Workday research has found that a quarter of UK employees lose more than seven hours a week to disconnected artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Suppliers of human resources (HR) and financial applications describe this phenomenon as a “copy-and-paste economy,” where employees must oversee many AI tools.
“Too many employees serve as human middleware between disconnected AI systems,” said Daniel Pell, vice president and UK&I country manager at Workday. “Companies that see the most value from AI are embedding it directly into the systems that connect their people, data, and work.”
The report, commissioned by Workday and conducted by The Harris Poll, surveyed 2,400 UK finance, HR, IT and operations professionals at large companies with 500 or more employees who regularly use AI.
Even though approximately 9 in 10 of these employees report high job satisfaction and approximately 4 in 10 say AI has helped reduce manual work, professionals are experiencing unnecessary friction in using AI. Around 78% of UK workers face friction from administrative tasks and copy-pasting various AI results into prompts. Therefore, experts are working hard to manage these new tools, but they are not seeing results.
“My day is often busy but not truly productive, caught up in constant coordination and system-related issues that interrupt intensive, high-value work,” a construction department director told researchers.
A similar effect is occurring for software developers, with six out of 10 UK workers often or very often engaged in “busy but unproductive” tasks, as their role becomes bogged down with administrative tasks such as reviewing AI output rather than writing code.
The report says the UK has been hit harder by the problem than other countries, with only four in 10 workers worldwide having a similar experience. This means that more than three-quarters of UK workers surveyed are experiencing stress from managing these disconnected AI tools.
A recent study by SolarWinds showed similar results, with nearly three-quarters of IT professionals experiencing “brain fatigue” from using AI. Despite the fact that all companies surveyed use AI on a regular basis, only 23% of companies have it embedded in their core systems.
Another said, “A significant portion of my day is spent in meetings where AI implementation is discussed, but the discussions are consistent.” [around] It’s not a realistic choice, it’s a simple rationalization. ”
For Workday, the solution lies in Sana, a technology it acquired in 2025. This is an AI tool that works across platforms and sectors.
Sana CEO Joel Hellermark sees AI as the new user interface in the “age of custom-built software.” AI always works in the background and “performs tasks on your behalf without being asked.”
A client benefiting from Workday’s AI tools is Formula 1. Alastair Goss, head of HR systems at a motorsport entertainment company, spoke at Workday’s Elevate event in London about how HiredScore, another acquisition by the supplier, has helped remove this extra friction in the hiring process.
“Before we started working on Workday, we had HCM, one system for payroll, another system for time and attendance, another system for performance management, and another system for tracking applicants,” he said. “It takes time to use it to build trust, but we’re there now, they see the benefits of the tool, and it’s helping them with the basic task of screening.”
