47% report fragmented knowledge remains biggest obstacle to productivity, as frustrated employees say they waste hours daily searching for needed information

Coveo, the leader in AI-Relevance, delivering best-in-class AI-search and generative experiences that maximize business outcomes at every point-of-experience, announced its fifth annual EX Relevance Report, “The Search for Relevance: Can AI Connect Employees to What Matters?” To explore the critical trends shaping employee experiences, Coveo partnered with Arlington Research to survey 4,000 U.S. and U.K. adults who work at companies with 5000+ employees, surfacing the growing frustration with disconnected workplace tools, the importance of effective AI search, and the positive impact that accurate generative AI can have on employee proficiency.

The report sheds light on how inefficient tools leave employees feeling overwhelmed, costing them an average of three hours daily searching for information. With nearly half (49%) also experiencing AI hallucinations, the need for reliable, contextually grounded AI tools is clear. There is an opportunity for enterprises to easily address these issues by adopting smarter, more tailored solutions, like unified digital workplaces and AI-powered knowledge discovery tools.

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“Employees are empowered by the potential of advanced tools and intelligent solutions that can boost their productivity and well-being,” said John Grosshans, COO at Coveo. “In an age where artificial intelligence is more accessible than ever, it’s essential to harness this potential to ensure employees can leverage it to its fullest. Relevance is key: employees need timely, tailored information through the channels they prefer. This report highlights how AI-search, unified knowledge platforms, and generative AI tools that are grounded in user context can help employees quickly find what they need, enhancing efficiency and creating a more seamless, rewarding work experience.”

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Key findings include:

• Disconnected tools are fueling employee burnout: 47% of employees feel burned out or frustrated when they don’t have the right tools or information to achieve success in their roles, up 12% from last year. In addition, 47% cited that the information they need is stored across multiple applications, which continues to be the largest hurdle for employees year-over-year.
  
  
• Excessive search times and irrelevant results cripple productivity, especially for Gen Z and Millennials: Employees report wasting an average of three hours per day searching for information, and say 42% of the information they sift through is irrelevant to their role. Younger demographics like Gen Z (30%) and Millennials (29%) reported higher search times. On average, employees search four different data sources to find information to do their jobs effectively. Compounding the problem, 25% of employees don’t even know where to begin their search, highlighting potential gaps in employee training.
  
  
• GenAI investment stretches throughout the enterprise: While customer self-service remained the top application for generative AI exploration at 34%, numerous other use cases were noted: knowledge management (28%), employee productivity (26%), and self-service for data and analytics (26%) rounding out the top four. And 42% of respondents agree that their company has invested in GenAI tech and training to help them do their job better.