IT & TECH

When AI Makes Tech Work Faster, Time Becomes More Valuable

AI is changing how IT work gets done. In this sneak peek from Worko’s upcoming Salary Trends & Preference Report 2026, one signal stands out beneath the numbers: as IT work becomes faster, candidates seem to be asking a bigger question: what is my time actually worth — and is money really all that matters?

A Softer Signal from a More Technical Market

For IT & Tech on Sweden & Norway, one of the more interesting signals is not only about salaries or skills, but about what people seem to value around their work outside the monetary rewards.

With AI changing the rhythm of IT work, there’s an interesting new way of viewing work/life balance. Code can be drafted faster, documentation can be supported, tickets can be summarized, research can move quicker, and repetitive tasks are becoming easier to handle with the right tools. But speed is only one part of the shift.

When these parts become faster, the value of human time starts to change. Not because people suddenly have less to do, but because the difference between meaningful work and low-value work becomes more visible.

Looking at salary as only one type of compensation, it’s historically been a top contender for the way we get paid for the work we do. But with this new wave of time being freed up, other types of compensation are rising in value — and life quality seems to be re-measured beyond our cash flow.

Money Still Matters — But Compensation Types That Improve Life Quality Is Getting Stronger

Out of all the different forms of compensation one can get, salary increase is still the largest preference among IT professionals. But it fell from 35.5% to 27.9%, a shift of -7.6 percentage points.

That does not mean salary has become unimportant, but rather suggests that the compensation picture is becoming broader — life is about more than money, and value is becoming more layered.

At the same time, other preferences gained ground: stocks & ownership rose from 5.3% to 9.7%, dynamic salary & bonus rose from 9.8% to 12.2%, and wellness programs rose from 12.7% to 14.7%.

People still want to be paid well, but they may also be asking what kind of future, ownership, security and quality of life that compensation actually supports.

IT Candidates Are Asking More Future-Oriented Questions

This preference data connects closely to what our recruiters are hearing in the market.

In our previous IT Career Trends article, a clear pattern appears: candidates are becoming more deliberate, asking more questions about timing, relevance, stability and future positioning.

AI is part of almost every conversation. So is cybersecurity, data-related roles, in-house opportunities, strategic influence and roles that combine technical and business understanding. The preference data points in the same direction.

Instead of asking “what job should I take?”, candidates are now increasingly asking: “where will this role take me?” That is a bigger career question, more strategic in nature, also pointing to a shift in mindset.

Flexibility Is Becoming More About Control Than Convenience

For years, flexibility in IT has often meant location. Remote work, hybrid models, office expectations and flexible hours have shaped much of the conversation.

Those things still matter, but the data suggests the meaning of flexibility may be changing.

Fully remote increased from 13.2% to 19.5%, while on-prem dropped from 16.3% to 11.6%. Hybrid remains the largest category, but declined from 57.3% to 53.3%.

At the same time, company location rose from 3.9% to 9.2%, making it one of the strongest movers in the workplace environment category.

That combination is interesting, because it suggests that flexibility is no longer only about “can I work from home?” — it may also be about how work fits into life more practically. Accounting for commute, geography, energy, focus, and how much friction the workday creates, we are starting to see a longing for a more comfortable life, created in the day-to-day rather than the monthly paycheck.

Flexible Hours Are Falling — But That May Not Mean Flexibility Is Less Important

One of the most counter-intuitive signals is that flexible work hours fell from 22.6% to 16.4%, a shift of -6.2 percentage points.

At first glance, that looks like flexibility is losing value — but it may mean something else.

Flexible hours may have become more expected — a baseline instead of a differentiator — and if candidates already assume some level of flexibility, they may start ranking other factors higher.

This is where the data becomes more philosophical: when AI makes execution faster, the most valuable benefit may not be “I can move my hours around.” It may be “I have enough control, trust and clarity to use my time well.”

That is a different kind of flexibility. It is less about schedule, and more about ownership of attention.

Development Is Becoming Broader

The personal development data points in a similar direction.

Meanwhile, technical specialization fell slightly from 20.1% to 18.8%, and long-term engagements fell from 11.5% to 8.5%. That feels aligned with what we hear in IT candidate conversations right now.

Professionals are not only asking which technology to learn next — they are asking where the market is going, which skills will stay valuable, and how to build a direction that does not lock them too tightly into one track.

The future feels more open, but also more uncertain. That makes broad learning, visibility and adaptability more attractive.

What This Means for the IT Market

For employers, this shift matters because the most attractive candidates may not compare roles only by salary, title or tech stack — they may compare the full value of the work.

That includes the quality of the problems they get to solve, whether the company feels stable, how much room they have to learn, whether AI is used to improve work or simply increase output, and whether the role fits the life they are building outside work.

For candidates, the shift matters because career decisions are becoming more deliberate. The question is expanding from “is this a good role?” to “is this role worth the time, focus and energy it requires from me?”

That question may become more important as AI changes what work demands — and what people expect in return.

The Full Report Goes Deeper

This article is only one sneak peek from Worko’s upcoming Salary Trends & Preference Report 2026.

The full report takes a hypothesis-driven look at how salaries, skills and career preferences are shifting across IT & Tech in Sweden and Norway. It will explore which assumptions hold up in the data, which ones break, and what those signals may mean for career planning in a more selective market.

For now, one pattern is worth watching: as AI makes work faster, IT professionals may become more selective about what deserves their time. That does not mean ambition is disappearing. It may mean ambition is becoming more precise.

Join the waitlist and get the full analysis when it launches!