Eighty-five per cent of employees are saving one to seven hours a week using artificial intelligence (AI) tools, but organisations often fail to translate time savings into real business value, new data shows.
Only 14% of employees said they consistently get clear, positive outcomes from AI use, according to a global report from Workday. This productivity paradox means that organisations need to shift focus from technology investment to investing in workforces to harness the capabilities of those tools.
The report, Beyond Productivity: Measuring the Real Value of AI, surveyed more than 3,000 employees (half in leadership roles) in Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North America in November.
“AI increases speed — but nearly 40% of value is lost to rework and misalignment,” the report summary said. “Instead of freeing people to focus on higher-impact work, much of the reclaimed time is being spent correcting low-quality AI output and aligning conflicting guidance.”
For organisations looking to capture real ROI, time-saving gains come from investing in the people — skills, roles, and decision-making — as much as the technology, the report said. But training the people who need it most is at best inconsistent. While 66% of leaders cite skills training as a top priority, only 37% of employees facing the most rework say they’re getting trained.
“Leaders recognise the need to reinvest AI gains into people — four in five leaders say reinvesting AI gains into workforce development is crucial,” the report summary said. “Yet organisations direct a larger share of AI cost savings to technology (39%) than to the workforce (30%), while AI time savings are more often absorbed by increased work volume (31%) than employee development and upskilling (26%).”
At the same time, job demands are failing to adapt to the way AI is changing business. Less than half of job roles have been updated to reflect AI capabilities. “Employees are using 2025 tools inside 2015 job structures, and they’re left to reconcile faster output with unchanged expectations around accuracy, judgement, and risk,” the report summary said.
The report summary recommends three actions organisations can take to optimise AI functions and create sustainable value from those tools:
Measure productivity by outcomes, not hours saved. “Hours saved hide the true cost of rework. Track quality, accuracy, and decision speed alongside time savings,” the summary said.
Ensure job roles are compatible with AI. Redesign roles for AI — don’t bolt AI onto job structures, the summary said. Organisations can do this by clarifying when AI assists, when humans decide, and how success is measured.
Reinvest time saved in people. Use saved time for activities that improve collaboration, learning, and strategic thinking — not just increased task volume. “Companies should train managers to recognise high-friction points and authorise employees to reinvest time in connection and problem-solving,” the report summary said.
— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Steph Brown at Stephanie.Brown@aicpa-cima.com.