DRAPER, Utah, Sept. 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BambooHR®, the leading People Intelligence Platform for small and mid-sized businesses, today released Redesigning Work: AI’s Performance Review, a new study that found workers spend the equivalent of 47 work days a year using AI on average, but roughly 20 of those days are lost to troubleshooting errors and prompt iteration rather than productive output. Despite the time they spend correcting mistakes, 65% of workers feel confident and enthusiastic about using AI at work, and 58% say time savings is their main motivation for using it.

Based on a survey of more than 1,600 full-time, salaried workers across the US, including a subgroup of 520 HR professionals, the research also found that AI adoption is outpacing most organizations’ ability to manage its costs.

“Workers today are turning to AI all the time to learn things, and it’s incredible to be able to ask a question and get an answer immediately. However, there’s a difference between knowing something and developing the judgment to know what to do with it,” said Nicole Csizar, Sr. Director of HR Services at BambooHR. “Organizations need to be intentional about making sure efficiency doesn’t come at the expense of mentorship and development, because those human conversations are where growth happens.”

How much time do workers actually lose to fixing AI instead of using it?
Workers spend 87 minutes a day using AI on average, equal to 22,526 minutes, or roughly 47 eight-hour workdays, each year. Here’s where that time actually goes:

  • 42% of AI time goes to troubleshooting errors and iterating on prompts.
  • 35% of AI time goes to productive work that furthers an employee’s workload.

The gap between troubleshooting and productive use adds up to about 20 full workdays a year spent just getting AI to work correctly. Sixty-three percent of organizations have already raised their AI tool budgets in response to employee usage, without clear evidence the investment is paying off.

How AI usage is distributed across the workforce
Company leaders are setting the pace on AI use, whether intentionally or not. VPs and C-suite executives spend 101 minutes per day with AI, slightly more than managers and directors (89 minutes), and nearly twice as much as individual contributors (54 minutes).

Perceptions of that reliance also vary by generation. Gen Z (54%) and Millennials (43%) are far more likely than Gen X (39%) and Baby Boomers (21%) to say junior workers at their organization rely on AI in ways that limit their growth and learning.

An unexpected gap also shows up in hiring. Asked whether they would trust AI to conduct a candidate interview on its own, 67% of HR professionals said yes, compared with just 34% of employees. That gap is notable given that 80% of HR professionals also admit to finding bias problems in the AI tools they use for hiring, including 33% who’ve observed a pattern of demographic bias specifically.

“The more we use AI in recruiting, the more human the interview can become,” said Csizar. “AI can take a lot off an interviewer’s plate: preparing questions, taking notes, organizing information, all the things that distract you from really being present with the person you’re talking to. AI shouldn’t replace the interviewer, it should be used to make the interviewer better at the part we actually need humans for.”

AI has a reputation problem, but bad headlines aren’t slowing adoption
Negative AI coverage is shaping how workers feel, but not how they act:

  • 86% of workers say their mindset on AI usage has been impacted by recent AI news, including coverage of data centers, environmental effects, and job impacts.
  • 70% of workers say news specifically about AI’s environmental impact and energy consumption has affected their personal feelings about using AI tools at work.

However, that shift in sentiment is not translating into a shift in behavior. One-third (33%) of workers have hesitations about using AI tools, but only 3% have actually refused to use them, meaning most of the workforce keeps embracing AI even when they feel conflicted about it.

Where AI use is outpacing responsible guardrails
As AI takes on more of the workday, it’s also taking on roles once reserved for people: 35% of workers say knowledge transfer at their organization now runs primarily through AI tools rather than human guidance. However, over half of organizations (54%) don’t have a clear, documented AI usage policy that’s consistently communicated.

Personal and company AI use are also blending together, eroding the line between the two in both directions:

  • 59% of workers use personal AI accounts for work tasks. Among that group, 71% have entered client data, proprietary strategy, or other sensitive company information into tools their employer cannot see
  • 62% of employees admit to using company-provided AI tools for personal purposes, including 17% who use them for a side business or freelance work and 27% who use them to help with a job search

The full report, Redesigning Work: AI’s Performance Review, is available here: https://www.bamboohr.com/resources/data-at-work/data-stories/redesigning-work-AI.

Methodology
BambooHR conducted this research using an online survey prepared by Method Research and distributed by RepData among 1,608 adults (age 18+) in the United States who are full-time, salaried employees currently working in a desk job. The sample included a subgroup of 520 HR professionals holding a manager title or above. Respondents were evenly split by gender, with a spread of age groups, race groups, and geographies represented, and spanned more than a dozen industries. Data was collected from June 26 to July 15, 2026.

About BambooHR
BambooHR is a People Intelligence Platform that helps small and mid-sized businesses bring clarity to their workforce and act with confidence. As AI reshapes roles, workflows, and skill requirements, BambooHR enables organizations to understand what matters most and what to do next by unifying their people data into a complete, connected view. The platform brings together core HR, payroll, benefits administration, and talent management with embedded AI, insights, and workflows to simplify people operations and improve decision-making. With more than 30,000 customers in over 190 countries and over 3 million employee records, BambooHR helps leaders align their people, drive growth, increase efficiency, and stay compliant.

For more information, visit www.bamboohr.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Redesigning Work: AI’s Performance Review report?
Redesigning Work: AI’s Performance Review is a BambooHR research report on how AI is reshaping daily work, based on a survey of more than 1,600 full-time US workers, including 520 HR professionals. Key findings include: workers lose roughly 20 of the 47 work days a year they spend on AI to troubleshooting rather than productive work; 35% of workers say knowledge transfer at their organization now runs primarily through AI tools rather than people; 62% of employees admit to using company-provided AI tools for personal purposes.

Is AI actually making workers more productive?
Not as much as expected. Of the 87 minutes a day workers spend using AI, more of that time goes to troubleshooting errors and iterating on prompts (42%) than to productive work (35%), according to the report.

Are companies updating job descriptions to reflect AI?
Slowly. The report found that HR professionals have updated only 43% of employees’ job descriptions on average to reflect AI expectations, even though 75% of workers say AI has already changed how they actually do their jobs. 77% of HR professionals say they plan to update job descriptions within the next 12 months.


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bamboohr@methodcommunications.com

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