Artificial intelligence
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With AI not yet generating “actionable labour-cost savings”, employers have been urged to “make the best use of their budgets for employee satisfaction and productivity”.
Global advisory firm WTW said that although it had seen “a surge of investment in AI and automation pilots in the last two years, as organisations test new ways to improve productivity and operational efficiency”, but that this had not yet translated into savings.
“So, it’s key that organisations proactively plan how to make the best use of their budgets for employee satisfaction and productivity,” commented Gabriella Bergstedt, associate director, work and rewards at WTW.
She was commenting on a new survey on pay strategy that found that a fifth of Irish employers are planning a decrease in their salary budget in 2026.
The survey of Irish employers as part of WTW’s global Salary Budget Planning Report suggests that salary budgets in Ireland are continuing to stabilise with 60pc of employers here making no change to their projected pay budgets this year and only 11pc increasing them.
“Irish employers are entering 2026 with clearer pay priorities and stronger discipline, using salary budgets not simply as financial inputs but as strategic levers,” she said.
“Yet beneath the steady medians lie meaningful shifts in how organisations allocate pay, manage complexity, and plan for a workforce that continues to evolve faster than traditional budgeting cycles,” she added.
For those employers making changes to their initial budget projections, inflationary pressures (17pc), anticipated stronger financial results (22pc), concerns over a tight labour market (17pc) and changes to compensation strategy (15pc) are factors influencing pay budgets, she said.
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