Digital Labour Presents a New Model for UK Business Growth and Opportunity

What if your workforce wasn’t restricted by capacity, siloes and processes that often slow progress and growth? That is what a limitless digital workforce can achieve, powered with agentic AI, to automate tasks and extend the capabilities of human teams.

We know that engaged teams are powerful – companies with highly engaged employees can outperform others by 147%, according to a Gallup survey. But right now, too many workforces are overwhelmed and lack the necessary skills and training that our AI-driven economy demands. 

Nearly half of desk workers say they’re spending time on tasks that are repetitive, low value, or unrelated to the jobs they were hired to do. This isn’t just a business problem – it’s a national one.  

It’s time for a new approach. One where humans and AI work side-by-side. One where growth isn’t limited by headcount, and where every team can unlock more productivity, insight, and energy for the work that really matters.

That is the opportunity of digital labour – a limitless hybrid workforce where autonomous agents and humans work together to drive success.

The UK and digital labour

Digital labour’s about augmenting human capability to transform the way that work gets done – and  agentic AI is a vital technology that makes this possible.

AI agents don’t just assist – they act. They analyse, decide, and execute autonomously, handling both low-value, routine work and high-value, multistep tasks. They are stepping in where time is wasted – and giving it back to people.

Nowhere is this shift happening faster than in the UK. The Prime Minister recently announced plans to save an estimated £45bn by applying AI across the civil service.

In Starmer’s own words: no one should spend hours on a task if AI can do it better, faster, and to the same high standard.

Digital labour is becoming foundational to how companies operate – supporting customers around the clock, personalising services at scale, and transforming internal operations.

At Salesforce, I’ve seen this firsthand. On our Help Site, Agentforce now resolves 85% of customer queries without human escalation. That’s freed up our support teams to retrain into new roles and contribute in new ways.

This impact is why  89% of Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) globally believe digital labour will empower them to reassign employees into roles where they can add greater value – from data scientists and  technical architects, in the near term, to partnership leads and account managers in the longer term.

But every business is different, and so is every growth model. That’s why it’s so important to take the time to understand where agentic AI can deliver the greatest return in your organisation.

Unlocking growth through ethical AI

The shift to digital labour has significant implications for how we work, so governance and regulation must be at its heart. 

We need to think carefully about everything from compliance and risks to people, processes, culture and organisational structure. Trust and ethical AI aren’t optional – they’re essential. That starts with a strategy rooted in ethical & inclusive product design.

The UK is in a strong position to lead on leveraging digital labour ethically. The government is taking a main role in AI regulation with initiatives like the AI Copyright Reforms, the Regulation Innovation Office and the AI Safety Institute, setting bold standards for ethical AI development. 

It’s also important to remember that AI is only as effective as the data it draws on. Every organisation must examine the quality and structure of their data on the road to agentic AI. Agents will do their best work when they’re situated within the flow of work, drawing on the enterprise’s data – so they can truly act on behalf of the business, and empower human workers.

New technology – especially as transformative as agentic AI – is uncharted. Yet, digital labour is not about replacing people. It’s about reimagining what’s possible and augmenting people supported by intelligent technology.

By positioning  digital labour as the new model for growth, business leaders can address concerns, share the benefits of AI-human partnerships and start to unlock a new era of productivity.