The latest Hays Salary Guide, based on feedback from professionals and hiring decision-makers, details the disconnect. Only 22% of professionals and 23% of employers say they worry about their organisation’s ability to adapt to AI and other new technologies over the next one to three years.
Just 30% of professionals report being quite or very concerned about the risk AI poses to their future employment prospects. In contrast, 60% of respondents say they already use AI regularly at work, yet 78% say their employer has provided no formal AI training.
Hays APAC reports that employees increasingly recognise the need to build AI skills to stay competitive in their roles. Employers, according to the research, also understand the importance of AI capability, but many struggle to identify where to invest and how to embed practical enablement across the business.
AI adoption is happening informally and often individually, without structured guardrails or company-wide upskilling. Many workplaces are leaning heavily on tools staff have not systematically learned to use or manage.
