Nearly 40% of AI time savings are lost fixing poor quality output
Global research shows AI delivers greater ROI when leaders invest in both talent and technology
Pleasanton, California, January 14, 2026/PRNewswire/ — Workday Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: WDAY) today released a new global study showing that while AI is delivering productivity gains, many organizations are not realizing its full value. While employees save meaningful time using AI tools, the benefits are often absorbed by rework (fixing mistakes, rewriting content, rechecking output from generic tools), leaving significant value behind.
Workday (PRNewsfoto/Workday)
The report states:Beyond productivity: Measuring the true value of AI” reveals what separates leaders from laggards. The most successful organizations don’t just implement AI, they reinvest the time saved by AI into their employees. These companies are turning speed into lasting business impact by building skills, redesigning roles, and modernizing the way they work.
“Too many AI tools place difficult questions of reliability, accuracy, and reproducibility on the shoulders of individual users,” said Gerrit Kazmeyer, president of products and technology at Workday. “At Workday, we’ve spent years delivering AI as a simple, human-centered solution, rather than raw technology, so our customers don’t have to piece things together themselves or fact-check every answer. Our philosophy is that AI does the complex work under the hood, freeing people to focus on judgment, creativity, and connection. That’s how organizations can turn the speed of AI into a lasting human-driven advantage.”
The AI productivity paradox
AI is delivering significant time savings, but speed doesn’t necessarily translate to better results. 85% of employees report saving 1-7 hours per week using AI, but much of that time is offset by reworking low-quality AI-generated content, creating a false sense of productivity and ROI. AI is doing its part by increasing capabilities, but too often roles, skills, and processes have not evolved enough to consistently translate those capabilities into better outcomes.
Key findings include:
Nearly 40% of the time saved with AI is lost through rework. This includes fixing errors, rewriting content, and validating output from versatile AI tools. Only 14% of employees consistently see clear, positive end results from AI.
Frequent users will feel the most burden. Employees who use AI every day are overwhelmingly optimistic, with over 90% believing AI can help them succeed. But they also carry the greatest burden. 77% review work generated by AI as carefully or more carefully than work done by humans.
Young employees bear the heaviest burden. Employees between the ages of 25 and 34 account for nearly half (46%) of those responsible for the most AI tinkering. Despite being considered the most tech-savvy, they spend the most time checking and correcting AI output.
Training gaps continue: Although 66% of leaders cite skills training as a top priority, only 37% of employees who experience the most rework say they have access to skills training, revealing a clear disconnect between leader intent and employee experience.
Employment is not keeping up with AI: Most organizations (89%) have less than half of their roles updated to reflect AI capabilities. Employees are using 2025 tools within 2015 job structures and need to coordinate faster output with unchanged processes and systems.
Reinvest AI profits back into your workforce
While most organizations agree that advances in AI should benefit employees, reinvestment is still skewed elsewhere. Companies are more likely to pass on AI savings to technology (39%) than employee development (30%). And instead of using the time saved to build skills, many companies simply increase their workload (32%) and leave employees to interact with the AI themselves.
But organizations expecting real benefits are making a different choice. Employees who see positive outcomes from AI are far more likely to use the time saved to increase the value of their work, including through deeper analysis, stronger decision-making, and strategic thinking (57%), rather than simply taking on more tasks. They are also much more likely to have increased their skills training (79%).
Organizations that realize the most value from AI treat the time saved as a strategic resource. They are reinvesting in upskilling their teams, improving collaboration, and enhancing decision-driven work. The biggest opportunity is to help employees learn how to use AI effectively, especially in areas that require judgment, creativity, and decision-making. This research reveals that reinvesting in talent is the fastest way to reduce rework, improve outcomes, and turn the speed of AI into lasting business value.
For additional information
About the report This data comes from a global survey ”Beyond productivity: Measuring the true value of AI,” Survey conducted by Workday and conducted by Hannover Research in November 2025. The survey included 3,200 respondents from across North America. Asia Pacific (APAC); Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). All participants were full-time employees of organizations with annual revenue of $100 million or more and were active users of AI technology.
About workday working dayAn enterprise AI platform for management people, moneyand agent. Workday brings together HR and finance on one intelligent platform with AI at its core, giving people at every level the clarity, confidence, and insight they need to adapt faster, make better decisions, and achieve results that matter. Workday is used by more than 11,000 organizations in a variety of industries around the world, from midsize businesses to more than 65% of Fortune 500 companies. For more information about Workday, please visit the following website: workday.com.
Forward-looking statements This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, among other things, statements regarding Workday’s plans, beliefs and expectations. These forward-looking statements are based on currently available information and Workday’s current beliefs, expectations and assumptions. Forward-looking statements relate to the future and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict, many of which are beyond Workday’s control. If these risks materialize, if assumptions prove incorrect, or if business conditions change, actual results could differ materially from those implied by these forward-looking statements. Workday undertakes no obligation to update such statements except as required by law. Any unreleased services, features, or functionality referenced in this document are subject to change and may not be delivered as planned or at all. Customers should base their purchasing decisions solely on currently available services, features and functionality.
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