Betterworks: Employee AI Hesitancy Challenges HR Leaders
Betterworks' 2026 State of Performance Enablement report reveals a widening gap between executive AI confidence and employee readiness — and makes the case that AI success is a people-and-performance challenge, not a technology one.
4 min read
Betterworks, the performance management software company, has released its flagship 2026 State of Performance Enablement report, titled The Real ROI of AI: Empowering People to Align, Perform, and Grow. The research exposes a critical challenge for HR leaders: organisations are investing heavily in AI, but most employees are not yet prepared, supported, or aligned to use it effectively — putting business impact and return on investment squarely at risk.
The central finding is striking in its clarity: AI adoption is fundamentally a people-and-performance challenge, not a technology one. Success depends less on the tools themselves and more on how clearly expectations are communicated, how performance is measured, and how employees are supported in their growth and development.
The Readiness Gap: Executives vs. Employees
The data reveals a profound disconnect between how prepared leaders and employees feel to work with AI:
- 92% of executives feel ready to use AI at work — compared to just 51% of employees
- Only 8% of employees say their company has communicated a clear AI vision
- 49% of HR leaders rank AI use as a top influencer on employee performance — yet only 9% of employees believe AI skills have become more important to their personal success
- 90% of HR leaders say AI has redefined what "high performance" looks like — yet only 42% of organisations currently reflect AI expectations in employee goals
"AI is transforming how we work and the very nature of work itself. But no amount of AI investment will pay off unless we empower the people closest to the work. Performance enablement gives employees clarity, coaching, and connection so that strategy becomes action, and ambition becomes real impact."
— Doug Dennerline, CEO, Betterworks
Performance Management Is Lagging Behind AI Strategy
The report finds that while 88% of HR leaders agree AI has changed how performance is evaluated, half are falling behind when it comes to actually evolving their performance management systems to reflect AI-augmented work. When AI strategy is not connected to everyday work through goals, coaching, and development, adoption stalls — and executive ambition fails to translate into measurable results.
Nearly two-thirds of HR leaders say performance management is essential to preparing the workforce for AI adoption. This makes performance enablement the most direct and tangible way HR can convert AI ambition into real outcomes — by embedding AI expectations into goals, feedback, coaching, and development pathways rather than treating AI transformation as a separate technology initiative.
HR's Pivotal Moment in the AI Revolution
Human resources leaders are at a defining juncture. While AI strategy may be set at the executive level, it is HR that determines whether that strategy translates into meaningful everyday work. The report positions HR as the function best placed to bridge the gap — not by rolling out more technology, but by building the performance infrastructure that makes AI feel relevant, safe, and purposeful for employees.
A Reason for Optimism
Despite the disconnect, the report's outlook is cautiously optimistic. Employee fear around AI is declining and willingness to engage with it is rising. What is missing is not motivation — it is structure. Organisations need systems that make AI directly relevant to how people perform, grow, and succeed at work. When that structural foundation is in place, the report suggests the ROI gap closes significantly.
The full 2026 State of Performance Enablement report is available for download at betterworks.com.
Key Takeaways
- 92% of executives feel ready to use AI, compared to just 51% of employees — revealing a significant organisational readiness gap
- Only 8% of employees say their company has communicated a clear AI vision, creating a "clarity crisis" at the frontline
- 88% of HR leaders agree AI has changed how performance is evaluated, yet half have not yet updated their performance management systems accordingly
- Nearly two-thirds of HR leaders say performance management is the key to preparing the workforce for AI adoption — making it HR's most powerful lever
- Employee fear around AI is declining and willingness to engage is rising — the missing ingredient is structure, not motivation