Artificial intelligence (AI) offers employees new opportunities to accelerate work, but for many specialists in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the saved time does not always lead to a reduction in workload.
Despite 76 percent of workers in the UAE expressing enthusiasm for the changes AI will bring, compared to 65 percent globally, and 72 percent noting more opportunities for innovation than a year ago, the pressure to complete a greater volume of tasks continues to rise.
According to the Korn Ferry UAE Workforce Report 2026, based on the opinions of 500 professionals in the country, 70 percent of employees report a significant increase in their workload over the past two years. These results highlight a growing dilemma in the workplace: as AI automates routine tasks and opens up opportunities for innovation, are employees benefiting from increased efficiency, or are they simply expected to do more?
Najiba Suleiman Abubaker, Senior Manager of HR and Culture at Hotpack, believes that companies must ensure that the implementation of AI does not automatically lead to an increase in employee responsibilities. She notes that AI can simplify work by handling repetitive and laborious tasks, allowing specialists to focus on problem-solving, making better decisions, and performing meaningful tasks. However, she emphasizes that saved time should not automatically mean additional duties, and organizations must find a balance between efficiency and staff well-being.
According to her, HR departments need to collaborate closely with business leaders to assess the quality of work, set realistic expectations, and analyze workloads, rather than focusing solely on final results. Furthermore, managers require training to fairly distribute tasks and evaluate performance amid changing job roles due to AI. Employees must also understand how to use this technology responsibly, especially when dealing with confidential data.
Abubaker concludes that regular feedback helps HR determine whether the technology is reducing pressure or, conversely, intensifying it. Ultimately, AI should improve the human work process itself, not just the volume of that work.
Aws Ismail, co-founder of Onyx AI Solutions, believes the problem often lies not in the technology itself, but in how companies utilize the saved time. He states plainly that many companies simply fill the freed-up time with additional work, which is a management issue, not an AI one. If a person saves two hours and is then given two new assignments, nothing improves.
Ismail advises organizations to use AI to eliminate tedious and repetitive duties so that employees can concentrate on tasks requiring human judgment and interaction. For example, at Onyx, an AI recruiter handles initial call screening, allowing recruiters to spend more time communicating with candidates and stakeholders. In his view, the goal should be to increase productivity, not just efficiency and output volume.
He also believes that performance evaluation methods must change. When employees are evaluated primarily on the quantity of work completed, AI can only increase the number of tasks expected of them. Instead, they should measure the value they bring, and he believes HR should lead this process. Teams need to be asked what part of their work causes fatigue, and that should be handed over to AI first.
Ismail asserts that businesses must decide for themselves how the saved time will be used—to improve work quality, develop new skills, or establish a more sustainable pace. He stresses that AI represents a huge opportunity to improve work, but only if companies allow their employees to feel this benefit and genuinely enjoy using the technology, rather than just focusing on pure profit.
Shabil Ummer, HR Director at V Group International, points out that AI has helped employees regain time, not increase their workload. He argues that this only happens when one principle is followed: we must use AI, not let AI use us. Across retail, wholesale, e-commerce, and support divisions, company employees use AI for document drafting, data analysis, and report preparation. Tasks such as handling first-level customer inquiries, which previously took hours, are now done in minutes.
Ummer notes that the freed-up time allows workers to focus on customers, teamwork, and business problems requiring human judgment. AI also helps managers distribute project responsibilities more fairly according to employee capabilities. He believes organizations need to rethink the concept of a productive workday as AI integrates into daily operations. He insists that companies must change daily expectations, but the metric must remain work quality, not its quantity. A good day is defined by the value created, not the number of tasks completed.
For HR departments, the task is to ensure that increased efficiency translates into tangible benefits for employees, not just a new set of goals. In Ummer's view, HR's role is to set boundaries so that the time saved by AI is directed towards improving work, training, and customer service, rather than simply completing more tasks.
