Research

Few technologies have promised to give back time to workers at scale as directly as generative AI. Leading tech companies—often touting their own GenAI platforms—are quick to claim how their tools will strip hours of work drudgery by automating routine work, all without managers noticing. With these time savings, businesses have started downsizing their workforce and revamping their hiring strategies. But is that the right response?

Leaders may be betting on the upside of technology adoption, but true success will depend on how they reshape the time GenAI frees up for employees. Without intentional choices, the hours reclaimed by workers will quietly—and quickly—evaporate. What’s needed instead is a clear organizational strategy that rethinks how time is distributed, directed, and valued so those hours “saved” can turn into actual progress.

The GenAI Time Dividend

Early studies suggest that the productivity gains promised by GenAI could be significant. One study involving 20,000 UK government employees found that using Microsoft CoPilot led to an average time savings of 26 minutes per day, primarily in content creation tasks. Another randomized experiment with 6000 knowledge workers across 56 firms showed that CoPilot users completed documents 12% faster and saved over 30 minutes per week on email. Notably, the study found no impact on meeting time, which is still one of the biggest drains on time and productivity.

When scaled across an entire workforce, the math becomes staggering. Thirty extra minutes per day for a 10,000-person organization adds up to more than one million hours annually. Reinvested wisely, this time could lead to dozens of new product launches, deepen customer relationships, or open entirely new markets. But if the GenAI time dividend is consumed by more meetings or excessive email, then that’s akin to hiring thousands of employees only to assign them busy work (think attending unnecessary calls or creating status update documents on an overly frequent basis).

The Risk of GenAI Time Waste

The risk of squandering time saved by GenAI is far from theoretical. Most businesses already lose vast amounts of time each year to redundant processes, poorly designed workflows, and bloated meeting schedules. Organizational researchers have likened companies to “garbage cans” where problems, people, and solutions swirl together chaotically—often without senior leaders realizing what’s happening. If work isn’t redesigned, then any additional time saved simply gets dumped into this can.

Consider a tech company that deploys GenAI tools for every developer. Each one saves 30 minutes a day, only to have that half hour swallowed by another standing meeting. Multiply that across thousands of licenses—plus the cost of training and enablement—and the ROI diminishes quickly. In worst-case scenarios, the value equation could turn negative.

With companies investing heavily in GenAI tool deployments, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The business case collapses if reclaimed time isn’t redirected toward value-creating work.

Thinking Broader Than Technology

It’s tempting to view GenAI tools as one-half of a productivity formula—distribute licenses, gain extra hours. But AI experts caution that getting value from general-purpose technologies is rarely that simple. Their true impact emerges from a messy interplay of people, systems, and incentives. If companies prize activity over outcomes, overload employees with menial tasks, and fail to model smart time use, AI will become yet another accelerant of low-value effort.

The most pressing question for organizations isn’t which jobs may vanish due to GenAI, but what kind of work will create real value in a human-plus-AI workforce. Leaders need to ask themselves: Am I redesigning my company and culture in a way that makes space for more high-value creation? How am I rewarding these contributions so that employees do not slip into productivity theater?

From Time Savings to Value Creation

Time is an organization’s most valuable resource—and how leaders choose to invest their time will determine the winners of the AI implementation race. Without purposeful action, the GenAI time dividend will dissolve into churn, meetings, and distractions that pull employees away from creating real value for the business. The good news? Leaders can act with intention now to drive better strategy, innovation, and growth.

GenAI can save time, but the value of that time is neither automatic nor guaranteed. In the rest of this column series, we’ll illuminate the path from today’s squandered hours to tomorrow’s reimagined organizations. We’ll share guidance on redefining productivity, transforming time-wasting cultural and organizational habits, and redesigning roles and work to turn GenAI-freed hours into lasting advantage.