Microsoft: 81% of workers lack time, energy for tasks

In return, companies are rapidly turning to AI agents.

Singapore’s workforce is facing a mounting capacity crisis, with 81% of employees and leaders reporting a lack of sufficient time or energy to complete their work, according to Microsoft’s newly released 2025 Work Trend Index.

The report warned of urgent pressures to boost productivity, even as traditional organisational models undergo a dramatic AI-driven transformation.

Microsoft’s data showed that the workforce is being "interrupted every 2 minutes by meetings, emails, or pings," further straining productivity.

As a response, companies are rapidly turning to AI agents. A striking 82% of leaders in Singapore plan to use AI-driven agents to "expand workforce capacity within the next 12–18 months."

"AI is fundamentally changing the way we work across Asia, making organisations smarter, faster, and more impactful," said Andrea Della Mattea, President of Microsoft ASEAN. "In Singapore, we're seeing incredible readiness and commitment to AI, with 82% of leaders ready to scale with AI agents and 80% planning to create AI-focused roles."

Microsoft’s report also introduces the concept of "Frontier Firms," organisations blending human and AI agents to scale faster, move with greater agility, and deliver more meaningful work.

Workers at these firms are "more than twice as likely to say their companies are thriving" and report greater opportunities for impactful contributions.

The rise of AI is leading to what Microsoft calls the "Work Chart," a shift from rigid, siloed organisational structures to fluid, outcome-oriented teams. Already, 56% of Singaporean leaders are "using agents to fully automate workstreams or business processes," surpassing the global average.

Looking ahead, every employee could soon become an "agent boss," skillfully managing teams of specialised AI agents.

Business leaders are preparing for this shift, with 51% of managers expecting "AI training or upskilling to become a core responsibility" within five years. Leaders foresee teams taking on roles such as "redesigning business processes with AI," "building multi-agent systems," and "training and managing agents."

Microsoft's findings position Singapore and the broader Asia-Pacific region at the forefront of AI-driven workforce transformation. The report noted that "53% of the region's leaders are already using agents to fully automate business processes," indicating a strong early-mover advantage in the global AI race.

From the boardroom to the frontline, Microsoft predicts that success in the coming decade will belong to organisations that effectively blend human ingenuity with AI scalability.