A new global survey from Korn Ferry paints a workforce that looks busy on paper but is quietly running on empty. The firm’s third annual workforce study, based on responses from more than 16,000 professionals across 11 countries, found rising workloads, eroding motivation, and AI tools that are adding to employees’ to-do lists rather than lightening them.
Busy, but not productive
The clearest signal in the data is a gap between activity and output. Sixty-two percent of respondents said their workload has increased significantly over the past two years, but 45% said they’re now too busy to deliver meaningful results, and 44% said they feel stretched beyond their capabilities. Korn Ferry argues that organizations have gotten good at tracking activity but have a much harder time connecting that activity to actual value — a distinction the survey suggests employees are feeling acutely.
AI is adding work, not relieving it
Artificial intelligence, often pitched as a productivity fix, is landing differently on the ground. Fifty-two percent of workers said AI tools have increased the number of tasks expected of them in their role, and just over half said they feel adequately trained to use those tools. That’s despite 63% saying AI genuinely improved their efficiency once they used it for a task — suggesting the technology works when applied, but is being layered onto jobs faster than people are being prepared for it. Korn Ferry frames the fix as experiential rather than instructional: workers need room to discover AI’s value themselves rather than simply being told it’s useful.
Doing two jobs, paid for one
As roles are cut or restructured around AI, the survey found the underlying workload rarely disappears — it gets redistributed. Sixty-one percent of respondents said they’re effectively performing the responsibilities of more than one role, and 39% said a lack of managers leaves them feeling directionless. Korn Ferry’s Jenna Young raises the retention risk directly: employees who feel permanently stretched across two jobs are a flight risk for a company’s strongest performers.
Motivation is dropping, and loyalty is shifting to pay
Perhaps the starkest single figure in the report: employee motivation fell nine percentage points globally in a single year. The survey ties this to a shift in what keeps people in a job. Compensation (85%) and job security (83%) now top the list of what workers say matters most in a new role — well ahead of any factor tied to the work itself. Korn Ferry frames this as workers no longer staying for the mission or the work, but for pay and stability, with employers still able to win back engagement by giving people something they can connect to beyond the paycheck.
Cost-cutting is squeezing out innovation
The survey also found a workforce that feels boxed in by its own organization’s efficiency drive. Sixty-four percent said their organization focuses more on efficiency than on exploring new ways to add value, and 52% said existing processes and structures are actively holding back their performance. Only 16% said their organization is effective at turning new ideas into real change.
Managers are absorbing the strain
Middle managers appear to be taking the brunt of these pressures. Forty-two percent of respondents said their organization has cut back on the number of managers, even as 49% report feeling exhausted by the pace of organizational change and 45% say they’re too busy to deliver meaningful work. Only 17% said they aren’t getting what they need from their manager to succeed — a sign that managers are largely still delivering for their teams, but at rising personal cost, according to the report.
