Nearly 70% Of Workers Use AI Regularly Now – But Many Get No Time To Upskill
"Arthur T Knackerbracket" writes:
https://www.zdnet.com/innovation/workera-study-ai-skills-upskilling-2026/
AI is no longer emerging in the workplace. It's in the office, and it's shaping how businesses, employees, and their respective interests operate, and it's doing so rapidly.
A new study from Workera found that 80% of companies feel they are more likely to be on track for an AI-enabled future in 2026, up from 67% last year. However, some may be missing the boat on what's most important - their people.
Findings from Workera's 2026 State of Skills Intelligence Report, published Sept. 23, suggest business leaders and working professionals need to find more common ground on how to upskill for an AI world, and Kian Katanforoosh, founder and CEO of Workera, said organizations need to take the lead.
I would advise any leader right now to think about giving [their] people time to upskill. Don't think that they will just figure it out without you actually carving out time. With time also comes the psychological safety; give them the psychological safety to experiment [with AI]," Katanforoosh told ZDNET in an exclusive interview.
This year's research surveyed 1,000 salaried professionals working for organizations with 5,000 or more employees in the US. The survey was conducted in July 2026 using the market research tool Pollfish. Year-over-year measurements were obtained by comparing July 2026 results with those from a similar survey conducted with Pollfish in March 2025.
AI skills are imperative, and both companies and employees know it. Workera's survey found that more than two-thirds of employees (67.8%) now use AI tools beyond ChatGPT at least a couple of days a week, up from 39.9% last year. That's nearly a 30% year-over-year increase in AI tool use.
But that rise in day-to-day use is underscored by a few less-gleaming realities.
Nearly 60% of employees said no time is allocated during work hours for upskilling (56.4%), and almost 43% mentioned a lack of relevant learning materials (42.5%) as the biggest obstacles to improving AI skills. Additionally, employees reported spending minimal time each week on skill development. Over 80% of employees spend just five hours or less per week on training (84.3%).
Katanforoosh said AI upskilling can be cumbersome, with many employees feeling "overwhelmed" with so many ways to learn and little time built into workdays to do it. On top of this issue, the last 12 months have rapidly changed the learning landscape.
"Last year was more about adoption and access, and now we're past that, and so it's about outcomes and actions, which creates additional stress," Katanforoosh said.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.