New findings report Australia employees spending 10 hours weekly switching between collaboration tools
More than eight in 10 employees in Australia experienced burnout in the past year in the wake of unmanageable workloads and exhaustion from various workplace tools.
The latest Asana State of AI at Work report revealed that 81% of employees experienced burnout in the past year.
This comes as 76% of the respondents said they have faced unmanageable workloads in the past six months, and 80% felt exhausted from collaboration tools.
According to the report, employees are spending 10 hours a week switching between collaboration tools, up from the six in 2024. They are also spending nine hours a week to learn how to use workplace technology, up from five in 2024.
The high level of burnout among employees comes as AI adoption in Australia stalled, with usage among workers remaining at just 46% weekly, down slightly from last year's 47%.
"While AI excitement is at all-time highs, organisations struggle to move beyond isolated use cases and nearly half of all executives (44%) report outdated work practices," Lindsay Buydos, GM, APAC and Japan at Asana, said in a statement.
Buydos warned that adding AI to the mix without a clear strategy will only create further complexity - likely worsening the mental health of employees who are already exhausted from newly introduced workplace tech.
"Business leaders should take a holistic view of improving work processes with AI supporting this journey in a scalable way," she said.
In fact, 72% of the respondents said they prefer if their organisation adopted a standardised set of collaboration tools.
According to Asana's report, organisations can take inspiration from "AI scalers," or firms that have successfully implemented AI across multiple workflows.
"AI scalers are improving worker happiness and productivity through better collaboration and thoughtful use of AI," Buydos said.
"These organisations are bringing everyone on the journey – from executive to team level – by investing in skills and education that encourage AI adoption across the business. These leaders know AI success isn't just about the tools—it's about the system and support around it."
These AI scalers are 12% less likely to have experienced burnout in the past year. They are also:
"This is about more than simply bolting on a new tech tool. Organisations are using first principles thinking to see how they can bring AI and human workers together to drive better outcomes," Buydos said.
