30% of workers feel less useful

According to the latest study from Ionos, 41% of SMEs in Spain already use some AI tool in their daily processes. That, on paper, should imply an increase in productivity in these tasks. However, the reality is much more stubborn.

The annual report ‘People at Work 2026‘ prepared by the consulting firm ADP Research points out that despite this increase in the use of AI tools for automation, employees feel that they perform less.

The mirage of productivity. The ADP report asked 39,000 employees in 36 countries about how AI affects them in their daily lives. The result shows that among those who use AI daily, 30% say they feel very committed to their work. But that same group also reports feeling less productive than before.

Heavy AI users are four times more likely to feel like they are underperforming. The study itself admits that there is no simple way to measure real productivity of these people. In reality, they may work harder as has already been shown in other areas as in software engineers, but they feel that they achieve less on their own.

The fear of losing your job is still there. According to the same survey, in Spain, 15% of workers use AI every day, and 11% believe that this tool will end up replace him in his position. Only 14% of the participants in our country view the progress favorably.

Fear is not shared equally between generations. Nearly two in ten 18- to 26-year-olds use AI daily. Among those over 55, 33% have never tried it. A Funcas report estimates that, between 2025 and 2035, AI could end up to 2.3 million jobs in Spain. Above all, in administrative and data management tasks.

What the official data say. The European Central Bank has been closely observing the phenomenon for months and, according to its own analysisthe companies that invest the most in AI are not the ones that then they fire more. In fact, they tend to increase the number of hires. For now, technology acts as a complement to human work, not its substitute. No matter how much some companies put it as an excuse.

Another study, from the European Investment Bank, calculates that AI has increased productivity European labor 4%. The increase comes mainly from investment in tools and training, not from staff cuts. However, despite these signs, experts point out that it is still early to see the possible increase of AI in productivity data due to its low implementation and they attribute this increase to the other major impact on the labor market in recent years: teleworking.

Commitment yes, performance not always. Bárbara Gómez, operations director of ADP Iberia assures in a company statement that “AI is transforming the way we work, but its adoption alone does not guarantee greater productivity. Workers must improve their skills and become familiar with AI tools, understanding how they integrate into their workflows.” The technology change and automate processesbut it does not change results by itself.

Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, goes a little further. “AI changes the way we work but also how people in companies feel,” he explains in the report. His recipe is to stop seeing AI as a threat and treat it as “a companionanother member of the team.”

From saying to fact. Spain is no exception in the unproductive feeling of employees who use AI. The pattern is repeated in almost all the countries in the ADP survey. Regular AI users show less stress, better relationships with their teammates, but almost none say feel more efficient in his work.

The key may be in the curve learning these tools. Changing tools costs time, although in the long run it pays off and companies need an implementation period to improve your processes. Meanwhile, millions of workers remain caught between two sensations: using more technology than ever and feel like they are performing less than before.

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