Growth in 2026 won’t happen without businesses prioritizing worker trust and skills

Employees are excited about AI – and they are already seeing the productivity benefits.

However, there’s a disconnect between this employee excitement and their employers seeing tangible business growth from AI investments.

According to the latest data from HR tech company Workday, 85% of employees saved up to seven hours a week from AI use.

However, nearly 40% of that productivity is being offset by fixing, rewriting or double checking AI’s work.

Workday’s survey of 3,200 individuals globally found that just 14% were seeing net productivity outcomes from AI use.

This is confirmed by research from Randstad – the HR giant’s survey of 27,000 people and 1,200 organizations worldwide found that while 96% of employers forecast growth in 2026, just 51% of workers agree.

This is a warning sign from enterprise frontlines.

Randstad’s report warns that “the 2026 business agenda for growth is marked by a critical disconnect”; CEO Sander van’t Noordende added: “Only when businesses and talent are on the same page can true growth be unlocked.”

The data shows organizations talk the talk about wanting AI to benefit employees; they are not walking the walk.

Workday’s data found that companies are more likely to invest their AI savings back into technology (39%) than into employee’s development (30%).

Furthermore, one in three (32%) employees said saving time with AI simply leads to increased workloads.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that employees feel they’re navigating AI’s disruption alone.

It is clear that a piecemeal, siloed approach to AI adoption does not drive organization-wide growth at scale.

HR, if you want ROI from AI, focus on humans not the tech

To figure out the best actions to take on AI and business growth, it’s crucial to explore what high-performing, trailblazing companies are doing differently.

Workday’s data found “the organizations realizing the greatest value from AI treat saved time as a strategic resource”.

“They reinvest in upskilling their teams, improving collaboration, and strengthening judgment-driven work”.

This is echoed in findings from consulting giant KPMG’s Global Tech Report 2026.

KPMG identified 5% of the 2,500 companies it surveyed as ‘high-performers’ that achieved 2x ROI on their AI investments.

Rather than seeing AI as replacing humans, the learning from high performers was their success in rethinking their HR strategies to focus on “upskilling, building AI fluency, and cultivating the next generation of leaders who can effectively use, manage, and master AI”.

57% of high-performers plan to increase hiring for technology talent this year, compared to 35% of the rest.

Plus, just 6% of high performers surveyed said their employees felt left behind by AI transformation, compared to 39% of other companies.

Clearly, high-performers have cultivated trust with their employees. This requires beginning “every design and decision with an AI-first mindset, and embed trust, transparency, and responsibility by design”, stated KPMG.

Current research is telling HR they can’t sit on the fence. They have a good opportunity to to refocus their talent strategy towards skills and AI fluency for all employees, all while building trust.