Accenture's latest Pulse of Change study reveals executives are entering 2026 bullish on AI, with 86% planning higher investment. However, there are significant concerns expressed by skeptical employees which could slow adoption.
Why it matters: Leaders call AI a strategic necessity regardless of returns and about three-quarters now see AI driving revenue growth over cost savings. Yet only 12% of executives cite ROI as the primary driver for their investment, which may make it harder to justify HR implementations.
Workforce gap: Leaders think they communicate clearly, but only 18% of employees strongly agreed – and more than half reported poor AI outputs wasted their time.
- More concerning was the gap on training – despite significant company investments, only 40% of workers say training prepared them for role changes, and just 20% feel involved in shaping how AI transforms their work.
The structural problem: Companies are redesigning processes without redesigning roles. About one-fifth are overhauling workflows, but under 10% are rethinking jobs themselves.
- Agents are seen as the next frontier, but only 32% of employees work with them regularly and there is still concern about quality – when compared to last year, employees reported less willingness to go to AI first over asking a colleague.
HR’s opportunity: A reassuring 79% of employees said they’ve experienced a positive change in their ability to learn and innovate, but only 43% said clear training would give them more AI confidence.
- When combined with the 40% who said they did not feel training prepared them for role changes, it seems there is a barrier other than training which is preventing full-scale adoption.
The bottom line: Accenture concludes that “skilling alone is failing to build readiness” because of the lack of a clear vision. The goal for 2026 may be to “turn early impact into lasting value” by addressing some of the gaps.
