Hayes said most Australian professionals who use AI in their work have no formal training. The survey surveyed more than 7,000 recruiters and professionals across Australia and New Zealand.
Hayes found that while 60% of respondents currently regularly use AI at work, 78% said their employer did not provide formal training. Only 30% said they were very or very concerned about the risks AI poses to future employment opportunities.
Hays APAC CEO Matthew Dickason said the figures showed there was a gap between technology use and employer support.
“AI adoption is outpacing implementation,” Dickason said.
“60% of people regularly use AI in the workplace, but 78% have no formal training to use AI effectively. The tools are on their desks, but training, governance, and guardrails haven’t kept up. This isn’t an AI issue; it’s a workforce planning issue.”
implementation gap
At the enterprise level, widespread use of AI remains limited. Only 13% of organizations say AI is widely deployed across the business, while 40% report moderate adoption across teams and 35% say it’s still in its early stages.
48% of respondents said security and privacy concerns are the biggest barrier to widespread adoption. Lack of training followed at 45%, while 33% cited lack of skills.
The study also suggests that adoption is uneven across the workforce. Entry-level and graduate professionals are least likely to use AI tools at 26%, workers over 50 at 23%, and temporary contractors and freelancers at 46%.
Some sectors also lagged behind, including legal at 32% and manufacturing at 29%.
Training gaps were concentrated in small employers with fewer than 50 employees, temporary and temporary workers, and sectors such as transport, public sector, utilities, and manufacturing.
However, AI skills are not yet a deciding factor in hiring. Only 13% of employers say AI competencies are very or extremely important in hiring decisions.
Recruiters also seem to lack a common way to assess those skills. Among employers, 69% cited portfolios or work examples as evidence of AI capabilities, 52% cited internal reviews, and 49% cited professional references. Additionally, 43% said none of the listed credentials were sufficient.
lack of skills
Beyond AI, the study found that labor shortages remain widespread. More than four in five employers, or 82%, said they faced a skills shortage in the past year.
The most affected sectors were engineering at 93%, trade and services at 92% and public sector at 90%. The most commonly reported deficiencies are in people management, project management, and communication and interpersonal skills.
The main reason cited by employers was competition for talent at 37%. Low pay or unattractive benefits followed at 31%, while 22% said younger workers had little interest in entering their field.
Employers are responding in a variety of ways. Nearly a third (32%) said they were hiring new staff to address skills gaps. More than half (52%) say they are considering it internally, with 42% prioritizing upskilling their workforce and 10% prioritizing reskilling their workforce.
Its internal approach is inconsistent across the most burdened sectors. Energy and renewables, the not-for-profit sector, engineering, mining and resources, and the public sector all reported high levels of talent shortages, but the main response was low upskilling rates.
At the same time, 42% of employees said that upskilling is not formally supported within their organization or that they are unaware of the options. Still, 57% said they were confident that their skills were kept relevant and up to date.
“While 82% of organizations report skills shortages, 57% of employees believe their skills are current. Both can be true. “Conversations about what skills matter most are often not happening between employers and their teams. At the same time, the industries facing the most acute talent shortages are also likely to be the least invested in upskilling.”
“This is where workforce planning needs to be more deliberate. Addressing these shortfalls will require a combination of targeted recruitment and systematic internal capacity building, while ensuring investment reaches the contingent, contract and small employer workforce segments that have historically been left behind.”
technology field
In the IT and technology sector, salary sentiment was broadly in line with the national picture. Hayes found that while 42% of professionals in the field were satisfied with their pay, 24% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.
Wage growth has been modest for many workers. Approximately 23% said their pay had not changed in the past year, and 12% said they had received a raise of up to 2.4%. Another 21% said their salary increased by 2.5% to 5%, and 19% said it increased by 6% to 10%.
Companies in the IT industry expect salary rates to increase by 3.5% next year, slightly below the national average of 3.8%. Tech companies were slightly more optimistic, with an expected rate hike of 4.2%.
Promotion rates in IT and technology fields are higher than the survey average. Hayes found that 18% of professionals in this field have experienced a promotion, compared to an average of 11% across the broader study.
Many also desire formal learning to keep pace with change. Approximately 19% of IT and technology professionals said they are considering further education or certification in the coming year.
“Waiting for your employer to invest in you is a risky strategy given the speed of change,” Dickason said.
“Whether it’s building AI capabilities, honing core skills, or trying something new, those who treat their own development as their own work will be the ones that will move forward.The market is increasingly rewarding competency, not job title.”
