There’s a stat that should make any mid-career PMET sit up. A Henley Business School survey (4 June 2026) found 63% of workers sometimes choose not to use AI tools in their role, even when available. The reasons were very human: caution, overwhelm, and unclear guidelines.
I get it.
If you’re responsible for numbers, clients, compliance, or people, “play safe” feels like the adult move. But here’s the career reality I see from the market side.
In 2026, AI use shows up in output. Faster turnaround, cleaner drafts, fewer errors, tighter documentation, better client comms. If your peer is quietly using AI to compress cycle time and you are not, the gap becomes visible even if nobody says “AI” in meetings.
And when restructuring happens, headcount decisions are justified with outcomes. If you can’t show results in terms of throughput, quality and commercial value-addedness, you look more like an overhead cost.
Don’t Be Too Risk-averse!
Henley’s survey flags a big organisational problem too: 60% said their employer doesn’t have, or they are unsure if they have, AI guidelines. That’s how you get two unhelpful extremes in the same office. Some people avoid AI completely. Others use it but keep it quiet, because they are not sure what is allowed.
Singapore and Asia-based employers tend to be conservative on risk, especially in regulated environments and regional HQ roles. So if you’re waiting for a perfect policy and a perfect tool rollout, you may be waiting until after your next performance cycle. The market does not reward intent. It rewards useful outcomes that other people can trust.
Employers are also telling you, indirectly, what they value. A Fed-backed CFO survey paper expects AI-driven shifts to reduce routine clerical work over the next few years, with losses concentrated in routine roles while technical work grows. It points to net white-collar job loss concentrated in routine clerical roles. You don’t need to be an “admin” to be exposed. Plenty of manager and analyst jobs are still heavy on routine output, just packaged as “updates”, “coordination”, and “stakeholder management”.
Zoom out and you also see how fast headcount can move when demand or funding wobbles.
Even if you are not in that sector, trackers like the Fierce Biotech Layoff Tracker (2026) are a reminder that once leadership decides to cut, nobody gets months to slowly “catch up”. The people who survive are the ones who are clearly tied to value, not activity.
This is the mid-career risk pattern I keep seeing.
A 40-something ops, finance, or product manager does solid work, but it is heavy on reporting, slide-writing, vendor emails, and status chasing. If they do not redesign their workflow, they become a high-cost human router.
That’s a vulnerable place to be when efficiency becomes the CEO’s favourite word.
Your ricebowl is protected by evidence. Start small, make it safe, measure it, and make it easy for others to trust what you produce.
Sources
- New survey finds AI acceptance on the rise, but workers remain overwhelmed and unsupported (Published 4 June 2026), Henley Business School
- Artificial Intelligence, Productivity, and the Workforce (CFO Survey paper), Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond (CFO Survey)
- Fierce Biotech Layoff Tracker 2026, Fierce Biotech
