New research from Kore.ai, a leader in applying advanced AI responsibly, reveals that almost a quarter of the UK and US workforces are spending half of their working day (3-4 hours) on non-productive, manual tasks that could easily be automated.

Mundane tasks like searching or gathering information consume roughly 19% (1.8 hours) of an employee’s day, while there are scores of other areas where advanced AI technology like generative and conversational AI can help improve efficiencies by reducing human effort and enabling better experiences.

But lack of access to such advanced AI technologies is hampering employee productivity, leading to poor experience and lack of job satisfaction, even as global businesses brace themselves to compete in an increasingly unstable economy.

A large majority of workers surveyed report that access to the right technology and challenging and stimulating work are most crucial to their job fulfillment. However, organizations aren’t delivering this advanced technology yet.

The current workplace technology is more of a hindrance than a help, workers surveyed in the Employee Experience Benchmark Report 2023 from Kore.ai say, and at least one in three (31%) rate the legacy tools they use daily as ‘average’ or ‘bad’ in terms of ease-of-use, and in streamlining and simplifying their workloads. This poor experience only aggravates, with disapproval ratings rising to 48% for finance and 45% for HR tools.

The survey was conducted among 2,000 white collar office workers across the UK and the US this year, from small, mid and large companies with employee headcounts greater than 50.

As the technology evolves, generative AI in combination with conversational AI across various enterprise use cases, responsibly and safely, is expected to transform workplaces and streamline workflows so employees have more time to be productive and creative. By 2030, generative AI combined with AI-powered tools could automate 30 percent of hours worked today, predicts a study from McKinsey Global Institute.

In Kore.ai’s vision, every employee should have an AI-powered personal assistant that combines chat, digital and voice interfaces with an ability to process information, knowledge and take proactive action.

Currently, workers are held back by non-productive ‘microtasks’ that they want off their to-do lists and put in the hands of automation. This includes:

• Raising invoices or purchase orders – 48%
• Finding information or documents – 47%
• Raising an IT ticket or getting status updates – 47%
• Basic HR requests (e.g., holiday or pay questions) – 45%

“From the survey, it’s clear that employees are crying out for advanced AI-powered experiences to help get tasks done quickly, efficiently and accurately,” comments Kore.ai CEO and Founder Raj Koneru. “Of the use cases we’ve implemented for our enterprise clients, about 42% of those focus on employee experiences and companies have seen an average 30% productivity gain and higher satisfaction with AI-enabled IVAs assisting employees in day-to-day tasks.”

Recently, a customer experience benchmark report from Kore.ai reveals growing acceptance for IVAs among customers across sectors like banking, health, retail, travel, and telecom/cable/media as they increasingly rely on them to get prompt and relevant information while engaging conversationally.

Another report exploring the perspective of contact center agents, showed that 84% of respondents greatly benefit from AI solutions that efficiently handle post-call tasks, such as summarizing key details and generating accurate wrap-up notes.

The greater acceptance from employees, consumers and contact center agents for AI-powered solutions counters the narrative of AI technology replacing workers; instead, it underscores their strategic collaboration