UK employees lead on AI at work, and one in four uses it without their employer’s knowledge

London, October 15, 2026 – UK employees have embraced AI faster than their employers have built the structures to manage it. Research from Personio, Europe’s leading HR software provider for organisations from 25-5,000 employees, reveals that 42% of UK employees now use AI in their role, the highest of the four markets surveyed, and 26% of them do so without their employer’s knowledge, also the highest. 

These findings come from Personio’s annual Workforce Pulse report, which surveyed more than 3,000 HR decision-makers and 6,000 employees across the UK, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.

Unsanctioned AI use is hard for any business to detect, and it poses a data security threat. Across the four markets surveyed, 23% of employees admit to using AI without their employer being aware, and these shadow AI users are far more likely to be actively looking for a new role than non-users (67% versus 42%). Only 31% of employees say their organisation provides adequate AI support, down five points from a year ago.

“Internally at Personio, we’ve seen scepticism about AI fall once everyone has access and can use the technology themselves,” said Jordan Farry, Country Manager UK & Ireland at Personio. “Everyone got access to the most advanced tools, and we prepared them with training on how to use them well. People got started and built really good agents and automations that the whole company benefits from today. Access and training were only the starting point, and the work continues.”

UK employees are among the most positive about what AI can do for their work. 42% are excited about its potential, second only to Spain (46%) and above the European average of 40%. At the same time, 30% fear losing their jobs to AI, matching Spain and well above Germany (21%) and the Netherlands (20%). Across all four markets, a quarter share that fear.

90% of UK HR leaders use AI in their HR processes, yet only 16% have it deeply integrated with their people data. 

This is above average – across the four markets, 89% of HR leaders use AI in HR processes, but only 14% have it deeply integrated with their people data, and just 21% say that data is largely complete and accurate. 

HR teams with incomplete or inaccurate data are eight times more likely to say AI fell short of their expectations, and 65% of HR leaders have made an important decision in the past 12 months without fully trusting their data.

Farry continues: “UK employees have taken to AI quickly, and HR has followed: nine in ten organisations use it. But that is only skin-deep: just 16% have it deeply integrated with their people data. When one in four people use AI out of sight, HR makes decisions without the full picture. The most effective response is an HR team that has proper oversight and provides the right training. AI transformation is a people business.”

The data ambiguity affects how employees show up for work. Across the four markets, 64% of employees who always receive a clear explanation of how their data is used in decisions report high motivation, compared with 31% of those who rarely or never do. Similarly, 40% of the first group trust HR to a great extent, compared with 15% of the second. Those given clear explanations also feel more productive and are more likely to stay.

The research was conducted by Censuswide among 3,001 HR decision-makers and 6,000 employees at companies with 10 to 2,000 workers across the UK, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. The data was collected between 29 May and 10 June 2026.

Personio is Europe’s leading HR and payroll platform, used by more than 16,000 companies employing 1.6 million people. Founded in Munich in 2015, Personio has 6 offices in Europe with more than 1,500 employees. Personio helps small and medium-sized businesses run every part of HR from hiring to payroll, while equipping them to lead their organisations through the AI transformation ahead.