Asana’s Work Innovation Lab report shows that while the workforce is willing to embrace AI advancements, companies are becoming more cautious.
AI has become somewhat polarising in the workplace in that as professionals, we all view it differently. Some see it as the perfect solution for an overburdened workload, while others fear its potential to effectively eliminate the need for human workers.
Asana’s Work Innovation Lab, a think tank created by US software company Asana, recently released the Scaling in AI report, which surveyed 3,182 knowledge workers across the US and UK during the month of March. What was discovered is that organisational leaders have taken a step back in their AI journey, despite usage rate among employees remaining high.
In fact, more than one-third (35pc) of IT leaders surveyed by Asana for the report explained they are pulling back on the AI investments made in 2024. Despite a growing interest in agentic AI, its benefits and efforts to digitally transform the workplace, only 18pc of surveyed organisations claimed to have successfully scaled their AI projects. Nearly a third (32pc) went on to say there are no active plans to implement an AI strategy.
Growing disconnect
According to Asana, while organisations are becoming increasingly cautious about scaling their AI initiatives and projects, employees continue to embrace a future built with AI at its core. For example, the report indicates that, of those who participated, 72pc of individuals use AI at work weekly, with four out of every 10 using it on a daily basis.
Employees, for the most part, are enthusiastic about implementing AI, with 75pc of the opinion that it will transform how we work over the next two years. However, with a figure that slightly bursts the AI bubble, one-third of participating employees firmly believe that their organisation has failed to “crack the code on AI”.
Specifically, this problem is being exacerbated by an increasing disconnect growing between organisational IT departments and the wider company. More than half of IT leaders said that AI is used well across their organisation. However, in comparison only 29pc of ‘other’ employees said that they feel AI has moved out of the pilot phase.
Commenting on the survey, Saket Srivastava, CIO at Asana said: “Without alignment between IT and the business, AI doesn’t scale, it stalls. You get technology without context, training without application and implementation without accountability.
“The tools show up, but the impact doesn’t. But when IT and business leaders align around a shared vision – with clear ownership, shared goals, and real enablement – AI moves from isolated wins to organisation-wide transformation.”
Ultimately, it boils down to how leaders and their employees engage with AI on a daily basis – whether they are frequent users, sceptical or somewhere in between – as it was shown that 76pc of IT leaders have a strong understanding of how AI impacts the working day, compared to just 44pc of other knowledge workers who feel the same.
To drive the point home, nearly 40pc of regular employees are of the opinion that there is no clear AI strategy and that there is a lack of ownership over the topic, compared to just 13pc of IT leaders.
Education is key
According to the report, greater education on the topic of agentic AI is key to addressing many of the challenges arising within the workplace. 39pc of workers said that they are excited by AI’s potential, yet only 27pc admitted that they could confidently use AI technologies. A positive sign however, is that 45pc of people are curious about the learning process.
The report suggested that the reasons causing employees to hold back from fully embracing AI agents could be a lack of understanding, experience and infrastructure. Case in point, only 41pc of people said they could correctly define what is meant by agentic AI, 32pc explained that they have never used AI agents and only 16pc were aware of their organisation’s policies around the use of AI agents.
In light of the report, Dr Rebecca Hinds, the head of Asana’s Work Innovation Lab, said: “Our latest research confirms a growing divide. While most organisations are still dabbling in pilots and disconnected tools, a rising group of AI scalers is pulling ahead.
“They’re not waiting for the perfect roadmap. They’re building it into their infrastructure, workflows and culture and it’s paying off. The future of work isn’t about AI as a side tool. It’s about scaling AI until it becomes the backbone of how business gets done.”
Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.
