Business leaders will drive increased levels of training and engagement with AI over the coming months as they seek to tap into its full potential, says one leading HR consultant.
Laura Flynn, head of people consulting at EY Ireland, warns that employers risk leaving significant productivity value on the table as their employees are not yet receiving the level of artificial intelligence (AI) training and access required to unlock the full benefits of these new technologies.
She says that the latest EY Work Reimagined Survey shows that Ireland is keeping pace with the growing global appetite for AI. However, Ireland also suffers from the same vague approach to delivering progress that is evident globally, hampered by a lack of leadership in choosing the right AI tools and sporadic training, with evidence of ‘shadow AI’ as some employees are making their own choices around which AI tools to use.
“In a year from now, I’d expect that a similar survey would show a more continuous approach to training, rather than the current episodic approach,” said Laura Flynn. “As the leaders in companies make clearer choices about the AI tools they want to use, we will see a lot more consistency along with a shift in work culture.
“We didn’t see any significant difference between Ireland and the 28 other countries surveyed. We’re not trailing the global progress with AI. We have many sectors that compare well, sectors with high exposure to technology like the life sciences and financial services.
“You’ll see high awareness among multinational companies. However, sectors like government and health are slower to engage, perhaps to data privacy fears and other issues along with legacy systems. Many retail and consumer products are also slow, which is somewhat surprising. The picture for these sectors in Ireland is consistent with global AI trends.”
While Generative AI adoption is widespread, and its growth in little more than three years is staggering, impact remains limited. The global survey of 15,000 employees and 1,500 employers across 29 countries, including Ireland, shows that well over one third of employees surveyed (37%) use AI at work daily, while 88% use AI at work to some degree, yet usage is largely confined to basic tasks such as search (54%) and summarisation (38%).
Only 5% of employee respondents globally are using AI in advanced ways, such as automating multi step tasks, generating insights or redesigning how work is delivered – showing a critical disconnect between AI capability and potential, and the human readiness to use it.
Organisations that combine effective AI deployment with strong talent strategies can unlock up to 40% more productivity, but most are falling short.
In Ireland specifically, the opportunity cost is particularly clear. The research found that employees who receive 81 or more hours of AI training annually reclaim 13 hours per week, more than double the gain for those with 40 hours or less of training, who reclaim six hours a week.
At the same time, 65% of Irish employers believe AI adoption is a net positive for employee productivity, highlighting a growing gap between ambition and readiness.
As more and more businesses continue to adopt AI in their daily operations, the EY survey uncovered a range of anxieties over the trend contributing to a value gap between the investment in AI and the productivity delivered.
“There are still fears about AI, but these differ between employer and employee,” said Laura Flynn. “While some employees can see the productivity gains, some also still have fears around their job security. Employers have greater fears around losing out in terms of any missed opportunity for productivity gains.
“Many employers and employees are still focused on issues around security and safety, as well as governance.”
Some 37% of employees globally worry that overreliance on AI could erode their skills and expertise, while 64% perceive an increase in their workloads due to pressure to perform. Yet only 12% are receiving sufficient AI training to unlock the full productivity benefits.
Furthermore, despite attempts by employers to offer internal tools, shadow AI is still prevalent; between 23%-58% of employees surveyed across various sectors globally are bringing their own AI solutions to work.
“While this demonstrates that many employees are ahead of their employers in terms of the value that AI can bring, there are significant data security and cyber security impacts emerging from this,” said Laura.
The survey highlights a critical disconnect; when AI adoption and new technology land on fragile talent foundations – weak culture, ineffective learning and misaligned rewards – the potential benefits of AI are significantly diminished.
Organisations that effectively integrate talent and technology – what the research calls ‘talent advantage’ – unlock greater value, yet only 28% are on track to achieve this, according to the research.
“AI is everywhere and its impact can be tremendous but to date most organisations have not tapped into its full potential, held back by a gap between ambition, adoption and human readiness,” said Laura.
“Our research finds that almost all workers now use AI to some degree, yet only a small fraction are using it to genuinely transform how they work, while concerns around job security, skill erosion and rising workloads are creating resistance.
“At the same time however we are finding that employees can clearly see the benefit of AI to aid their work, and if their employer hasn’t provided them with the tools, they will use them surreptitiously, what is known as Shadow AI. While this demonstrates that many employees are willing to adopt AI, there are significant data security and cyber security impacts emerging from this. Bridging the gap between talent and technology is key.
“When organisations master both, AI helps deliver outsized results, but neglecting the human side can erode those gains. The stakes are rising; organisations that build strong talent foundations will be the ones who benefit most as AI accelerates.”
