Singapore employees are embracing AI – but not company-provided ones

[SINGAPORE] Amid the national push to help workers be artificial intelligence (AI)-ready, a new study has found that employees here are already turning to AI to stay productive, with 68 per cent using it frequently at work. However, only 14 per cent use company-provided tools exclusively – among the lowest in compliance globally.

The Qualtrics 2026 Employee Experience Trends Report found that 79 per cent of employees in Singapore experienced significant organisational change in the past year, one of the highest rates worldwide. In response, they’re embracing AI at scale, with 69 per cent using AI to improve work quality versus 58 per cent globally.

Yet, less than half (42 per cent) experienced new technologies or tools in the past year – the same as the global metric – revealing a stark gap between employee AI success and organisational technology investment.

The report by the US-based experience management company surveyed 1,000 workers here in September and October 2025, as part of a global study of over 33,000 workers across 24 countries.

Steve Bennetts, Qualtrics’ Asia-Pacific head of growth and strategy for employee experience, said workers are prioritising results and bypassing their organisation’s internal policies because the approved tools simply aren’t there.

“While many organisations spend time navigating the complexities of AI governance and data security, their employees are turning to accessible, consumer-grade AI tools to get the job done,” he told The Business Times.

“The risk here is that when an organisation moves too slowly, it creates a ‘shadow AI’ environment resulting in the exact data security and compliance risks organisations were trying to avoid.”

As to fears that AI may exacerbate inequality and displace jobs, Bennetts said Qualtric’s data paints a more optimistic picture than the narrative suggests.

“In Singapore, 57 per cent of employees feel hopeful or excited about AI (versus 49 per cent globally), and 41 per cent (above the 37 per cent global average) say it enables them to do things they previously couldn’t. This isn’t reflective of a workforce scared of being replaced by AI, but rather one that’s willing and actively using AI to deliver more value.”

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But employers have to close the gap between employees who have access to effective AI tools and those who don’t. Otherwise, a productivity divide will emerge, “which is where inequality concerns become legitimate”.

“Singapore’s national AI agenda is encouraging,” he said. “But that ambition needs to be matched by employers actually equipping their people, not just the most tech-savvy employees figuring it out on their own.”

Listening critical during organisational change

The same survey also found that during organisational change, Singapore companies that increased how often they listened to employees saw 86 per cent engagement – meaning commitment to their organisation, motivation in their work and willingness to go above and beyond in their role.

But those that reduced listening saw engagement fall to just 35 per cent, with intent to stay dropping to 32 per cent (versus 47 per cent globally). Even maintaining the same level of listening leads to intent to stay at just 54 per cent (versus 64 per cent globally).

This suggests Singapore employees have higher expectations for “proactive listening investment”, which is a deliberate increase in the frequency, breadth and depth of how organisations gather, listen to and act on employee feedback.

“Investing in this kind of listening programme means organisations are committing resources to analysing data, sharing findings transparently and taking visible action,” said Bennetts, noting that 40 per cent of Singapore employees want their leaders to listen more.

Instead of relying on just a once-a-year engagement survey, organisations should start embedding short, targeted pulse surveys at key moments in the employee journey, for example, after a restructure, a technology roll-out or a policy change.

“Technology has made this far more scalable and affordable than it was even just a few years ago.”

And since employees need to see changes as a result of their feedback, companies have to close the loop visibly.

“Our data shows that when employees see their feedback actually changing the way a company operates, engagement and retention soar. In a cost-conscious environment, there is no higher return on investment than that.”