AI-Driven Changes at Work Taking a Psychological Toll on Workers, a New Study Finds

From the Editor’s Desk

April 13, 2026

A global study has found that work is now in a state of constant change due to rapid technological advances, with India feeling this more acutely, as roles, tools and expectations keep changing all at once. As workers are having to adjust, the pressure shows in how they feel, with 67 percent in India saying they are anxious about becoming obsolete.

The 2026 Human Progress Report by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), a U.S.-based non-profit organisation that also develops exams like TOEFL and GRE, includes responses from more than 32,000 workers in 18 countries, including India, to track how people experience changes in skills, technology and job structures.

As many as 67 percent of workers reported at least one major workplace change in the past year. In India, that figure rose to 86 percent. The study broke down workplace change into several categories in relation to workers’ daily life. Around 43 percent of workers reported changes in the technology or tools they use, 42 percent reported changes in the skills required in their field, and 41 percent reported changes in their job responsibilities or expectations.

The report shows that 71 percent of workers who experienced changes in technology also experienced changes in role expectations, while 70 percent experienced changes in collaboration patterns. This produces a cascading effect, where one change triggers several others, forcing workers to adapt on multiple fronts at the same time.

The report identified countries like India, Kenya and Vietnam as places where transformation is particularly rapid, driven by the spread of digital systems, automation and AI in several sectors. Rapid adoption has created opportunity, but it has also compressed the time available for adjustment. Workers are required to learn new systems, adopt new practices and meet new expectations within shorter cycles.

This compression can be seen in the barriers workers reported. Globally, 44 percent said job requirements changed faster than they could learn new skills, and 42 percent said they struggled to adjust to new technologies as they appeared. Learning seems to have lost its earlier rhythm of first acquiring knowledge and then applying it, becoming instead a continuous process that never quite feels complete.

The study suggests that the pressure on workers has intensified because institutional support has not kept pace with these changes. The report shows that 88 percent of workers expected support for upskilling, and 71 percent said they received it, leaving a 17-percentage-point gap.

The report also compared how important workers believed certain skills are with how capable they felt in those areas. The largest gap appeared in AI literacy, where there is a 19-percentage-point difference between perceived importance and self-reported proficiency. Similar, though smaller, gaps existed in communication, creativity, adaptability, growth mindset and leadership. These gaps suggest that the workforce is aware of what is required but lacks the means to reach that level quickly enough.

These conditions have affected how workers think about their future. A significant 69 percent said they had no clear picture of what jobs will look like in 2035. At the same time, 77 percent reported actively building new skills to protect their careers, though 49 percent still felt unprepared for next-generation roles, pointing to a persistent gap between effort and confidence.

This uncertainty has led to a redefinition of job security. The report found that 77 percent of workers now believe that security depends on continuous adaptation rather than long-term stability in a single role. In India, this is particularly visible, with 72 percent of workers reporting that they had moved away from seeking job stability and were focused instead on staying relevant. Security, in this sense, seems to have become something that must be constantly earned through updating skills, rather than something guaranteed by employment itself.

The study found that the psychological consequences were significant. Globally, 61 percent of workers expressed concern that their job could be disrupted. In India, this rose to 69 percent. Further, 58 percent of workers reported anxiety about becoming obsolete, a figure that reached 67 percent in India. Only 27 percent of workers felt very confident that they could anticipate changes in their industry, and only about one-third felt very confident in their ability to learn new skills quickly or adapt under pressure.

The report also found that 93 percent of workers globally faced at least one barrier to professional success, including keeping up with change, whether in learning new skills, adjusting to technologies or preparing for future shifts. In India, this figure rose to 98 percent. As a result, learning no longer seems to be a separate phase in a career, with workers updating their skills while continuing to perform their existing roles.

Amid these concerns, the report noted that overall progress continued. The Human Progress Index rose from 95.4 in 2025 to 96.7 in 2026, driven largely by improvements in access to education. The progress has been uneven, with women, older workers and rural populations lagging behind.

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