Workday: Isolated AI Systems Slow Employees Down

Is AI slowing workers down?

Research from Workday finds that UK employees are losing close to a full work day each week in time spent switching between disconnected AI tools and systems. 

According to the report– ‘The Copy/Paste Economy: Why Task-Oriented AI is Failing the Enterprise’ – a quarter of these workers are spending at least seven hours per week copying information between applications, bringing together conflicting data and feeding context into AI tools, while 62% spend at least half their time translating and coordinating between systems and teams instead of creating value for their organisation.

While the report does show that employees see AI as a useful tool within their work – with 81% reporting that the technology improved their day-to-day work experience – the gains that workers get from speeding up individual tasks are often offset by time spent switching between systems, checking outputs and manually moving information across tools. 

“UK employees are positive about AI and are already using it to make their work better,” Daniel Pell, Vice President and Manager of UKI Workday, told HR Chief. “But the frustration sets in when they have to glue fragmented systems together themselves, spending hours copying and pasting information between tools and double‑checking results.”

Isolated AI slows employees

According to Workday, the rush to adopt AI is creating a working environment where businesses are prioritising new features without ensuring the solution can work with its existing tech stack – and this disconnect is slowing down the day for employees.

More than 80% of respondents reported that they spend “significant” time moving information across conflicting tools, which can contribute to unnecessary stress and slow decision-making. In fact, more than three quarters of UK workers report that they are experiencing stress in their role from navigating disconnected AI tools and systems.

“Adding more AI applications into the mix isn’t the answer,” says Daniel. “Our research shows that the real step change comes from integrating AI into the core HR and business workflows and platforms people rely on every day, so employees are no longer forced to act as the human middleware.”

Removing friction

Workday’s research finds that respondents say some of the biggest barriers to AI productivity are poor or unclear accountability on AI use (22%), inconsistent data quality (24%) and rigid systems or workflows (27%). 

Integrated AI platforms, according to the research, perform significantly better than disconnected, standalone applications – with companies seeing the most success in building AI into core workplace systems. Amongst organisations that have this approach in place, 57% of employees report that AI has reduced task time by at least 25%.

“The organisations pulling ahead are those making integration the priority, unifying AI with the trusted systems where their people, data and work live and freeing employees to focus on the human work that drives real business value.” Daniel says.

Making this shift, says Workday, allows organisations to move the burden of low-value work from the employee to its AI tools. In companies where employees are “empowered with technology that delivers,” Workday says, hours that were once spent manually moving data can be reinvested directly into the measurable outcomes businesses need.