AI adoption is outpacing employee training creating workplace enablement gaps: Report

The latest Hays Salary Guide shows the technology profession is being tested by demand for AI and digital skills.

Some 60 percent of technology professionals are using AI, yet only 22 percent report receiving formal training or support, according to the latest Hays Salary Guide.

Srinivas Gutta, technical practice director, Adactin, is seeing this play out first-hand, with organisations “hitting a wall” trying to move out of the experimentation phase.

“The tools are in people's hands, but the governance, the frameworks, the training — that infrastructure hasn't kept pace,” said Gutta.

“We're having a lot more conversations with clients about building structured AI capability programs, not just placing people who ‘know AI’,” he added.

In-demand roles reflect digital priorities

The report found high-demand roles are focused on transformation, productivity and data-driven decision-making, with software engineers, data scientists, cybersecurity, cloud and AI specialists at the top of the list.

Gutta said this is consistent with what the business is seeing, with customers seeking professionals who can work with AI tools, not just alongside them.

“A software engineer who can leverage AI-assisted coding is a different hire to one who can't, and that's increasingly reflected in how roles are specified and what candidates are commanding in the market,” he said.

Bryan Rogers, CEO, Redd is hearing from customers that it isn't just demand for those specific roles, it's a broader move to bring previously outsourced capability back in-house.

“Organisations are wary of overtooling and of restructuring their operations every time the underlying technology shifts, so there's a real appetite to build that expertise internally rather than keep reacting externally,” Rogers said.

Skills gaps a structural problem

A persistent skills gap remains, with 82 percent of organisations reporting gaps in capability, while 57 percent of employees believe their skills are up to date.

Rogers said it's the times we’re living in, where the pace of technological change is outstripping the time it realistically takes to absorb it.

“If an organisation adopts new tools faster than it builds the structured training to support them, a capability gap is the expected outcome, not an unusual one,” he said.

Industry faces churn and uneven pay rises

More than 70 percent of employees have been in their role for less than four years, highlighting a structurally fluid talent market where movement is expected and ongoing.

Gutta explains the churn in these roles as structural, more than cyclical. “Movement is normalised in this sector,” he told CRN Australia.

“The organisations retaining talent best are those doing two things consistently: keeping compensation within a competitive band and offering genuine development pathways,” he added.

Average pay increases within the technology profession remain relatively stable at around 3.8 percent; however, outcomes vary significantly across individuals and organisations.

Some 42 percent of tech professionals saw little or no increase contributing to ongoing dissatisfaction and increasing awareness of external opportunities.

“The takeaway for employers is that salary benchmarking needs to be more granular and more frequent. An average can mask significant flight risk in specific skill areas,” said Gutta.

This divergence is contributing to ongoing churn, particularly among high-demand roles, the report noted.

“Professionals in high-demand roles know their market value, and when internal recognition doesn't reflect that, external opportunities become very attractive,” he added.