Back-to-back meetings. Endless pings. Emails coming in so fast you barely have time to read them. Some days, it feels like you don’t have any time or energy to actually, well, do the job you were hired to do.

We know the feeling. And according to Microsoft’s 2023 Work Trend Index , the world’s employees and business leaders do, too. In our annual survey of 31,000 people in 31 countries, we found that the crush of data, information, and always-on communication is weighing all of us down. It takes work to do work. But with next-generation AI, it doesn’t have to be that way. Here’s what you need to know.

1. Digital debt is dragging everyone down...
If you feel like you’re always playing catch-up, you’re not alone. Nearly two-thirds of the people we surveyed—64 percent—say they struggle with having the time and energy to do their job. And when most people don’t have time for their basic job responsibilities, they certainly don’t have time to think up the next big idea. In fact, they’re 3.5x more likely to have a hard time with innovation and strategic thinking.

With the firehose of data, emails, chats, and meetings, time to simply get your work done is hard to come by. Sixty-eight percent of people say they don’t have enough uninterrupted time to focus during the day (one reason the average length of the workday has steadily increased over the past few years).

2. ...and wasteful meetings are part of the problem.
Ever sat through a meeting and thought: couldn’t this have been an email? Inefficient meetings were the number one productivity disruptor, followed by too many meetings at number three (lacking clear goals came in second). But people keep attending them, they report, because they think they’ll receive information to help them do their job better. It’s the ultimate inefficiency: sitting in one-hour meetings for one-minute insights.

With AI, meetings become more than just a point in time—they become a digital artifact made up of intelligent meeting recaps, transcripts, and recordings. You can engage and interact with them whenever and however works best for you, whether it’s real-time or after the fact.


3. People are worried AI will take their jobs—but they’re more excited for its help.
It’s clear we can’t keep up with the pace of work—and people are looking for support from AI. Seventy percent of people say they’d delegate as much work as possible to AI to lessen their workloads. That’s a lot more than the 49 percent who say they’re worried AI will take their jobs.

4. Get ready for those AI interview questions.
Eighty-two percent of leaders we surveyed said their employees will need new skills to be prepared for the growth of AI: when to use it, how to write great prompts, how to evaluate creative work, and how to check for bias. To stay competitive, it’s essential for employees to experiment with AI to build up their aptitude. And the sooner you embrace it, the sooner you’ll reap its benefits.

For more data on how we work now—and how AI can help—read the full 2023 Work Trend Index report .