AI could be the key to solving the UK’s productivity problem

AI could add £119 billion to the UK economy in workplace productivity alone, according to new research from Workday

By Workday's calculations, employees are actually productive for less than six hours of an eight hour workday, but could save 2.9 hours per day using AI — totaling an average £11,058 each, which across 10 million employees adds up to £119 billion.

AI could impact leadership even more significantly, with respondents estimating they could save 4.4 hours a day if the technology was used effectively.

“Sizeable productivity growth has eluded UK workplaces for over 15 years – but responsible AI has the potential to shift the paradigm,” said Daniel Pell, vice president and country manager for UKI at Workday.

But how could AI offer such benefits? According to the survey, 73% of respondents said they expected to be able to accomplish more in less time using AI tools, while 76% believe they would have information or insight they couldn't access previously.

The figures were 20 points higher among leadership figures surveyed, suggesting even more enthusiasm for AI among corporate leaders .

What that means from a practical perspective, however, differs across job functions. In finance, corporate leadership predicted AI could cut down time spent on core accounting, record keeping, and expense management, while in HR it could be used to create job descriptions, training employees, and creating internal policies.

For IT, AI could be applied to managing databases, respondents said, as well as improving business productivity and solving employee IT tickets.

AI motivation

Staff motivation was worth considering, Workday said, with the report noting that unengaged employees were named as the biggest barrier to productivity. There have long been calls for a six-hour workday rather than a four-day work week, but Workday suggests the way to boost staff morale is removing mundane, repetitive tasks.

According to the survey, two-thirds of employees believe AI would let them expand the scope of tasks they can complete, while just over half believe AI tools would let them improve their career development and access further opportunities. Again, leadership tracked twenty points higher for each question.

More widely, Workday argues that AI should be used carefully, applied with true understanding where it makes sense.

"Implementing AI effectively calls for a nuanced examination of the levers impacting productivity," said Tim Wakeford, vice president of financials product strategy at Workday, in the report's introduction.

"It requires uncovering and shaping employee and leadership sentiment toward the technology across departments with much to gain, for example, those which feature in this study – finance, IT and HR.

"And it demands an open exploration of the use cases for which AI is (and isn’t) suited."

Trust in AI

Indeed, the report found that trust was key to AI adoption. That's a serious challenge for AI developers to overcome, as 93% of those surveyed — across employees and leadership — said they have concerns about AI trustworthiness.

"We encourage businesses to take a two-pronged approach when it comes to deploying AI: a concrete analysis of the efficiencies AI can drive, alongside a transparent strategy to tackle the material and cultural barriers to its adoption," said Pell.

HR can foster a generative AI-empowered culture

The survey from Workday aligns closely with alternative research on AI-related productivity benefits. In May, Microsoft reported that sluggish AI adoption rates across the UK could cost the country around £150 million in lost productivity .

Another study from PwC noted that productivity is booming in sectors where AI adoption is accelerating . The IT and financial services sectors, in particular, were identified as key industries where AI adoption was found to boost productivity.