Only 1 in 4 Employees Feel Equipped for AI, Skillsoft Research Finds

Skillsoft , a leading AI-native skills management platform, released the Skillsoft Workforce Readiness Report: AI Edition. The findings show that while AI is now embedded in nearly every workplace, most employees are not prepared to use it effectively.

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The findings show that while AI is embedded in nearly every workplace, most employees are not prepared to use it. Closing that gap requires a Skills Supply Chain™, a connected system for identifying, building, and deploying skills where and when needed.

Although 86% of employees surveyed use AI tools at work, only 24% feel fully equipped with the skills required to use them effectively and drive results. At the same time, 77% of leaders believe their organizations have set employees up for success, revealing a 53-point gap between how leadership perceives readiness and the reality for employees.

Beyond the perception gap, the data points to three structural shortfalls that help explain why readiness is lagging: limited skills visibility, training that follows adoption rather than leading it, and inconsistent governance.

• Skills visibility is nearly absent. Only 11% of employees report receiving formal skills assessments, leaving most organizations without a reliable picture of what their workforce can actually do.
• Training is out of sync with AI rollouts. Just 16% of employees receive training before new AI tools are introduced.
• Governance remains the exception. Less than 1 in 10 employees say their organization has comprehensive AI governance in place, while 21% say their organization provides no AI guidance whatsoever.

Without these foundations, leaders are making workforce decisions based on assumptions rather than data.

“Organizations cannot afford to confuse AI adoption with AI readiness,” said Ciara Harrington, Chief People Officer, Skillsoft. “When leaders and employees are operating from fundamentally different views of preparedness, performance becomes inconsistent at best and untrustworthy at worst. Closing that gap starts with treating skills as a business discipline and building the systems to align skill supply with evolving demand across the organization. Most organizations have established processes for hiring, onboarding, and performance management, but our research shows many still struggle to bring that same rigor to understanding what skills they have, building the ones they need, and deploying them where demand is greatest.”

Key Findings

Limited Skills Visibility is Creating Guesswork in Workforce Readiness

Without clear visibility into where skills exist and what’s needed, organizations cannot align learning to outcomes or connect skills to performance.

• Only 11% of employees report the use of formal skills assessments or benchmarks.
• 69% of employees are “somewhat” or “not very clear” on which skills matter. 43% of leaders say they are very clear on which skills matter.
• Only 28% of employees strongly agree that their job description accurately reflects their day-to-day work.

AI Adoption Is Moving Faster Than Training, Undermining Execution and Trust

Learning is available but out of sync with the pace of AI adoption, undermining confidence and performance. The biggest obstacle is not outdated content but time and prioritization.

• Only 16% of employees and 23% of leaders receive training before AI tools are rolled out.
• 59% of employees cite lack of time as the primary barrier to building new skills.
• 20% of employees are cautious about or do not trust AI tools.
• 31% of employees say AI guidance varies by team or manager, rather than reflecting a company-wide standard.

AI Is Changing Expectations for Entry-level Work

Respondents say AI is influencing the nature of entry-level work — increasing expectations and enabling more time spent on higher-value tasks.

• 29% of employees expect AI to reduce entry-level positions.
• 36% of employees and leaders anticipate a shift toward problem solving and collaboration, with similar shares expecting faster advancement.
• 45% of employees and 46% of leaders say training is primarily about building confidence in their current role, reflecting a workforce focused on keeping pace with AI.

As AI reshapes how work gets done, these findings make clear that the readiness gap isn’t a technology problem. It’s a workforce strategy problem. When organizations lack visibility into capability, fail to connect learning to business priorities, or operate without governance at scale, AI adoption outpaces their people. Closing that gap requires a Skills Supply Chain™, a connected system for identifying, building, and deploying skills where and when needed.

“The organizations that pull ahead won’t be the ones that adopted AI first. They’ll be the ones that redesigned work and built a system to continuously develop the skills required to leverage AI in a way that drives purposeful business outcomes,” Harrington said. “Traditional workforce systems help organizations manage employee records and workforce processes. What’s often missing is a continuous view of workforce capability, including what skills exist, what skills are needed, how quickly those gaps can be closed, and the impact they have on the business. Without that visibility, leaders are forced to make workforce decisions based on assumptions rather than evidence. That means moving from one-time training to continuous capability development and from ad hoc governance to a company-wide standard.”

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