager/supervisor training (74%).

“However, less than half are focused on other important aspects of labor relations management, such as business and operational changes that carry workforce impacts (47%) and communications and media strategy (42%). Only 32% of respondents cite AI strategy as a component,” according to the report.

Employee engagement was the most commonly cited component of labor relations strategies. The following are the top three areas respondents’ companies have concentrated on improving employee engagement over the last year:

• “Providing forums for employees to share feedback/have their voices heard” (64%).
• “Workplace culture initiatives and social events” (62%).
• “Training managers to spot and respond to employee feedback/concerns” (61%).

Despite the emphasis on employee engagement and efforts for companies to improve it, “only 29% are analyzing metrics to assess the effectiveness of those programs, potentially making it harder to determine whether engagement efforts are working,” states the report.

For companies that have some unionized employees, 85% say they have a collective bargaining strategy as part of their labor relations strategy, but only 37% report having contingency plans for strikes or work stoppages.

Maintaining union-free operations among nonunion employees was more likely to be reported by respondents from large organizations (70%) and respondents from industries with prominent union activity, such as manufacturing (78%), retail and hospitality (70%) and healthcare (69%).

Unionization Interest

Beyond compensation and benefits, respondents believe work-life balance and flexible schedules (52%), job security (48%) and paid time off and leave policies (44%) will likely drive interest in unionization among employees.

58% of respondents think unions are likely to use concerns about AI displacing or changing jobs to drive interest in union organizing to either a moderate or large extent. Only 13% do not expect unions to use those concerns at all.

Among employers with unionized employees who have discussed AI during union discussions or bargaining negotiations, the most prevalent issues concerning AI are job displacement or reduction concerns (58%) and changes to job responsibilities or productivity expectations (56%).

AI

Beyond its role in unionization efforts, AI has the potential affect the workforce in other ways. 67% of respondents say AI-related reshaping of job responsibilities is impacting or could impact their organization’s workforce structure. 42% say AI could redistribute work across teams, and 30% say AI could reduce entry-level roles.

Despite AI’s anticipated effects on labor relations, only 9% of respondents say their organizations are very prepared to deal with employee relations issues due to AI. 20% say their organizations are not prepared at all.

The survey also examined how organizational leaders communicate with workers concerned about increasing adoption of AI. Only 17% say “We are proactively and consistently communicating with employees about how AI may affect their roles.” Other responses included:

• “We are communicating with employees about how AI may affect their roles, but in an episodic manner” (29%).
• “We are reactively addressing AI-related concerns as they arise” (32%).
• “We are aware of employee concerns but have not taken formal steps to address them” (22%).

“Some employers treat AI as an IT project when it’s really a workplace change project. That’s a mistake,” says Jonathan Levine, co-chair of Littler’s Labor Management Relations Practice Group. “Companies that get ahead of the ‘how will this affect my job and future’ concerns from employees can reduce labor relations risk and give their workforces a reason to help drive the technology forward rather than organize against it.”

Communication

The top three factors respondents cited as affecting the relationship between leadership and employees were economic pressures (64%), employee burnout or workload concerns (56%) and inconsistent or inadequate communication from leadership (51%).

Only 28% say there is a strong relationship between frontline leaders/managers and employees, and just 16% say the same for senior leadership.

The survey also asked whether organizations tailor communications to the preferences of employees from different generations. 31% of respondents say their organization does this to a small extent, while 14% say they do not tailor their approach at all.

“Creating a workplace where employees across generations are effectively communicated to and with is critical to enhancing overall employee engagement and retention efforts,” says Brendan Fitzgerald, co-chair of Littler’s Labor Management Relations Practice Group. “A strong multigenerational communications strategy should be a holistic effort that creates structures where all employees feel their voices are meaningfully heard.”