Cornerstone OnDemand, a provider of workforce readiness and AI-powered talent solutions, has released new research showing organisations across Australia and New Zealand are facing significant financial losses linked to workforce capability gaps, low AI preparedness, and cultural disconnects between leadership teams and employees.
The findings, validated by Great Place To Work Australia & New Zealand, reveal that organisations with 1,000 employees are losing an estimated AUD $1.64 million annually in Australia and NZD $1.33 million annually in New Zealand due to preventable workforce issues including employee attrition, absenteeism and underdeveloped internal capability.
The report, The Hidden Number: The Economic Value of Culture and Capability, highlights what researchers describe as a widening gap between executive perception and employee reality, particularly around AI readiness and workforce transformation initiatives.
According to the research:
- HR leaders in ANZ rated workforce capability at 80.5 out of 100, while employees rated it significantly lower at 65.6.
- 96% of HR leaders said they were confident in their organisation’s AI readiness, yet fewer than half of employees agreed.
- Approximately 85% of workforce-related economic losses stemmed from retention and absenteeism rather than recruitment inefficiencies.
- Capability gaps increased significantly in larger enterprises, where leadership trust and workforce mobility challenges become more pronounced.
The findings come as enterprises across the region continue accelerating AI adoption, digital transformation projects and workforce restructuring programs.
Newly appointed Vice President of Asia-Pacific & Japan at Cornerstone, Brenton Smith, said many organisations are still measuring financial outcomes without visibility into the workforce conditions influencing performance.
“For years, organisations have focused heavily on productivity, revenue and operational efficiency, but have lacked visibility into the workforce capability conditions underpinning those outcomes,” Smith said.
“This research quantifies something many executives are now experiencing firsthand — the financial impact of low workforce confidence, preventable attrition and poor AI preparedness.”
“As AI adoption accelerates, workforce readiness is rapidly becoming a board-level technology and business issue.” he said.
Rebecca Moulynox, General Manager at Great Place To Work Australia & New Zealand, said organisations with higher levels of trust, career visibility and psychological safety consistently outperform peers on retention and productivity metrics.
“The challenge for many organisations is no longer setting cultural aspirations. It’s ensuring employees genuinely experience those initiatives in practice,” Moulynox said.
The report also references a separate Cornerstone study conducted across the United States and United Kingdom, which found 46% of employees were already using AI tools at work without formal employer training, while 65% were developing AI skills independently outside working hours to remain competitive.
Alongside the research, Cornerstone announced the launch of Cornerstone Workforce AI™, a workforce intelligence platform designed to help organisations identify workforce capability gaps, improve skills visibility, and support AI readiness initiatives at enterprise scale.
The platform combines workforce data, labour market intelligence and AI-driven skills analysis through the company’s Cornerstone People Graph™ and Skills Engine technologies.
The research was based on responses from 452 leaders and 780 employees across Australia and New Zealand, surveyed by YouGov in December 2025.
● Visit: https://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/
About Cornerstone
At Cornerstone, we believe in AI that works in the service of people, amplifying their judgment to drive high-performing, future-ready organizations forward.
Cornerstone Workforce AI™, the intelligence platform for workforce readiness, brings together workforce and labor market data into a proprietary Cornerstone People Graph™, translating signals into intelligence, targeting learning where it matters, developing critical skills, and surfacing hidden talent.
Delivered as an open, enterprise platform across whatever application your people work in every day, Cornerstone Workforce AI is built for scale, security, and trust, with certified AI guardrails.
As an industry leader, Cornerstone is helping approximately 7,000 organizations, 140M+ users, across 186 countries build continuous workforce readiness.
