Connect with us

Technology

Nearly Half of Canadian Workers Feel Guilty Using AI at Work, New Employment Hero Research Finds

Published

1 day ago

on

More than half (56%) of Gen Z workers feel guilty using AI at work Almost half of all workers (43%) feel guilty and 39% say using AI feels like cheating34% are hiding AI usage from their employer

TORONTO, July 7, 2026 /CNW/ – Today, Employment Hero, the global AI-powered employment platform, released new data pointing to a growing workplace paradox: AI is quickly becoming an essential skill, yet many Canadian workers continue to associate its use with guilt, uncertainty and even cheating.

Employment Hero’s newly released AI Paradox Report found that 43% of Canadian workers feel guilty using AI to produce work, rising to 56% among Gen Z workers.. Nearly four in ten (39%) believe using AI to complete parts of their job feels like cheating, while more than one-third (34%) admit hiding their AI use from their employer. Furthermore, almost half of businesses (45%) believe employees are using personal AI accounts at work – highlighting the growing challenge of “shadow AI.”

The findings suggest Canada’s AI challenge is no longer simply whether employees will adopt the technology. It is whether organizations can create workplace cultures where employees feel confident using AI openly, responsibly and effectively.

The research suggests the issue isn’t a lack of willingness to adopt AI – it’s a lack of confidence and support. Only 41% of Canadian workers believe their AI skills are sufficient for an AI-driven labour market, while 60% rate their AI competence as low to average. More than half (51%) say their employer does little or nothing to develop AI skills, leaving many workers to educate themselves. In fact, 58% have learned AI skills through social media.

The findings come as the federal government looks to improve AI literacy and adoption through its AI for All strategy, underscoring the role employers will need to play in helping workers build confidence and capability.

Chris Pinkerton, Managing Director at Employment Hero Canada, says AI guilt highlights a workplace challenge that businesses have an opportunity to solve.

“This research shows that Canada’s challenge isn’t AI adoption – it’s AI confidence,” said Pinkerton. “Workers already recognize AI is becoming an essential workplace skill, but many still feel they need to hide using it because they don’t have clear guidance or confidence in what’s acceptable. The organizations that will succeed won’t simply be the ones adopting AI fastest–they’ll be the ones that create a culture where employees feel empowered to use it responsibly, transparently, and confidently.”

To help Canadian businesses turn AI guilt into AI confidence, Employment Hero has developed practical guidance for both employers and employees.

For employers:

Be clear about where AI is encouraged. Remove uncertainty by setting clear expectations around which tasks AI can support, where human judgement is essential and which tools employees are approved to use.Normalize talking about AI. Encourage employees to openly discuss when and how they’ve used AI, making transparency part of everyday work rather than something to hide.Invest in AI literacy. As AI becomes an essential workplace skill, give employees the training, guidance and policies they need to use it confidently, responsibly and securely.Create room to experiment. Give employees opportunities to safely test AI on low-risk tasks so they can build confidence without compromising quality or sensitive information.Position AI as a career skill. Frame AI as a capability that strengthens productivity and future employability, not as a shortcut or a replacement for human expertise.

For employees:

Ask where AI fits into your role. Have conversations with your manager about when AI is appropriate, where additional review is needed and what responsible use looks like.Be transparent about AI use. If AI helped shape a draft, brainstorm ideas or summarize information, explain how it supported your work to help build trust.Always apply human judgement. Treat AI as a starting point rather than a finished product. Check facts, context and tone before sharing your work.Protect confidential information. Only use approved AI tools and never upload sensitive customer, commercial or personal information into unauthorized platforms.Keep building your AI skills. AI literacy is becoming an increasingly valuable career skill. Take advantage of training opportunities and continue developing your knowledge as the technology evolves.

As Canada accelerates its focus on AI adoption and workforce readiness, Employment Hero says businesses have an opportunity to ensure employees develop one of today’s most valuable workplace skills openly rather than in the shadows.

Media Contact
Sean Benmor
NATIONAL Public Relations
sbenmor@national.ca
416-676-6482

Megan Felsing
Communications Lead, Employment Hero
megan.felsing@employmenthero.com
587-575-5273

About Employment Hero

Employment Hero is the global authority on employment, offering a world-leading Employment Operating System (eOS) that simplifies and optimizes every stage of the employment process. Its award-winning platform combines HR, payroll, recruitment, and employee engagement tools with the groundbreaking employment superapp, EH Work, which integrates career management and financial wellbeing. Serving over 350,000 businesses and managing more than 2.5 million employees worldwide, Employment Hero reduces administrative burdens by up to 80%, enabling organizations to focus on their goals and create more productive, engaged teams. By revolutionising the employment marketplace, Employment Hero is making employment easier, more valuable and rewarding for everyone.

About the research

Employment Hero, The AI Paradox at Work (2026). Survey of 3,290 business leaders and 5,454 workers across Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK. Conducted with Research Tech company Focaldata between 23rd April – 7th May. Canada sample: 1,001 business leaders; 1,500 workers

SOURCE Employment Hero

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

Advanced Technology Services Earns Top 10 Ranking Among America’s Best Private Companies

Published

48 minutes ago

on

July 8, 2026

By

PEORIA, Ill., July 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Advanced Technology Services, Inc. (ATS), a leading provider of technology–driven industrial maintenance and reliability solutions, today announced it has been ranked No. 6 on TIME’s America’s Best Private Companies 2026 list, developed in partnership with Statista.

The inaugural ranking recognizes 500 privately held companies in the United States based on two key measures: employee satisfaction and company impact. According to TIME and Statista, employee satisfaction was evaluated through independent employee survey data, while company impact was assessed across four dimensions: society, knowledge, health, and environment.

“We’re honored to receive this recognition,” said Jeff Owens, CEO of ATS. “Our greatest strength has always been our people. Every day, our team helps manufacturers solve complex problems, improve performance, and prepare for what’s next. As our industry continues to evolve, we’re excited about the opportunities ahead and remain committed to investing in our people, expanding our capabilities, and helping our customers succeed.”

ATS continues to invest in employee development, technical capabilities, and technology-driven service delivery to help manufacturers improve safety, reliability, productivity, and operational performance. Through those investments, the company is helping manufacturers address increasingly complex maintenance and reliability challenges while creating opportunities for employees to build meaningful careers in manufacturing.

About Advanced Technology Services: Advanced Technology Services, Inc. (ATS), is a global services provider with over four decades of proven experience as a single source for industrial maintenance, technology, and parts. Established in 1985, the company has grown to be a market leader supporting over 1,400 customer manufacturing sites. Through its industry-leading safety, people, processes, and technologies, ATS is advancing solutions that make its customers’ operations more productive, more reliable, and more data-driven. Learn how ATS makes factories run better and smarter at www.advancedtech.com.

PRESS CONTACT:
Kaitlyn Olsen
Brand Strategy Supervisor
309-693-6375
418397@email4pr.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/advanced-technology-services-earns-top-10-ranking-among-americas-best-private-companies-302820999.html

SOURCE Advanced Technology Services, Inc. (ATS)

Continue Reading

Technology

Maywood Collaborates with S&P Global Market Intelligence to Integrate its Data into Maywood’s AI Workflows

Published

48 minutes ago

on

July 8, 2026

By

NEW YORK, July 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Maywood, the first finance-compliant proactive AI built for investment banking, private equity, and the broader financial services industry, today announced it has collaborated with S&P Global Market Intelligence to integrate its data into Maywood’s proactive AI harness. The integration lets Maywood’s agents proactively track important companies, identify key signals, and help teams do more deals.

Maywood’s collaboration with S&P Global Market Intelligence significantly upgrades the power of its proactive AI agent.

The integration enables Maverick, Maywood’s proactive AI agent, to monitor real-time private and public company financials, transactions, and corporate events as they happen. Financial teams can now stay ahead of the moments that move deals: a target approaching a financing need, a portfolio company nearing an exit, a sponsor’s hold period maturing, a leadership change that signals a new mandate. Rather than running a search after the fact, Maverick watches these signals continuously across a dealmaker’s universe, connects them to the relationships and live deals already in the CRM and deal book, and surfaces the right move, drafted and ready, the moment it matters.

“Senior dealmakers don’t miss opportunities because the data isn’t available. They miss them because no one was watching at the right moment,” said Kent Goodman, Chief Operating Officer of Maywood. “Most artificial intelligence waits to be prompted, which makes the managing director the bottleneck. Maverick inverts that. It’s AI that prompts you, now grounded in S&P Global Market Intelligence’s trusted data, so managing directors and partners are in front of the right person at exactly the right time.”

Maverick is purpose-built for the senior professionals who drive revenue across investment banking, private equity, commercial banking, wealth management, auditing, and business development. It embeds compliant AI into the systems they already use and is built to FINRA and SEC requirements from day one, with human approval at every external boundary.

About Maywood
Maywood is a leader in proactive AI for finance, spanning investment banking, commercial banking, lending, private credit, private equity, wealth management, auditing, and business development. Its agent Maverick is the first finance-compliant proactive AI that runs 24/7, purpose-built for managing directors and partners. Every senior professional carries hundreds of relationships and dozens of live deals, and today’s AI waits to be prompted, making the human the bottleneck. Maywood inverts that: it works in the background across your network and your deal book, surfacing moves, drafting replies, and pushing process forward. For more information, visit www.maywoodai.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact
press@maywoodai.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/maywood-collaborates-with-sp-global-market-intelligence-to-integrate-its-data-into-maywoods-ai-workflows-302820997.html

SOURCE Maywood

Continue Reading

Technology

STI Launches EZ Path® ULTRA Fire-Rated Pathway for Demanding High-Density Cable Applications

Published

48 minutes ago

on

July 8, 2026

By

SOMERVILLE, N.J., July 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Specified Technologies Inc. (STI) is raising the bar for high-capacity cable management with the launch of the brand-new EZ Path® ULTRA Fire-Rated Pathway. Engineered to meet the growing demands of today’s data centers and telecommunications infrastructure, ULTRA provides a fire-rated solution for large volumes of data, communications, and power cabling, including high-fill cable tray-supported systems that exceed the capacity of conventional pathway solutions.

ULTRA is specifically designed for cable dense environments, supporting high-fill cable tray systems, main distribution pathways, and backbone routing in data center and telecommunications high-capacity network environments. The fire-rated pathway device promotes efficient, repeatable installation that helps accelerate construction schedules by reducing installation complexity in high-capacity cable environments. Ample entryway headroom accommodates oversized pulling heads or pre-connectorized fiber optic cables for the lifecycle of the device.

The EZ Path® ULTRA accommodates continuous and discontinuous cable tray systems. Appropriately sized devices accommodate 12″, 18″, and 24″ wide cable trays, up to 6″ tall, ensuring firestopping performance for the full capacity of the cable tray.

“We wanted to support the next generation of digital infrastructure with a modern solution purpose-built for cable-dense environments,” says Product Manager Justin Mentuck. “By streamlining installation and simplifying ongoing pathway management, this product helps keep projects on schedule and minimizes downtime in mission-critical facilities.” Documentation for the new EZ Path® ULTRA Fire-Rated Pathway is available here.

Specified Technologies Inc. (STI) is dedicated to advancing life and asset safety through innovative passive fire protection systems and digital solutions that help prevent the spread of fire, smoke, and hot gases. The company’s SpecSeal® and EZ Path® product lines are engineered for simplified installation and high performance, often resulting in lower installed costs. With firestopping as its sole focus, STI concentrates all resources on delivering fully tested, high-quality, and forward-thinking firestopping solutions.

Contact: +18009921180

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sti-launches-ez-path-ultra-fire-rated-pathway-for-demanding-high-density-cable-applications-302821014.html

SOURCE Specified Technologies, Inc.

Continue Reading

Trending