PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025 – Australian insights

Workers in Australia are weighing in on the hotly debated question of AI’s impact on productivity, growth, and jobs. PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025 shows that, although Australia is geographically distant from many major markets, it is totally connected to the rest of the world when it comes to the progress and sentiment about AI.  AI’s impact is growing and optimism about its potential greatly outweighs anxiety. This alignment with global sentiment matters: our workforce is embracing AI at a pace and in ways that are broadly in step with peers overseas, suggesting a consistent pattern in how people feel and behave as they start working with AI.

Yet this optimism is playing out against a challenging backdrop. Australia is facing a productivity malais: with population and workforce growth outpacing investment in business capital, housing and infrastructure. Australian Treasury projects structurally weaker income growth, with real gross national income per person expected to rise at less than half the pace of the past 40 years. In this context, AI is not a ‘nice to have’: when implemented well it is a critical enabler for lifting productivity and protecting living standards.

Our survey—one of the world’s largest, with nearly 50,000 respondents spanning 28 sectors in 48 major economies, including 1,225 workers in Australia - also shows daily usage is still relatively low and that leaders have big opportunities to unleash motivation and accelerate reinvention and growth.

Across our survey sample, which extends from senior management to the front line, 49% of workers in Australia say they’ve used AI for their jobs in the past year. Most of these users are already seeing the benefits: 72% say AI is increasing productivity and 70% enhancing the quality of their work. Those who turn to generative AI (GenAI) daily are the most bullish: more than 90% of these power users say they’ve not only experienced such improvements, but they also expect to see further advantages. Australian workers are nearly twice as likely to be curious or excited about AI’s impact on their work as they are to be worried or confused. 

But this is no time for complacency. Despite the growing awareness of AI’s potential, only 10% of Australian workers say they use GenAI daily, compared to 14% globally. Usage varies according to work type: 68% of office employees report using GenAI daily, compared to 12% among manual workers. But the average shows a decrease on the 19% we reported in 2024 and is significantly lower than estimates we often hear from executives.

An even smaller group - just 6% - report daily use of agentic AI, the next phase of GenAI in which intelligent systems can autonomously take on distinct tasks, including decision-making. Over a third of workers in Australia expect technology change will significantly impact their jobs over the next three years, seeing it as no more disruptive than shifts in customer preferences or government regulations. By contrast, 66% of daily GenAI users expect major job impacts from the technology.

Most workers still use AI tools infrequently or not at all

For Australian employers, these findings are a clear signal: our workforce is moving in step with global AI trends—and employers here face similar imperatives as their counterparts overseas. They can and should do more to help workers understand, adopt, and embrace AI’s transformative power. Employers may need to pay special attention to entry-level workers, a third of whom say they’re worried to a large or very large extent about AI’s impact on their future, even as they’re also curious (40%) and excited (29%) about its long-term societal effects.

Uncertainty about AI’s effects is exacerbating the stark reality that many employees are feeling overwhelmed. While 72% of Australian respondents say they feel satisfied with their work at least once a week (including 19% who feel satisfied daily), there are also signs of stress. More than half are dealing with financial strain, and nearly as many say they’re fatigued. This heightens the need for employers to cultivate trust, alignment, and a sense of safety in the workforce. We’ve said this before, and this year’s survey only reinforces the message: these aren’t passing concerns but are ongoing priorities employers can’t afford to ignore, heightening the need to cultivate trust, alignment, and a sense of safety in the workforce—challenges that Australian leaders share with their global peers, not ones they face alone. 

New to our survey this year: the use of advanced statistical methods to explore motivation—the fuel for innovation, reinvention, and growth. We find there are big payoffs in motivation when workplaces build trust, nurture skills, and offer meaningful work, strategic alignment, and psychological safety. Taken together, these findings suggest leaders should try to co-create the future with their people. They also highlight six key actions that can help leaders get started:

1. Acknowledge the uncertain future—particularly for entry-level workers
2. Address trust gaps
3. Inspire employees with a clear vision of the future
4. Create skill pathways
5. Motivate to innovate—and to reinvent
6. Treat security and pay as core motivators  

Trust in management is critical for motivation, but it’s uneven across the workforce. When employees doubt their leaders, energy and focus drain away. And as organisations race to integrate AI and other new technologies, anxiety and uncertainty among workers is spiking. In a turbulent job market, where churn is high and employees may feel vulnerable, trust in leadership can become a critical stabiliser. 

Globally workers who trust their direct managers the most are 72% more motivated (based on factors such as employees’ pride in their jobs, willingness to go above and beyond, and how much they looked forward to going to work) than those with the lowest levels of trust. Likewise, workers with the highest amount of trust in top management are 63% more motivated than those who trust senior leaders the least.

But for most organisations, there’s much work to do in building trust: only half of our Australian survey respondents say they trust top management. Employees put more faith in their direct managers than executives: 60% say they trust their direct manager and can speak openly with them. Trust in management is notably higher in the sectors moving fastest to integrate AI into work, such as technology and banking. 

Trust grows from reliability. Workers need to see leaders doing what they say they’ll do, but just 58% say this is true of their direct managers today, and only 50% say their top management lives up to this maxim. There’s also room for improvement in two other drivers of trust—leaders’ care for workers’ well-being and employees’ comfort in speaking openly with their managers. The latter is a particularly acute issue among younger workers, who report less comfort about speaking openly with managers than older cohorts. 

If workers are to make greater use of AI to improve productivity, creativity, and quality, leaders will also need to strengthen trust in the technology itself. As our ‘Value in motion’ research shows, trust-based AI strategies encompassing responsible design, strong governance, and robust cybersecurity will be critical for AI to achieve its transformative economic potential.

Where to focus

When it comes to AI and the workforce, there’s a great deal of anxiety and a barrage of information for employees to parse. What executives see as reallocating skills, many employees experience as a threat to their jobs and expertise. Management transparency can go a long way towards reducing fear and building trust—but it needs to be backed by a clear view of how prepared people are and where they most need support.

AI does not diminish the need for leadership; it amplifies it, because workers’ willingness to experiment with new tools depends heavily on the trust they place in their managers and executives. 

According to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, Australia’s overall Trust Index fell from 51 in 2024 to 49 in 2025, keeping the country in the distrust range against a global average of 56. So, while Australia’s workforce is broadly in step with global sentiment, there is a pronounced trust problem—with the pace of technological change widening both the trust gap and the skills gap inside organisations.

Many employees feel they have only limited control over how technology will affect their roles, and this sense of control weakens further down the hierarchy. In a context of constant disruption and heightened concern about job security, leaders should be explicit about what they know, what they don’t, and how decisions about AI and technology will be made. 

Use transparency and data to narrow the trust gaps. Senior executives tend to feel more confident than non‑managers about their ability to shape how technology affects work. Clear communication about AI’s purpose, how roles and tasks will evolve, and what support employees can expect—backed by diagnostics such as PwC’s Skills Scanner [link when made live on website] to understand capability and confidence across different groups—can help rebalance perceptions and make it less likely that employees experience AI as a threat rather than a tool.

Position AI as an enabler of employees, not a replacement. Insights from PwC’s Value in Motion work and the AI Jobs Barometer show that trust‑based, responsible AI strategies are linked to higher productivity and revenue per employee. Leaders should use this evidence to frame AI; AI makes workers more valuable not less, including at entry level, rather than purely a cost‑cutting play-otherwise they risk walking past opportunities for growth and new revenue streams and failing to harness the productivity and creativity gains they are seeking. 

Employees are more motivated when they understand their organisation’s goals and believe they’re attainable. The implications for leaders trying to take their workforce into the future: create a vivid picture of what the company will look like a few years from now and describe how those outcomes relate to employees’ day-to-day work and longer-term career development.

A standout finding of our survey is the revelation that globally workers who feel most aligned with leadership goals are 78% more motivated than those who report the least alignment. Many leaders in Australia are getting this right: in the technology sector, for example, 72% of employees say they understand their organisation’s goals. Among their peers in the broader workforce, however, only 63% say they have this understanding.

Employees are even less likely to say they believe in their organisation’s long-term goals and their leadership teams’ ability to achieve them. Misunderstanding and misalignment are greater among non-managers than managers.

If leaders articulate a consistent vision and link it to achievable milestones, they can build confidence and credibility—and avoid leaving a vacuum for fear or hype to fill. 

Where to focus

Close the alignment gap between leaders and non‑managers by translating corporate strategy into plain language and concrete examples that make sense for all employees, not just the top team—alignment with goals is a powerful motivator. Tell a clear, consistent story about the future that paints a vivid picture of where the organisation is heading and connects that vision directly to people’s day‑to‑day work and career paths, so long‑term goals feel understandable and achievable.

Embed AI in the broader corporate narrative—not as a standalone story—by framing AI initiatives within the organisation’s long‑term goals and ‘better future’ story for the business and its people, treating AI as one of the key tools for achieving that future rather than as a disconnected tech project to be weary of.

Be honest about uncertainty and near‑term ambiguity by acknowledging that many AI efforts are still in pilot mode and the exact path is unclear, using disciplined, repeated communication about priorities, milestones and expected impacts to strengthen confidence instead of letting fear or hype fill the gaps.

Workers who believe all of their skills will remain relevant over the next three years are almost twice as motivated as those who think their skills will have no relevance. Globally workers who feel supported to upskill are 73% more motivated than those who report the least support—which makes access to learning one of the strongest predictors of motivation.

Yet our survey shows Australian employers’ upskilling efforts are uneven. Again, the technology sector leads the way: 75% of tech workers say they learned new skills at work that are helping their career, compared to just 56% of all survey respondents. Also just 50% of non-managers feel they have the resources they need for learning and development, versus 75% among senior executives. And while 77% of daily users of GenAI at work feel they have the resources they need for learning and development, only 49% of infrequent users feel the same.

There are many ways for employers to address workers’ widely expressed frustration at receiving too little upskilling or too few chances to demonstrate existing skills. The advance of AI makes this imperative even more urgent: leaders should spell out which skills matter most in the future; connect them to business strategy; and create visible, equitable upskilling pathways. But just providing those pathways isn’t enough: without opportunities to test and apply new capabilities on the job, employers risk losing much of the value of upskilling.

Where to focus

Build meaningful, visible upskilling pathways by making it clear which skills matter most in an AI‑enabled future in your organisation, linking them to business strategy, and creating structured learning journeys that are accessible to frontline and entry‑level workers as well as executives, so the current ‘upskilling divide’ for non‑managers starts to close.

Shape a culture of curiosity, confidence and participation in AI by having senior leaders model experimentation with GenAI and AI agents, and by creating safe environments—such as small pilots and guided use‑cases—where employees can try, test and learn together, treating AI as something to explore rather than fear or quietly ignore.

Ensure equitable access and targeted support for those most anxious about AI by giving particular attention to entry‑level and infrequent AI users, providing tailored onboarding, coaching and manager support so these groups have the same opportunities to build confidence and move from predominantly ‘doing’ work to higher‑value ‘thinking’ roles as AI reshapes tasks.

Motivation thrives where employees feel safe and find meaning in their work. These cultural drivers are as critical as technology or skills to sustaining performance and driving innovation—especially in an environment of uncertainty and rapid change. Taken together with our findings on trust in leadership, this underlines the importance of keeping the human and AI agendas in balance: technology alone won’t deliver value unless people feel safe, supported and heard. 

Our survey finds employees with the highest levels of psychological safety globally are 72% more motivated than those who feel the least safe. To reinvent their companies as AI accelerates and value pools shift, leaders need to ensure their teams feel safe speaking up, experimenting, and learning from failure. But this is far from the norm in today’s workplace: only 57% of workers in Australia feel it’s safe to try new approaches in their workplace, and just 55% say their team treats failures as opportunities to learn and improve. 

Variation between sectors underscores their differing innovation pathways and risk appetites: technology and private equity workers are much more likely to report safety with trying new approaches, while asset and wealth management employees are far less likely to do so. A point of concern: across all industries, non-managers report notably lower levels of psychological safety than managers.

Our research on meaning at work reveals similar links to worker motivation. Globally, employees who find their work most meaningful are 91% more motivated than those who perceive the least meaning in what they do. Yet only about half of all workers say they’ve found meaningful careers. Managers are far more likely to report meaning at work than non-managers.

We also find workers with greater feelings of fatigue, boredom, anger, or being overwhelmed are 30% less motivated, raising important questions about how leaders can remove sources of organisational friction that sap employees’ energy and moods.

Where to focus

Organisations need to build the psychological safety required for innovation by modelling imperfection. Leaders must be transparent, openly sharing their own failures and the lessons learned from them. This creates an environment where employees feel secure enough to experiment, take risks, and view setbacks not as mistakes, but as essential learning opportunities.

Leaders must actively identify and eliminate the frustrating processes and bureaucratic hurdles that get in the way of meaningful work. Smoothing the path for employees directly improves their daily experience, combats negative emotions like fatigue, and creates the positive energy needed to drive change.

Inject a powerful sense of meaning by connecting daily work to the corporate purpose. Go beyond cascading top-down goals and actively help every employee see the direct line of sight between their individual contributions and the organisation’s mission. When your team understands why their work matters, their engagement and willingness to go the extra mile will follow.

Make internal opportunities visible, fair and easy to access by building transparent processes where employees can see projects and roles matched to their skills and aspirations, backed by clear criteria and support (such as coaching or mentoring) so workers beyond traditional talent pools feel they have a genuine, equitable chance to move and grow. 

Security, including job stability and financial well-being, is critical to motivation. Workers who are highly optimistic about the future of their role within their organisation are about twice as motivated as those who are not. Similarly, workers who are highly confident about their job security are 51% more motivated than peers lacking such confidence.

Pay is an important piece of the puzzle. Fewer than half of the Australian employees in our survey received a raise in the past year, and those who didn’t see a pay boost are markedly less likely to feel satisfied, inspired, or excited at work. For employers, that’s potentially a barrier to readiness for change.

We also found that 14% of workers can’t or struggle to pay their bills each month. A further 47% pay their bills with little or nothing left over for savings. Collectively, that’s 61% of the workforce experiencing financial strain—up from 49% who said the same in 2024.

Workers under financial pressure are less trusting, motivated, or candid: more than half say they trust their manager or feel they care about their well-being, compared with about three-quarters of those who are more financially secure. Without that trust, employees are less likely to believe leaders’ narratives about AI or feel supported through disruption. They’re also less comfortable speaking openly. 

Most workers didn’t receive either a raise or a promotion in the past year

Where to focus

A majority of Australian workers are financially stretched, which erodes the trust and candor essential for AI adoption. Leaders must treat financial security as a critical enabler of change and recognise that compensation and stability are not just hygiene factors; they are foundational to building the psychological safety needed to embrace strategic transformation.

PwC’s AI Jobs Barometer shows employees with AI skills earn a 56% wage premium over their peers—more than double the gap from last year. Leaders should embed this powerful incentive into the employee value proposition, making it clear that acquiring AI skills is a direct investment in their earning potential and career security.

To drive motivation, leaders must answer “What’s in it for me?”. Create the vision for employees on how  AI can create more engaging work, open new roles, and enable learning and progression. When AI is linked to tangible personal benefits, employees become active participants in the transition.

Expand wellbeing programs to include financial wellness. Trust is the currency of transformation. Build it by implementing a holistic, three-pronged wellbeing strategy that supports financial, mental, and physical health. Offering and normalising resources like financial coaching reduces psychosocial risks and cultivates the resilient, change-ready culture required for AI to thrive. 

The leadership challenge is not only to deploy AI - it’s to enable workers to be prepared, motivated, and aligned to embrace it. Our survey shows motivation is strongest when employees see a future for themselves and have access to learning; believe in management and its priorities; experience meaning, psychological safety, and positive emotions at work; and feel financially rewarded. These aren’t new priorities, but they’re even more important as leaders seek to energise their employees for the future of work. With trust, clarity, and cultural support, today’s uncertainty can become tomorrow’s AI readiness.