A new survey from Trustmi, a leader in behavioral AI payment security, reveals that employees frequently identify suspicious details or errors only after taking action. The findings also show that workplace urgency can lead employees to spend less time verifying the legitimacy of requests. As enterprise workflows become more complex and AI becomes increasingly integrated into daily operations, the results highlight a critical trust gap in processes that depend on human verification.
“From everyday emails to payment invoices, many organizational checks on accuracy are human driven. But individual and industry pressures can drive an urgency that changes the way humans make those judgement calls, and this creates an opening for risk,” said Shai Gabay, Co-founder and CEO, Trustmi. “When employees are asked to work faster, this can come at the expense of verification controls that prevent errors and fraud alike. For critical areas like payment workflows, it’s simply not enough to rely on workforces constrained by demanding priorities to catch every mistake – extra protection is essential.”
Workplace Pressure and Urgency Reduce Time for Verification
As organizations undergo significant operational changes, including digital transformation and AI adoption, demands for greater speed can make it more difficult for employees to maintain attention on critical tasks. Survey results illustrate the impact of these pressures: 84% of employed respondents said heavy workloads make it harder to concentrate on important or sensitive tasks, while 83% reported similar difficulties when working under tight deadlines.
These conditions can also weaken established safeguards. According to the survey, 68% of employed adults said they are likely to spend less time checking whether a request is legitimate when experiencing pressure at work. The findings highlight how workplace demands can influence employees’ ability to follow verification procedures consistently.
Employees Frequently Identify Red Flags After Taking Action
Verification gaps are not limited to the risk of overlooking suspicious details. The survey found that 71% of employed respondents had discovered an error or suspicious detail in an email, document or work request only after responding to it, sharing it or acting on it. For 43% of respondents, this had happened multiple times.
These results suggest that employees may recognize warning signs only after the opportunity to prevent a mistake or security incident has passed.
In comparison, Trustmi’s July survey identified a significant gap between employees’ perceptions of payment fraud and the ways fraud actually manifests. The latest findings reinforce concerns that organizations cannot depend exclusively on employee vigilance to identify anomalies. Even employees who feel confident in their ability to recognize fraud may struggle to detect suspicious activity in time when workplace urgency affects their attention, or they may fail to recognize the warning signs.
Workplace Urgency Also Drives Risky AI Tool Usage
The effects of workplace pressure can extend beyond missed verification checks to other potentially risky behaviors. More than half of employed respondents (53%) said pressure to work faster or accomplish more with AI had led them to use an AI tool without being certain it was approved.
The responses indicate that this behavior occurs with varying frequency: 13% said they had used an uncertain or unapproved AI tool frequently, 27% reported doing so occasionally, and 13% said it had happened once.
As organizations continue to prioritize productivity and faster execution, these behaviors introduce broader governance concerns alongside the risks associated with incomplete verification.
Technology Can Strengthen Human Verification Controls
When workplace pressure leads employees to overlook important details or shorten routine verification procedures, additional safeguards can help reduce exposure to risk. Survey findings indicate that employees recognize the potential value of such measures: 87% of employed respondents said technology that automatically performs a second check when a workplace request contains unusual details or other warning signs would be valuable.
The results highlight the need for organizations to reinforce human verification with additional technological controls. As operational demands intensify and fraudulent requests become increasingly sophisticated, employee attention alone cannot serve as the sole line of defense across trusted workflows.
To review the complete survey findings, visit this link.
For additional insights into finance and security controls that employees may overlook, read Trustmi’s 2026 Payment Security & Risk Benchmark Report.
Methodology
Dynata surveyed 1,000 U.S. residents aged 18 and older in September 2026. The findings presented in this report reflect responses from 591 employed participants. The survey examined how workplace urgency and competing demands influence attention, verification practices and responses to potentially suspicious requests.
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About Trustmi
Trustmi is the leading behavioral AI platform for payment security, helping enterprises stop fraud and costly payment errors before money moves. As fraud increasingly arrives “pre-approved” – designed to pass existing controls – Trustmi provides a critical verification layer across the entire payment lifecycle. By correlating signals across email, vendor behavior, financial documents, and payment workflows, Trustmi detects sophisticated, socially engineered attacks that traditional security and finance controls miss. Trusted by global enterprises with complex payment environments, Trustmi protects over $240 billion in payments annually and has helped prevent more than $1 billion in fraud and $5 billion in payment errors. Founded in 2021, Trustmi is headquartered in New York City and backed by leading investors including Cyberstarts and Insight Partners. For more information, visit https://www.trustmi.ai/.
Contact: PAN for Trustmi, trustmi@pancomm.com
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