Survey: 54% of Companies Plan Employee Pay Cuts to Fund AI in 2026

AI comes at a cost… and workers are paying it.

A new ResumeBuilder survey finds that 54% of companies have cut or plan to cut employee compensation to free up money for AI investments in 2026. As the race to build and buy AI tools intensifies, the survey points to a striking shift in how some employers are funding that push: not by trimming around the edges, but by putting employee pay directly on the table.

Short-term response, longer-term implications

The cuts extend far beyond salary.

The report found that among companies reducing compensation to help fund AI:

• 61% are cutting bonuses.
• 60% are reducing equity or stock awards.
• 59% are scaling back raises.
• 53% are trimming benefits.
• 43% are cutting base salaries.

That gives the survey a much wider scope than a simple pay-cut headline.

“This is not just layoffs,” ResumeBuilder Chief Career Advisor Stacie Haller said in the report. “Bonuses, raises, equity, benefits, and base pay are all being cut simultaneously, across industries.”

Haller told eWEEK that the broad compensation squeeze suggests some companies are so focused on AI adoption, market position, and revenue that they are willing to risk their talent pool and their ability to retain and attract skilled workers, calling it a short-term response with longer-term implications. 

‘Peanut butter raises’ enter the AI era

Among companies funding AI through compensation cuts or layoffs, 14% plan “peanut butter raises,” or uniform raises across the board, while 11% plan below-inflation raises for everyone, and 4% plan no raises at all. That means a quarter is flattening or withholding raises instead of tying pay growth to individual performance. 

Haller warned that uniform raises may seem fair but can weaken the link between performance and reward, especially for top performers. She has also said that choices like these can make it harder for companies to retain skilled talent.

Labor market weakness changes the corporate calculus

Fear of falling behind is helping drive these decisions. The survey revealed that 57% of leaders making compensation cuts tied to AI say they risk losing ground without significant investment, showing how urgently many companies now view the race to keep up. 

More striking, though, is how manageable many employers seem to think the fallout will be.

Another 88% said the weak job market makes it easier to reduce compensation without losing talent, a mindset Haller warned could backfire as conditions shift and workers gain more leverage again. She also argued that companies making these short-term decisions risk damaging their ability to retain and attract skilled workers over time.

AI urgency now, employer pain later

Haller sees a longer shadow behind the current AI push. She warned that companies using a weak job market as cover for pay cuts risk hurting their employer brand and future recruiting power, especially when candidates remember who chose short-term savings over investing in people. 

She also said companies treating AI investment as the more urgent priority may have a much harder time attracting and retaining the people they need once the labor market turns back in employees’ favor.

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