The majority (73%) of employees in Southeast Asia feel that leadership is disconnected from their digital needs amid high AI adoption in the region, according to Lark’s, “The Paradox of Progress – Why a Broken Employee Experience is Sabotaging Adoption of AI in the Workplace.”
Olivier Adam, general manager, Asia Pacific at Lark, said, “These findings should be a wake-up call. We are at a pivotal moment for AI adoption across Southeast Asia, but what this research tells us is that the foundation isn’t as solid as leadership believes.”
The human cost of digital transformation
According to the report, the human cost of digital transformation manifests across four critical fault pillars:
- The Efficiency-first bias: Organisations invest in departments that drive immediate cost-savings, such as IT departments (69%) and Finance (60%), compared to Employee Experience (48%) and Human Resources (47%).
- The Complexity Trap: 55% of employees lose three or more hours every week to digital collaboration inefficiencies, 71% feel overwhelmed by the volume of tools, and 54% are forced to check multiple platforms every hour to stay in sync.
- The Innovation Disconnect: 80% of employers claim to support empowerment, but only 28% of employees feel they have high autonomy to introduce new ideas
- The Sidelined Workforce: 80% of employees say they need more support in cybersecurity and AI productivity, but only 28% feel trained to innovate with confidence.
The report emphasised that the path forward involves a transformation driven by people, not imposed on them.” I am running a few minutes late; my previous meeting is running over.
“Organisations that will lead in this next chapter of digital transformation are not those that simply move fastest on AI, but the ones that also bring their people with them. That means being transparent about how AI is being used, investing in the people expected to work alongside it, and building environments where technology genuinely serves the workforce,” concluded Adam.
