This month's survey shows Australians are positive about AI at work, but low power-user rates show employers still need to turn that trust into capability.
Sarah Morton
Editorial Lead, Asia Pacific & Japan
Workday
Ask Australian employees if they trust their employer to use AI in a way that benefits employees (not just the organisation) and more say yes than in most other markets surveyed. Ask if they have hidden their AI use at work, and fewer say yes than anywhere else.
That is an enviable position for any C-suite leader. It gives Australian organisations a meaningful advantage—but only if they can turn trust into capability.
Workday’s August 2026 AI@Work survey polled 997 Australian employees, including 919 active workplace AI users, as part of a global study of 5,944 workers across Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and the US.
The results put Australia in a class of its own: the strongest workplace AI experience in the survey, the lowest level of concealed use, and one of the highest levels of employer trust.
But Australia also has one of the lowest power-user rates, with only 17.7% of employees using AI for most or almost all of their work. So, the next challenge for organisations is making that trust advantage scalable.
In Australia, 46.4% of workers trust their employer to use AI in a way that is good for employees, not just the organisation.
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In August, 59.1% of Australian AI users said the technology has made their day-to-day work better.
That is the highest of any country surveyed, ahead of the UK’s 57.9% and well clear of the global average of 51.5%. Only 7.8% say it has made things worse, against 15.7% globally.
This positivity also shows up in one of the clearest proxies for psychological safety: whether employees feel they need to hide AI use.
Just 37.1% of Australian AI users admit to hiding their AI use at work, the lowest rate among the surveyed markets, compared with 41.5% in the UK and 48.7% globally.
Employer trust follows a similar pattern. In Australia, 46.4% of workers trust their employer to use AI in a way that is good for employees, not just the organisation. That is ahead of the UK at 45.2% and the six-country global average of 42.0%.
In short: Australian workers are comfortable experimenting because they generally trust their organisations.
Australia is not behind on AI adoption. At 75.7%, its adoption rate is exactly in line with the global average.
But it is behind on depth: only 17.7% of Australian employees use AI for most or almost all of their work, compared with 20.8% globally.
That makes Australia a market of broad but shallow AI use. Employees are experimenting, but fewer are yet building AI deeply into how work gets done.
That more measured approach appears to come with a benefit.
Australia has the lowest rework tax in the survey: only 26.8% of Australian AI users lose half or more of their saved time correcting poor AI outputs, compared with 30.8% in the UK and 32.9% globally.
Australian workers also appear less willing to take AI output at face value. Just 40% agree they can rely on AI outputs without checking them, compared with 43.4% globally.
Australians are not handing AI the keys. They are using it, checking it, and keeping more of the value.
Only 28% of Australian employees report having several or regular conversations with their manager about how AI is changing their roles.
The catch? Australia’s AI momentum is not yet fully reinforced by structured training and manager dialogue.
Nearly a quarter of Australian employees have received no formal AI training from their employer.
Australia’s AI training reach is 76.1%, on par with the UK at 75.1%, but below the global benchmark of 80.5% and well behind France and Germany, where training reach sits at 88.3% and 87.7% respectively.
Communication is also lagging. Only 28% of Australian employees report having several or regular conversations with their manager about how AI is changing their roles.
That puts Australia level with the US, but behind France and Germany, where 34% of workers report several or regular manager conversations.
Globally, individual contributors are the least likely to hear from managers about AI: 53% have had no conversations, and only 7% have had regular conversations.
Without active manager engagement, lower-level roles risk falling behind while senior leaders capture more of the technology’s value.
Here’s what else we’re tracking month over month. Come back in October for new insights and trends.
| KPI | What it Measures | Australia | UK | Global |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI Adoption Rate | % of employees using AI for any part of their work, excluding “none of it” and “I don’t use AI at work” | 75.7% | 75.3% | 75.7% |
| Power-User / Heavy-Use Rate | % using AI for “most” or “almost all” of their work | 17.7% | 17.1% | 20.8% |
| Agentic Task Delegation Rate | % of AI users who have let an AI tool complete a task fully autonomously with little or no input at least once | 63.0% | 64.5% | 71.0% |
| AI “Rework Tax” | % of AI users who say 50%+ of their time savings is eaten up fixing or reworking low-quality AI output | 26.8% | 30.8% | 32.9% |
| Trust in AI Output Accuracy | % who agree or strongly agree they can rely on AI outputs without close checking | 40.0% | 41.9% | 43.4% |
| Shadow AI / Concealment Rate | % of AI users who deliberately hid their AI use on a work task | 37.1% | 41.5% | 48.7% |
| AI + Work Experience Sentiment Score | % saying AI made day-to-day work better minus % saying it made it worse | +51.3 pts | +48.6 pts | +35.9 pts |
| Employer AI-Trust Score | % who somewhat or strongly trust their employer to use AI in a way that benefits employees, not just the organisation | 46.4% | 45.2% | 42.0% |
| Career Confidence Gap | % agreeing AI will create new opportunities minus % agreeing AI will make current skills less valuable | +3.8 pts | +2.5 pts | +3.8 pts |
| Training | % of employees who have received AI training from their employer | 76.0% | 75.0% | ~80.5% |
Source: Workday August 2026 AI@Work survey. Global results represent the six countries surveyed.
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