UK office personnel could regain nearly half of a standard eight-hour workday through artificial intelligence, according to new research commissioned by Salesforce and carried out by IDC.
The findings, first reported by City A.M., suggest that employees in the UK who use AI estimate an average time saving of 48 per cent of their day — compared with a global average of 41 per cent. The results imply that automation is evolving from a task-based helper into a reshaping force for daily work.
Zahra Bahrololoumi, Chief Executive of Salesforce UK & Ireland, told City A.M.: “Companies can expand and return to productivity at scale with digital labour, but benefits will not arise simply from adding AI.”
She added that measurable results depend on “trusted data and targeted upskilling,” emphasising that “when those components are present, the UK’s £159 billion AI investment could yield measurable results. We’re discussing enhanced customer satisfaction, reduced costs, and real-time returns to workers.”
Bahrololoumi said Salesforce is intensifying its UK investment to help position the country as a global hub for AI and data innovation. The company plans to invest $6 billion through 2030, expanding its London AI Centre, funding R&D teams, and supporting startups developing AI for business workflows.
The IDC study also found that UK businesses are increasingly combining traditional robotic process automation with newer agentic systems — autonomous AI agents capable of managing complex workflows. These tools are already visible across retail, financial services, and customer-service environments, handling debt resolution, providing financial guidance, and speeding up complaint processing.
“AI must be regarded as labour, not merely software,” Bahrololoumi told City A.M. “If AI is utilised effectively, it can change work from a tedious routine into something more intelligent. But if misused, it’s merely a flashy substitute for human labour that offers no real value.” She added that agentic AI “necessitates governance, ongoing evaluation, and human oversight.”
A fast-moving curve —
The scale of the 2025 finding stands in sharp contrast to Salesforce’s own expectations two years ago. In 2023, one of the company’s reports found that marketers predicted saving just five hours per week using AI tools — roughly one-tenth of today’s estimate.
Since then, AI adoption has accelerated as large-language models have become embedded in everyday platforms. In June 2025, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said that AI now accounts for between 30 and 50 per cent of the company’s internal workload, spanning functions from software engineering to customer engagement.
However, these figures stand in stark contrast to more modest data reported elsewhere in independent trials and studies. A 2025 trial in the UK civil service found that generative-AI tools saved users around 26 minutes per day — the equivalent of roughly two working weeks per year. Additionally, a study published in October 2025 by London School of Economics suggests that employees using AI save on average 7.5 hours per week.
In any case, industry bodies warn that governance has yet to catch up. A quarter of UK companies deploying AI still lack clear oversight mechanisms or data-protection frameworks, according to recent compliance audits. Meanwhile, employees in routine or entry-level roles face growing pressure as repetitive work is absorbed by automation — even as demand rises for critical thinking and decision-making skills.
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