This article is part of a recurring series highlighting recent talent mobility industry reports. If you would like the WERC editorial team to consider covering a specific industry report, email mobility@talenteverywhere.org.
Artificial intelligence (AI) brings both enormous potential for performance enablement and significant risks that, if unmanaged, could deepen workforce inequities, disengagement, and employee turnover. This is according to Betterworks’ 2025 State of Performance Enablement report, which surveyed more than 2,000 full-time employees. The report provides a look at a divided workforce where 72% of executives are using AI daily, compared with just 21% of individuals.
AI can improve productivity and engagement opportunities for employees who embrace it, but it can also generate anxiety and fear among those who don’t have equal access to the right AI tools. When implementing AI, the report says leaders and talent mobility managers need to ensure its even adoption across all levels and that it creates value for every employee by providing access to the right tools.
The Promise and Pitfalls of AI Adoption
The report found that among daily users of AI, 87% pointed to greater productivity, 49% saw improvements in quality, 48% saw improvements in accuracy, and 46% said they were more creative. However, employees with limited access to AI tools saw its adoption as a threat:
- 33% said AI won’t help them in their role.
- 27% don’t know how to use it in their role.
- 24% have not been trained on how to use AI.
- 23% mistrust AI outright.
- 17% have generative AI use restricted or banned by company policies.
Barriers like these must be addressed or employees will become entrenched against AI or sidelined. This can lead to organizational drag in which innovation leaders succeed and other employees stagnate. High performers who engage AI in their work are more mobile, with the survey finding that 78% of them are actively seeking new opportunities.
On the other hand, 65% of less AI-engaged employees plan to stay in their current jobs. To bridge the gap and create a more engaged and agile workforce, employers and managers need to build up their workforce’s “AI IQ,” according to the report.
AI Literacy Can Build Trust
Every role and organizational layer of the company needs access to the right AI tools and training. These factors help build trust in the tools and their role in company growth. Training ensures employees have the knowledge they need to apply AI tools effectively. Ultimately, efforts by managers to address accessibility, training, and trust can restore balance between slow adopters and high performers, the report says.
Practical steps for leaders:
- Foster psychological safety. Employees must believe AI is a tool for growth, not workforce reduction. Transparent communication about AI strategy, coupled with assurances around fairness and accountability, builds trust.
- Invest in role-relevant training. Many employees resist AI not out of opposition but because they don’t see its application to their work. By teaching use cases aligned to specific functions and motivating employees to engage with AI tools weekly to build familiarity, organizations can shrink the adoption gap.
- Embed AI learning into performance management. Tie AI skill development to quarterly goals and make AI proficiency a core performance metric across job families.
- Empower managers with AI multipliers. Research shows 62% of managers view AI as a way to identify low performers, but the true potential is in elevating their coaching role. By automating routine evaluation tasks, AI frees managers to focus on guiding skills development, enabling succession planning, and unlocking innovation.
As Andrea Lagan, chief operating officer of Betterworks, says, “Unlocking AI’s potential begins with fostering employee trust. Be transparent about AI initiatives and address concerns like bias and organizational accountability. Foster psychological safety by showing employees how AI enhances innovation and meaningful work. When employees see AI as a tool for growth, not a threat, they’re empowered to embrace its potential, driving both personal and organizational success.”
Power Up Operations and Strategy With AI
With an increasing number of AI tools available on the market, companies need to carefully review AI’s capabilities, security features, and reliability before introducing them to the workplace. IT and governance stakeholders are essential voices in the selection process and the development of governance standards for their use. Employers need cross-functional teams to experiment with AI tools to determine best practices and ensure the adoption of the most effective for each role and the business.
Too often, however, AI is used just for routine and manual tasks, rather than creative or strategic roles. From drafting emails, transcribing meetings, and summarizing documents to assisting with customer service questions, AI can free up staff for more human-centered tasks. But limiting AI to just these uses does not realize its full potential.
AI can also be integrated into skills forecasting and workforce succession planning to enable greater productivity and performance from employees. With 70% of survey respondents, who are seeking new job opportunities, prioritizing skill-building and 76% of active AI users interested in mapping their career paths with AI, managers should be integrating AI into traditional performance management processes.
Employees can utilize AI to identify skill-building opportunities for professional development, while managers can use AI to uncover performance insights and augment peer reviews to better guide their coaching and high-value guidance. For instance, the additional AI data can help managers create stretch projects for employees looking to sharpen specific skills. With AI, an employee’s goal-setting process can become more personalized and better aligned with their day-to-day work. Additionally, AI can create talent profiles and build skills libraries that the workforce can use to become more agile.
According to Jamie Aitken, vice president of human resources transformation at Betterworks, “Managers are vital to the future of work. AI doesn’t replace them; it amplifies their impact. By automating routine tasks, AI frees managers to focus on uniquely human roles like coaching, guiding skills development, and driving innovation. This transformation empowers managers to elevate their teams, unlock potential, and shape the organization’s strategic future.”
Forty-nine percent of respondents who were excited about using AI also fear the possibility of layoffs during restructuring, but AI should be visualized by employees and the company as a vehicle for further growth. The potential of AI is not in its ability to take over manual and routine tasks, but in its ability to enable greater performance. With the right AI tools, training, and strategic and governance structures in place, the report suggests that organizations and their leaders will build a culture of agile, personalized learning that ensures opportunities extend beyond just leadership roles. AI adoption strategies should embody a people-first imperative so that growth, innovation, and employee engagement continue to be dynamic.