Companies risk losing their most AI-savvy employees while leaving majority behind

🎯 Impact Sentiment: Concerning

📋 Summary

• PwC's 2026 Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey, published September 29, interviewed 49,364 workers in 48 countries and found that 64% used AI at work in the past year, up 10 points, while only 51% can access the learning resources they need, down from 59%.
• Daily generative-AI use rose from 14% to 22%, and daily AI users are more confident in job security (68% versus 57% for infrequent users) and more likely to trust management and ask for a promotion.
• PwC splits the workforce into front-runners (14%), AI insurgents (18%), indispensables (11%), and an engine room of 56% whose skills are less scarce and who are not far along the AI learning curve; only two in five of that majority say they have the learning resources they need.
• Almost a third (29%) of front-runners with scarce skills and strong AI capability say they are very or extremely likely to change employer in the next year.

💡 JR Insights

• 💼 Implication: AI skill is becoming a retention and promotion advantage, while most workers are not getting the training that would let them keep up.
• 🚨 Risk: If you are in the majority without structured AI learning, you can fall behind colleagues who use AI daily and who are also more mobile in the job market.
• ✨ Takeaway: Ask for protected learning time and a concrete AI task in your current role, and keep evidence of the skills you build in case you need to move.