A new report from enterprise AI platform Workday shows that almost 40 percent of AI time savings are lost to rework, including correcting errors, rewriting content, and verifying outputs from one-size-fits-all AI tools. Only 14 percent of employees say they consistently get clear, positive net outcomes from AI.
Despite this employees who use AI every day are overwhelmingly optimistic — more than 90 percent believe it will help them succeed. But they also carry the biggest burden, 77 percent review AI-generated work just as carefully as work done by humans, if not more.
It’s younger employees aged 25–34 who make up nearly half (46 percent) of those dealing with the most AI rework. Despite being seen as the most tech-savvy, they spend the most time checking and fixing AI output.
“Too many AI tools push the hard questions of trust, accuracy, and repeatability back onto individual users,” says Gerrit Kazmaier, president, product and technology, Workday. “At Workday, we’ve spent years delivering AI as simple, human‑centered solutions — not raw technology — so customers aren’t left to wire things together and fact‑check every answer on their own. Our philosophy is that AI should do the complex work under the hood so people can focus on judgment, creativity, and connection. That’s how organizations turn AI‑powered speed into durable, human‑led advantage.”
In most organizations (89 percent), fewer than half of job roles have been updated to reflect AI capabilities. Employees are using today’s tools inside 2015 job structures, and they’re left to reconcile faster output with unchanged processes or systems. There’s a lack of training too, with only 37 percent of employees experiencing the highest amount of rework saying they’re getting access to it
Most organizations also agree that AI gains should benefit employees, but companies are more likely to put AI savings back into technology (39 percent) than into employee development (30 percent). And instead of using time saved to build skills, many simply increase workload (32 percent) — leaving employees to navigate AI on their own.
You can get the full report from the Workday site.
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