Successful AI rollouts could redirect 1.7bn working hours into higher value work each year – survey
A survey of organisations employing more than 1,000 people in the UK and Ireland has found that successful rollout of artificial intelligence tools could redirect the equivalent of 1.7 billion working hours annually into higher-value work – representing around £40 billion in economic value.
The study by payroll and workforce management software provider Zellis surveyed more than 1,250 leaders and employees in organisations. The aim was to assess not just whether AI is being adopted, but how it is being experienced.
The research reveals a clear disconnect between leadership strategy and employee reality.
While 94% of business leaders say their organisation already uses or interacts with AI tools, only 62% of employees report using AI as part of their role.
Regular usage is even more uneven: 52% of leaders say AI is used regularly, compared with just 22% of employees who say they use it consistently in their day-to-day work.
Despite this gap, both sides agree that better alignment would pay off. Three-quarters (75%) of leaders and employees believe productivity would improve if AI use was more effectively aligned across their organisation.
On average, respondents estimate that 8% of working time could be redirected to higher-value activity if AI tools better supported real workflows.
Employees are broadly positive about AI when it removes administrative burden. Around 70% believed AI should lead tasks such as entering or checking data and analysing reports.
However, support drops sharply when AI moves into people-related decisions. Only 8% of employees believe AI should decide promotions or pay rises, and just 19% think it should lead recruitment shortlisting.
The findings suggest that employees are comfortable with AI as an efficiency tool but remain cautious about delegating human judgement in career-impacting areas.
Although employees who use AI report tangible benefits – including improved productivity (62%) and better quality of work (59%) – many feel excluded from decision-making around its deployment.
Only 40% of employees who use AI say they felt involved in decisions about how it is used, despite 63% of leaders believing they involve staff in those conversations.
Just 45% of employees expressed confidence that senior leaders knew how to use AI effectively.
The perception gap has cultural implications. Around 40% of employees said they were more likely to stay with an employer that uses AI transparently, while 42% said transparency improves trust in leadership.
AI is also rapidly becoming a baseline expectation. Almost half (47%) of leaders say advanced digital and AI skills will be required in their organisation within the next year, rising to 77% within two years.
Meanwhile, 63% of employees expect their employer to provide AI tools within the next two years to help them work more effectively.
“AI doesn’t fail because the technology isn’t ready – it fails when people aren’t,” Steve Elcock, director of product – AI at Zellis, said. “When organisations treat AI as something done to employees rather than with them, value is lost.”
Beyond productivity gains, leaders believe better AI alignment would reduce stress (73%), improve morale (73%) and strengthen trust between employees and leadership (71%).
Patryk Goron
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