HR Technology’s Impact on the Workforce 

Artificial Intelligence has been billed as the biggest workplace disruptor of our era—promising to turbocharge efficiency and redefine how we work. Yet, despite vendors racing to embed AI into every corner of their platforms, HR professionals report record levels of disappointment in their technology stacks. Employee experience still leaves much to be desired, and the productivity gains leadership has been banking on simply aren’t materializing.

In this year’s HR Technology’s Impact on the Workforce study, we set out to understand how real people—your employees—feel about the technology handed to them. Drawing on primary research across more than 8,500 workers and a dozen industries around the globe, we examined sentiments past the boardroom buzz, on the front lines of the day-to-day workplace.

• Unlike most past innovations, where fear of the unknown peaked and then eased as workers learned the ropes, AI’s curve is inverted: the more people use it and grasp its capabilities, the more anxious they become about their future. It’s natural to feel panic when headlines on AI obsess over jobs disappearing—but leaders can help ease that fear by reminding workers that while roles may vanish, the need for skilled, creative people never will.
  
  
• Case in point: In the UAE, nearly 85% of workers have used AI to help with their work, yet 44% are hesitant to try new work tech because they’re worried it will take over or alter their role. At the same time, in regions like Europe where AI usage is lower, less than 1 in 10 workers are concerned about tech’s impact on their job. 

• AI is cutting out the first rung of the ladder (entry-level roles) while hollowing out the middle at the same time, transforming career progression from straightforward to muddled and messy. Unfortunately, the ones that are the most likely to be affected are the ones least concerned about the impact. While those working in tech or leadership roles can see the potential for job displacement, few workers who will experience it are privy to those insights, leaving them vulnerable to job disruption.
  
  
• Why does this matter? Allowing everyday workers to remain in the dark when it comes to the impacts of AI means trust is shattered when it comes time to change or eliminate jobs. But just like innovations of the past, more jobs are predicted to be created than displaced by AI, which means organizations need these workers, and they need their trust. When we obsess over “job loss,” we overlook the real opportunity—and necessity—for work redesign. It’s not just about replacing roles; it’s about rethinking tasks, reshaping jobs, and crafting new pathways for people to grow.

• AI is forcing most organizations to reprioritize upskilling and reskilling efforts. But simply deploying a talent marketplace or learning technology won’t magically lead to an upskilled workforce. Without cultural prerequisites like fair pay and managers who support employee development, reskilling efforts stall. 
  
  
• Employees who believe they’re fairly paid are 1.8X as likely to spend more than 15% of their time learning new skills for work, compared to those who feel they’re not fairly compensated. If reskilling is a priority for your organization, start by examining pay equity to set a solid foundation for trust and motivation.

• Employee trust in immediate managers remains higher than in the C-suite—but managers themselves are often hamstrung by a lack of clear direction on AI strategy and what it means for their workers. But even the executive team isn’t really talking about the impacts of AI: Only 1 in 4 CEOs are speaking about its impacts to the business, and less than 20% are talking about how it will change roles, according to workers. This leadership vacuum is intensifying the fear among employees, distracting them from the real task at hand, which is how to unlock those elusive productivity gains so the organization can do more and achieve more.

• Employees need to be part of the AI conversation, not excluded from it, which makes leadership in this moment more critical than ever. No leader will have all the answers, and that’s okay. But addressing fears through honest dialogue is exactly what this moment calls for. Not talking about AI or pretending it’s a future problem poses a far greater risk than admitting you don’t know everything. 
  
  
• The evidence: In Singapore, the government isn’t just focused on upskilling itself; it’s working to upskill the entire nation, offering free access to high-quality training and development opportunities. The result? Employees use AI at work at a higher rate than most other nations, but their fear about tech taking their jobs is relatively low. Helping workers understand they’ll be supported, regardless of what lies ahead, is the key to creating a workforce that’s resilient and ready for whatever comes next.

At its core, this isn’t a technology problem—it’s a trust problem. You can’t “fix” fear with a software upgrade. Software alone won’t reassure employees who wonder whether they’ll still have a role next quarter, nor will it equip managers to field tough questions about AI’s impact. True confidence is earned through leadership that offers transparent communication, empowers frontline leaders, and builds a culture that pairs upskilling with fair pay and genuine belonging.

The workplace remains one of the last bastions of human trust—and AI threatens to break it, not because of the algorithms, but because of our failure to lead. If leaders stay silent, they yield the narrative to fear. But by stepping into the void—with clarity of purpose, a commitment to resilience and a refusal to treat change as an obstacle—they can turn AI disruption into an unprecedented growth opportunity for their people.