How AI Agents Are Making Remote Work More Cohesive

Sometimes, remote work is inevitable. At my company, Jotform, our employees generally work from one of our six global offices. But even though I’m a big advocate of in-person collaboration, there are times when it’s simply not possible. Maybe your car is in the shop, or you have a sick kid you need to stay home with. The fact is, it’s just not practical to be in the office 100% of the time.

Part of the reason I prefer our employees to work IRL is the challenges that being remote presents — communication gaps, lack of visibility and decreased engagement can all erode productivity.

While I’ll probably always want Jotform’s teams to be primarily on-site, AI agents are playing an important role in filling the gaps, ironically, by making remote work more human. If you have a remote or hybrid workforce, even if only occasionally, here are four ways agentic AI is helping build strong, engaged teams, wherever they are.

Related: AI Isn’t Just Changing How We Work — It’s Changing How We Learn

Strengthened communication

As AI enters the office, there’s widespread concern that it might make the workplace feel more robotic. But in reality, it’s actually helping with team cohesion by eliminating the misunderstandings and friction points that often arise as a result of imperfect communication.

Tools like Slack and Google Workspace have paved the way for smoother interactions between remote teams, but now, agents are raising the bar even higher. Tedious tasks like scheduling meetings, generating summaries, conducting research and data analysis are just some of the time-consuming jobs agents can take off the plates of busy humans. This not only frees them up to focus on more strategic work, but it also reduces the likelihood of errors.

Given that 41% of employees cite overload as a major cause of stress at work, it makes sense that relief from busywork will result in a less frazzled, less overwhelmed workforce less prone to firing off a vague or confusing message or snapping at an equally stressed colleague. And for those with teams working across continents, agents can easily translate conversations into different languages, ensuring that meanings are not lost.

Enhanced collaboration

Collaboration is the lifeblood of any organization, and in my opinion, technology can never replicate the magic that happens when teams are in the same room together, feeding off each other’s energy to come up with new and innovative ideas. But even remotely, agents are amazing tools for making those brainstorming sessions more personal and effective.

For example, agent-powered project management tools like Asana or Trello help teams prioritize tasks, set deadlines and adjust workflows. They can also filter and flag certain notifications, ensuring you’re not getting bombarded by needless alerts during, say, a crucial pitch or presentation. And when it comes to collaboration, agents are certainly a cut above a stuffy room reeking of marker ink — not only can teams work together on a virtual canvas, AI agents can capture and organize ideas, allowing teams to focus on brainstorming The Next Big Thing. Good collaboration is also highly dependent on good communication, and agents like Jasper.AI ensure messaging consistency across everything from draft strategies to internal memos.

Increased employee engagement and well-being

A lot of lip service has been paid to the importance of employee engagement — after all, satisfied workers produce higher quality work, are more productive and boost an organization’s profits. Even so, monitoring employee well-being is not always prioritized in a busy workplace (though it should be).

Agents can help track employee stress levels by analyzing factors like response times, workload distribution and work hours. If an employee seems to be sending frantic Slack messages at all hours of the day and night, an agent can prompt managers to intervene.

And while few of us want direct emotional support from an AI agent, they can provide valuable guidance for HR managers. At Microsoft, an escalation management dashboard can assess the urgency of employee requests using sentiment analysis, even if the employee didn’t mark a request as “urgent” themselves. This autonomous analysis helps prioritize requests that should be addressed, well before they become true escalations.

Related: How I Scaled from Side Hustle to 7 Figures Using 4 AI Tools (No Tech Skills Needed)

Less subjective performance evaluations

Performance evaluations are a fraught undertaking, especially for remote teams. Managers have to rely on periodic check-ins and subjective evaluations, a task made even more difficult for a direct report they may rarely — if ever — see in person.

Agents take much of the guesswork out of these interactions by offering real-time insights into productivity, task completion rates and overall engagement, creating a holistic, fact-based analysis that relies on data rather than a gut feeling. The result is a more objective, transparent feedback system that increases productivity and cuts down on subjectivity (and resentment). What’s more, the unlimited bandwidth of agents means feedback can be offered continuously throughout the year, curbing the need for the dreaded annual review.

It may seem counterintuitive that AI can strengthen personal connections. But by picking up on trends and patterns that busy humans may overlook, these tools can help bridge the space that remote work creates, ensuring teams stay productive and engaged, no matter where they’re based.