May9, 20232023
Work Trend Index: Annual Report

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual ReportWill AI Fix Work?
The pace of work is outpacing our ability tokeep up. AI is poised to create a whole new
way of working.

Illustration by Jon Han withinspiration from Bing Image Creator1

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual ReportThe platform shift to
AI is underway and willcompletely transform theway people work. And for
many, the fix can’t comesoon enough. The paceof work has increased
exponentially—along with the crush of data,
information, and always-on communications.
People are struggling to shoulder the weightof it all, while business leaders feel pressure
to increase productivity amid economic
uncertainty. We spend more and more of ourdays separating the signal from the noise—at the expense of creativity. And the tax on
individual productivity is compounding,undermining organizational productivity
and global GDP.
AI can help to lift the burden. To date,
AI has mostly been on autopilot. Now, nextgeneration copilots will work alongside people,
freeing us from digital debt and fuelinginnovation. Organizations that embrace AI
will unleash creativity and unlock productivity
for everyone—ushering in a new wave of
productivity growth and value creation.

for AI-powered tools to help alleviate
digital debt, build AI aptitude, andempower employees.”
To ready leaders and businesses for theage of AI, we surveyed 31,000 people in 31
countries and analyzed trillions of Microsoft
365 productivity signals, along with labor
trends from the LinkedIn Economic Graph.
The data points to three urgent insights
business leaders must know as they look
to quickly and responsibly adopt AI.

“This new generation of AI will remove
the drudgery of work and unleash creativity,
said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO,
Microsoft. “There’s an enormous opportunity2

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual ReportThree Findings

1

Digital debt
is costing us
innovation

2

There’s a new
AI-employee
alliance3

Every employee
needs AI
aptitude3

12023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

Digital debt is costing
us innovation4

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual Reportw

e’re all carrying digital
debt: the inflow of data,
emails, meetings, andnotifications has outpaced
humans’ ability to process
it all. And the pace ofwork is only intensifying.
Everything feels important, so we spend
our workdays trying to get out of the red.
Nearly 2 in 3 people (64%) say they struggle
with having the time and energy to do theirjob—and those people are 3.5x more likely

to also struggle with innovation and strategic
thinking. And nearly 2 in 3 leaders (60%) arealready feeling the effects, saying that a lackof innovation or breakthrough ideas on theirteams is a concern. There are only so many
minutes in the day—and every minute wespend managing this digital debt is a minutenot spent on the creative work that leads toinnovation. In a world where creativity is the
new productivity, digital debt is more than aninconvenience—it’s impacting business.

52023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

The Weight of the Workday
With the balance of work hours
spent communicating, 68% of
people say they don’t have enoughuninterrupted focus time during
the workday.

Illustration by Manuel Bortoletti

62023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

68% of people
say they don’t
have enoughuninterrupted
focus time during
the workday.

Hours worked, workday span, and timespent in meetings have steadily increased overthe past few years—it’s easier than ever tocommunicate and harder than ever to keep
up. Taking a closer look at how people spend
their time, it’s clear that a lack of focus time,
the search for information, and the volume of
constant communications have an opportunity
cost. Sixty-eight percent of people say they don’t
have enough uninterrupted focus time during
the workday. And 62% of survey respondents
say they struggle with too much time spentsearching for information in their workday.
Across the Microsoft 365 apps, theaverage employee spends 57% of their timecommunicating (in meetings, email, and chat)and 43% creating (in documents, spreadsheets,and presentations).1 The heaviest email users(top 25%) spend 8.8 hours a week on email,and the heaviest meeting users (top 25%)

spend 7.5 hours a week in meetings.2 And thisglobal average includes frontline workers—for
knowledge workers, who rely even more on
digital communication, the share of the weektaken up by emails and meetings is even greater.
AI can tip the balance in people’s favor toreclaim time and energy for the important workthat fuels innovation.

Collaboration patterns in Microsoft 365 in a rolling
28-day period ending in March 2023 excluding
weekends. Time spent is represented by intentional
activity in Microsoft 365 applications including Outlook,Teams, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote.
Intentional actions include things like attending ameeting, writing an email, analyzing data, reviewing
or editing a document. Includes commercial users andexcludes education segment.
1

Data represents intentional meeting activity in Microsoft
Teams and intentional email activity (including reading
and writing emails) in Microsoft Exchange Online bycommercial customers in a rolling 28-day period endingin March 2023. Heaviest users represent the top 25% ofusers by duration. Excludes education segment.
27

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

Top 5 Obstacles to
Productivity
The data reveals an urgent needto make meetings more effective—
people report inefficientmeetings’ as their number one
productivity disruptor.

Survey question: In your current day-to-day
role, please rank the following based on
how disruptive they are to your productivity.
Illustration by Manuel Bortoletti82023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

Take action
Take meetings, for example. People reportthat the number one productivity disruptor
is inefficient meetings, followed closely byhaving too many meetings at number three.
Most people say it’s difficult to brainstorm
in a virtual meeting (58%) or catch up if
they joined a meeting late (57%), that next
steps at the end of a meeting are unclear(55%), and that it’s hard to summarize what
happens (56%). And since February 2020,
people are in 3x more Teams meetings andcalls per week (192%).
The data shows a clear need to makemeetings better. Today, only 1 in 3 people(35%) think they would be missed in the
majority of their meetings. But meeting
FOMO is real. Asked what makes meetings
worthwhile, people’s top motivation was, “I
will receive information that will help me do

my job better”—ahead of giving feedback,making decisions, or advancing their career.
With AI, every meeting becomes a digital
artifact. When meetings are more than a point
in time, you can engage and interact withthem when and how it works best for you,whether synchronously or asynchronously.

• Identify and address your organization’s
productivity disruptors with insights from
employee listening.
•R adically rethink the workday. As AI frees up timeand energy, protect focus time for the creative
work that leads to innovation.
•T hink of meetings as a digital artifact and notjust a point in time. Encourage people to leverage
AI-powered intelligent meeting recaps, transcripts,
and recordings to engage with meetings how andwhen it works best for them.

922023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

There’s a new
AI-employee alliance102023 Work Trend Index: Annual ReportA

mid concerns of AI
replacing jobs, the data
revealed an unexpected
insight: employees are
more eager for AI to lift theweight of work than they
are afraid of job loss to AI.
While 49% of people say they’re worried AI will
replace their jobs, even more—70%—would
delegate as much work as possible to AI tolessen their workloads.
“It’s fascinating that people are more excitedabout AI rescuing them from burnout thanthey are worried about it eliminating their jobs,”

said author and organizational psychology
professor Adam Grant. And it turns out
people are looking for AI to help in almost
every aspect of their work. Not only did 3 in
4 people tell us they would be comfortableusing AI for administrative tasks (76%),
but most people also said they would be
comfortable using it for analytical (79%) andeven creative work (73%). People are also
looking for AI to assist with finding the rightinformation and answers they need (86%),
summarizing their meetings and action items(80%), and planning their day (77%).

People also believe it can enhance creativity,from formulating ideas for their work (76%)
to editing their work (75%). The more people
understand AI, the more they see its promise
to help with the most meaningful parts of
their jobs. For example, 87% of workers increative roles3 who are extremely familiar
with AI said they’d be comfortable using
AI for creative aspects of their job.

In the survey, workers in creative roles were defined as
those working in a job function or department related
to product development, creative/design, or marketing/public relations.
3

And the AI optimism doesn’t stop there.

112023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

AI’s Productivity Promise
Amid fears of AI job loss, businessleaders are 2x more likely to choose‘increasing employee productivity’
than ‘reducing headcount’ when
asked what they would most value
about AI in the workplace.

Survey question: If the growth of artificial
intelligence (AI) in the workplace could leadto the following benefits, which would add
the most value to your workplace?
Illustration by Manuel Bortoletti

122023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

Take Action
The data shows that business leaders
are looking to empower people with AI
rather than replace them—they’re 2x
more interested in using AI to increase
productivity than to cut headcount. In fact,
reducing headcount was last on the list ofwhat leaders would value from AI. After“increasing productivity,” leaders’ top hopes
for AI are to: help employees with necessary
but repetitive tasks, increase employee
wellbeing, eliminate employee time spent
on low-value activities, enhance employees’capabilities, and accelerate employees’
pace of work.

“It’s fascinating that
We also asked employees and managers
people are more
to envision how work could change by 2030.
excited about AI
Their answers paint a bright future—fueledby AI. When asked what changes they
rescuing them from value most, people imagined producing
high-quality work in half the time (33%),
burnout than they
being able to understand the most valuable
to spend their time (26%) and energy
are worried about it ways(25%), and never having to mentally absorb
or irrelevant information again
eliminating their jobs.” unnecessary(23%). And with AI poised to remake work,—Adam Grant, author and organizational
psychology professor•B ring leaders together across the organization tocreate guardrails that help people experimentsafely and responsibly with AI.
•B e intentional and programmatic. Like any
platform shift, adopting AI at scale requires change
management. Pick specific disciplines, processes, andworkflows test and learn, and identify evangelists tolead the charge.
•A s you begin to adopt AI, deploy it where people
need the most relief based on your organization’s
pain points and challenges.

the future will arrive in months not years.

132023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

Work in 2030: What People
Want—That AI Can Deliver
Asked to imagine work in 2030,
people we surveyed say they’d mostvalue changes that saved themtime—like producing high-quality
work and learning new skills faster.

Survey question: Imagine how work couldchange by 2030. If you could make any of thefollowing changes to your work experience,
without any additional effort required onyour part, which would you most value?
Illustration by Manuel Bortoletti

1432023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

Every employee
needs AI aptitude15

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual ReportThe paradigm shift to AI
as copilot requires a whole
new way of working—anda new AI aptitude. Working
alongside AI—using natural
language—will be as
inherent to how we workas the internet and the PC. Skills like criticalthinking and analytical judgment, complex
problem solving, and creativity and originality

are new core competencies—and not justfor technical roles or AI experts. Leaders wesurveyed said it’s essential that employees
learn when to leverage AI, how to write great
prompts, how to evaluate creative work, andhow to check for bias. As AI reshapes work,
human-AI collaboration will be the nexttransformational work pattern—and theability to work iteratively with AI will be a key
skill for every employee.

Learning isn’t keeping up with the pace ofwork. Already, 60% of people say they don’t
currently have the right capabilities to get theirwork done. AI will open new paths for learning,and success depends on leaders equipping
employees for an AI-powered future.

16

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

New Skills for a New
Way of Working‘Analytical judgment,’ ‘flexibility,’and ‘emotional intelligence’ top
the list of skills leaders believe
will be essential for employees inan AI-powered future.

Survey question: Some believe that it is likelythat artificial intelligence (AI) will usher ina new era of technological advancements.
Which of the following skills do you think will
be most essential for your employees to learn
to evolve with these potential changes?
Illustration by Manuel Bortoletti

172023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

Take action

82% of leaders say theiremployees will need new
skills to be prepared forthe growth of AI.

And they’ll need to start building
those new skills today: there are 33x as
many LinkedIn posts mentioning topics
like generative AI and GPT than there
were one year ago. “We’re in the next
phase of change with the introductionof generative AI, and it’s already starting
to reshape the labor market,” says Karin
Kimbrough, chief economist at LinkedIn.
“While it’s still early days, this shift will
expand opportunities, create new roles,
and augment productivity.” In fact, as ofMarch 2023, the share of US job postingson LinkedIn mentioning GPT are alreadyup 79% year-over-year. And 82% of
leaders in our survey say their employees
will need new skills to be prepared forthe growth of AI.

•H elp people embrace a new way ofworking, starting with building AI
aptitude—from practicing prompt
engineering to fact-checking andverifying AI-generated content.
• Leverage learning resources andcrowdsource best practices from
employees as they adapt to AI as copilot.
• Consider how roles and functions canevolve alongside AI, creating opportunities
for reinvention.

18

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

The path forward
AI is poised to lift the weight of work—and has great potential to free people from digitaldebt and fuel innovation. And for both overwhelmed employees and leaders looking tobolster productivity, that promise is overdue. But AI won’t simply “fix” work—it will create awhole new way of working. Leaders will need to help employees learn to work responsibly
alongside AI to reap the rewards of the AI-employee alliance: more value creation forbusinesses and a brighter, more fulfilling future of work for everyone.

19

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

Methodology and
Audience Definitions:
The Work Trend Index survey was conducted byan independent research firm, Edelman Data xIntelligence, among 31,000 full-time employed or
self-employed workers across 31 markets between
February 1, 2023, and March 14, 2023. This survey
was 20 minutes in length and conducted online,
in either the English language or translated into
a local language across markets. One thousand
full-time workers were surveyed in each market,
and global results have been aggregated acrossall responses to provide an average. Each market
is evenly weighted within the global average. Eachmarket was sampled to be representative of the
full-time workforce across age, gender, and region;
each sample included a mix of work environments(in-person, remote vs. non-remote, office settings
vs. non-office settings, etc.), industries, company
sizes, tenures, and job levels.
Markets surveyed include:
Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China,
Colombia, Czech Republic, Finland, France,

Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan,
Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand,
Philippines, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand,
United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam.
Audiences mentioned in the report are defined
as follows:• Business Leaders/Business Decision Makers:
those in mid to upper job levels (i.e., SVP, VP, Sr.
Director, General Manager, EVP, C-Suite, President,etc.) and have at least some influence on decision
making related to hiring, budgeting, employee
benefits, internal communications, operations, etc.
• Employees/Non-Business Decision Makers:
employees who are not in mid- to upper job levels
and have no influence on decision making related
to hiring, budgeting, employee benefits, internal
communications, operations, etc.
•M anagers: Employees who manage at least one
employee as a direct report. Managers can be
BDMs or non-BDMs.

20

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

Appendix:
Key Global Trends
1. Digital debt
is costing us
innovation

Aggregated Totals

By Region

By Market

64% of people say they’ve struggledwith having enough time and energy
to get their work done and thoseworkers are 3.5x more likely to say
they struggle with innovation andstrategic thinking.

North America: 52%, 3.7x
Latin America: 62%, 3.7x
Asia-Pacific: 72%, 3xEurope: 56%, 3.7x

North America
Canada: 54%, 4x
US: 50%, 3.5x
Latin America
Brazil: 62%, 4.0x
Colombia: 61%, 4.6x
Mexico: 66%, 3.6x
Asia-Pacific
China: 78%, XX*
Indonesia: 76%, XX*
Japan: 56%, 2.6x
Singapore: 69%, XX*
Taiwan: 81%, XX*
EuropeFinland: 50%, 2.8x
France: 60%, 4.1x
Germany: 49%, 5.9x
Italy: 59%, 3.4x
Netherlands: 59%, 3.5x
Spain: 60%, 4.9x
Switzerland: 59%, 4.6x
UK: 54%, 3.8x
*Data point unavailable
due to low sample size.
21

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

1. D
 igital debt is costing
us innovation

Aggregated Totals

By Region

By Market

Nearly 2 in 3 leaders (60%) say they’reconcerned about lack of innovation.

North America: 53%
Latin America: 64%
Asia-Pacific: 65%
Europe: 52%

North America
Canada: 55%
US: 52%Latin America
Brazil: 57%
Colombia: 66%
Mexico: 61%
Asia-Pacific
China: 67%
Indonesia: 51%
Japan: 55%
Singapore: 70%
Taiwan: 62%
EuropeFinland: 51%
France: 44%
Germany: 48%
Italy: 42%
Netherlands: 56%
Spain: 60%
Switzerland: 58%
UK: 55%22

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

1. D
 igital debt is costing
us innovation

Aggregated Totals

By Region

By Market

Only 35% of people say they would be
missed by colleagues in a majority of
their meetings if they couldn’t join.

North America: 34%
Latin America: 45%
Asia-Pacific: 34%
Europe: 31%

North America
Canada: 34%
US: 34%Latin America
Brazil: 55%
Colombia: 49%
Mexico: 37%
Asia-Pacific
China: 17%
Indonesia: 43%
Japan: 18%
Singapore: 24%
Taiwan: 27%
EuropeFinland: 25%
France: 24%
Germany: 38%
Italy: 32%
Netherlands: 31%
Spain: 41%
Switzerland: 29%
UK: 31%23

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

1. D
 igital debt is costing
us innovation

Aggregated Totals

By Region

By Market

68% of people agree they don’t haveenough uninterrupted focus during
their workday.

North America: 64%
Latin America: 62%
Asia-Pacific: 74%
Europe: 63%

North America
Canada: 66%
US: 61%
Latin America
Brazil: 62%
Colombia: 60%
Mexico: 62
Asia-Pacific
China: 79%
Indonesia: 68%
Japan: 60%
Singapore: 82%
Taiwan: 80%
EuropeFinland: 66%
France: 64%
Germany: 58%
Italy: 63%
Netherlands: 63%
Spain: 62%
Switzerland: 69%
UK: 65%24

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

2. There’s a new
AI-employee allianceAggregated Totals

By Region

By Market

While 49% of people say they’reworried AI will replace their jobs,
even more—70%—would delegate asmuch work as possible to AI in orderto lessen their workloads.

North America: 38%, 61%
Latin America: 49%, 67%
Asia-Pacific: 58%, 78%
Europe: 41%, 62%

North America
Canada: 37%, 63%
US: 39%, 59%
Latin America
Brazil: 48%, 74%
Colombia: 51%, 63%
Mexico: 48%, 69%
Asia-Pacific
China: 58%, 83%
Indonesia: 48%, 75%
Japan: 43%, 62%Singapore: 67%, 81%
Taiwan: 69%, 88%EuropeFinland: 33%, 60%
France: 38%, 60%
Germany: 40%, 63%
Italy: 42%, 62%
Netherlands: 44%, 62%
Spain: 50%, 68%
Switzerland: 47%, 65%
UK: 39%, 58%

25

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

2. There’s a new
AI-employee allianceAggregated Totals

By Region

By Market

3 in 4 people would be comfortableusing AI not just for administrative
tasks (76%) but also for analyticalwork (79%), and even creative aspectsof their role (73%).

North America: 70%, 72%, 62%
Latin America: 76%, 84%, 79%
Asia-Pacific: 83%, 85%, 81%
Europe: 69%, 70%, 62%

North America
Canada: 71%, 74%, 64%
US: 68%, 71%, 61%
Latin America
Brazil: 81%, 88%, 82%
Colombia: 68%, 82%, 79%
Mexico: 79%, 85%, 81%
Asia-Pacific
China: 86%, 89%, 83%
Indonesia: 84%, 87%, 88%Japan: 66%, 71%, 61%Singapore: 85%, 87%, 81%
Taiwan: 89%, 89%, 86%EuropeFinland: 64%, 69%, 58%
France: 70%, 64%, 53%
Germany: 69%, 74%, 66%
Italy: 67%, 68%, 55%
Netherlands: 71%, 72%,
65% Spain: 74%, 76%, 70%
Switzerland: 71%, 73%, 67%
UK: 71%, 72%, 61%

26

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

2. There’s a new
AI-employee allianceAggregated Totals

By Region

By Market

Business leaders are 2x more likely to
say that AI would provide value in theworkplace by boosting productivity rather
than cutting headcount (31% vs. 16%).

North America: 30%, 16% (1.9x)
Latin America: 36%, 13% (2.8x)
Asia-Pacific: 32%, 17% (1.8x)
Europe: 29%, 16% (1.9x)

North America
Canada: 24%, 18% (1.4x)
US: 37%, 14% (2.6x)
Latin America
Brazil: 41%, 12% (3.4x)
Colombia: 35%, 15% (2.4x)
Mexico: 36%, 11% (3.2x)
Asia-Pacific
China: 33%, 15% (2.2x)
Indonesia: 41%, 11% (3.6x)Japan: 31%, 16% (1.9x)
Singapore: 30%, 20% (1.5x)
Taiwan: 22%, 17% (1.3x)
EuropeFinland: 28%, 15% (1.9x)
France: 26%, 16% (1.6x)
Germany: 28%, 16% (1.8xItaly: 27%, 12% (2.2x)
Netherlands: 27%, 18% (1.5x)
Spain: 35%, 11% (3.1x)
Switzerland: 31%, 22% (1.4x)
UK: 36%, 16% (2.3x)27

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

3. Every employee needs
AI aptitude

Aggregated Totals

By Region

By Market

82% of leaders say employees they hire
will need new skills to be prepared for thegrowth of AI.

North America: 80%
Latin America: 86%
Asia-Pacific: 85%
Europe: 78%

North America
Canada: 78%
US: 82%Latin America
Brazil: 89%
Colombia: 86%
Mexico: 87%
Asia-Pacific
China: 87%
Indonesia: 90%
Japan: 63%
Singapore: 88%
Taiwan: 82%
EuropeFinland: 74%
France: 71%
Germany: 80%
Italy: 74%
Netherlands: 82%
Spain: 79%
Switzerland: 79%
UK: 81%28

2023 Work Trend Index: Annual Report

3. Every employee needs
AI aptitude

Aggregated Totals

By Region

By Market

60% of people say they don’t currently
have the right capabilities to get theirwork done.

North America: 52%
Latin America: 53%
Asia-Pacific: 71%
Europe: 51%

North America
Canada: 50%
US: 53%Latin America
Brazil: 54%
Colombia: 50%
Mexico: 56%
Asia-Pacific
China: 77%
Indonesia: 61%
Japan: 56%
Singapore: 76%
Taiwan: 78%
EuropeFinland: 45%
France: 53%
Germany: 43%
Italy: 47%
Netherlands: 57%
Spain: 50%
Switzerland: 58%
UK: 52%29