This reinvention goes beyond merely implementing a new strategy and operating model; it requires thoroughly examining HR’s new stakeholder landscape, their expectations of HR, and how to redefine the HR function for maximum impact.

Six future-ready roles of HR will define the profession’s influence in the coming years. In this article, we outline each role type’s unique contribution and what success looks like and provide insights from our research to guide concrete actions needed to maximize impact.

Shifting challenges and expectations for the HR department 

Now and over the next few years, organizations face significant megatrends that threaten business operations if not managed proactively. HR plays a key role in ensuring that businesses can adapt to these challenges. 

Economic uncertainty

 Inflation, geopolitical tensions, and economic downturns require HR to develop agile workforce strategies that ensure business continuity. HR teams must balance cost efficiency and talent retention while planning for a resilient workforce.

Increased societal responsibility

Organizations are increasingly held accountable for their impact on society. HR is crucial in embedding sustainability, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), ethical labor practices, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) into the organization’s core values. 

Digital transformation and AI

The rise of automation, artificial intelligence, and advanced analytics is redefining the nature of work. HR must lead the effort to upskill employees, integrate AI-driven workforce strategies, use AI in HR to streamline work, and ensure a smooth transition to a tech-enabled workplace.

Workforce demographic shifts and changing employee expectations

A multi-generational workforce and evolving employee values require HR to rethink how it attracts, retains, and engages talent. HR policies and practices must balance flexibility with productivity while maintaining engagement and organizational cohesion.

Given these challenges, HR is expected to contribute differently than before. HR has shifted from being an enabler and partner to being core to business decisions on the organization’s future. 

In our HR Trends report, we discussed the embedded HR professional, shifting our positioning within the organization to address the needs of an ever-changing stakeholder environment.

Meeting the expectations of a new stakeholder landscape

The modern stakeholder landscape is defined by a wide array of perspectives, interests, and expectations. To drive meaningful impact,  HR must balance and respond to the distinct needs of multiple groups:

• Employees: Employees have always been at the heart of HR, but their expectations have changed. They now want more than just fair pay and good working conditions—they look for meaningful work, career growth opportunities, wellbeing support, and an organizational culture that aligns with their values. To meet these needs, HR must prioritize the human element in every policy and practice.
• Leaders: Leadership needs have expanded beyond traditional HR support. Now, HR is expected to actively partner with business leaders to address key business decisions and priorities. To meet these needs, HR must take on a strategic role, driving workforce strategies and guiding organizational change.  
• Boards and shareholders: Boards and shareholders increasingly see the workforce as a critical business asset. This gives HR the chance to demonstrate its value by managing talent risks, workforce planning, and leadership succession. By protecting and optimizing key skills and talent, HR can meet the expectations of boards and shareholders.  
• Society: Organizations are being held to higher ethical and social standards. HR plays a key role in advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), promoting ethical labor practices, and encouraging responsible corporate behavior. This makes society and communities key stakeholders in HR.

As challenges and expectations continue to change, HR needs to move beyond traditional roles and operations. Having the right position within the organization and an effective operating model is essential, but HR also needs the right roles and skills to succeed.

How can HR leaders ensure this happens? 

6 types of HR roles for impact 

Instead of focusing only on individual roles and skill development, grouping roles into clusters is a more effective way to understand how HR creates value and sustainably builds skills. These clusters, often called role types or personas, group HR roles with similar focus areas, business impact, and success requirements. They clarify HR’s key contributions while outlining the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to achieve those goals.

These role types intentionally overlap and allow for progression, ensuring HR can meet expectations regardless of the specific roles within the team at any given time. For HR leaders, this approach supports collective skill development and deployment, helping HR maintain its impact even as team structures and talent change.

Through our research, we identified six HR role types or personas to reflect the changing nature of HR. 

To ensure their relevance, we validated these personas with a panel of HR experts. We also analyzed competency data from over 9,000 HR professionals to understand how HR can meet these evolving demands and determine actions to close any gaps.

1. Strategy Architect

• Focus: Co-creating business and people strategy to achieve business outcomes
• Example roles in this cluster: CHRO, CPO, HR Strategy Head, HR Executive Team

The Strategy Architect ensures HR is not just a contributor but a key driver of business strategy. As part of the leadership team, this role helps shape the business strategy while owning and aligning the people strategy with company goals. By focusing on talent management, organizational culture, and workforce planning, the Strategy Architect ensures HR efforts directly support long-term business success.

Using workforce analytics, tracking market trends, and applying organizational design principles, the Strategy Architect helps leadership anticipate future talent needs and create HR strategies that give the business a competitive edge.

Factors for success

Strong business acumen and ability to connect people strategy with business outcomes

Expertise in workforce planning, organizational development, and HR analytics

Experience in strategic planning and change management

2. Business Advisor

• Focus: Provides strategic guidance to help leaders make informed decisions about their workforce.
• Example roles in this cluster: HRBPs, HR Directors, Organizational Development teams.

The Business Advisor is a trusted consultant to business leaders, providing data-driven insights and strategic advice on key people decisions. They support areas like leadership development, workforce planning, and cultural transformation, ensuring HR is part of the decision-making process and drives business growth. 

Business Advisors help leaders understand workforce trends, address talent risks, and align people strategies with changing business needs.

Factors for success

Strong advisory and consulting skills

Expertise in HR data analytics, financial acumen, and workforce insights

Experience in leadership coaching and executive communication

3. Solution Designer

• Focus: Provide businesses with scalable, innovative HR solutions that improve employee performance, experience and engagement
• Example roles in this cluster: CoE Teams, HR Technology Teams 

The Solution Designer develops scalable and innovative HR solutions to improve employee performance, experience, and engagement. This role uses a design-thinking approach to ensure HR policies, programs, and processes are practical, effective, and aligned with business goals. Whether it’s developing learning programs, career frameworks, or engagement tools, the Solution Designer ensures these solutions are agile, tech-enabled, and focused on the employee experience.

Factors for success

Proficiency in HR technology, digital tools, and design thinking

Experience in process improvement and program development

Ability to analyze employee feedback and create high-impact HR solutions

4. Transformation Agent

• Focus: Leads the charge in transforming HR by adopting advanced technologies, fostering lean ways of working, improving operational agility, and leading cultural shifts.
• Example roles in this cluster: HR Technology, Change Management, Organizational Development teams.

The Transformation Agent is key in modernizing HR by spearheading digital transformation, enhancing operational agility, and promoting cultural shifts. This role type ensures that HR adopts advanced technologies, implements efficient workflows, and nurtures a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. The Transformation Agent advocates for HR modernization, assisting organizations in navigating change and staying ahead of disruption.

Factors for success

Expertise in digital transformation, HR technology, and agile methodologies

Strong change management and innovation leadership skills

Experience in cultural transformation and organizational agility

5. Human-Centered Steward

• Focus: Champions employee wellbeing, diversity, inclusion, and ethical practices
• Example roles in this cluster: DEIB, CSR, ESG

The Human-Centered Steward is dedicated to promoting employee wellbeing, diversity, inclusion, and ethical workplace practices. This persona ensures that organizations prioritize employees, cultivate inclusive cultures, and create environments where individuals feel valued, respected, and supported. 

Whether driving Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, enhancing employee wellness programs, or advocating for ethical human resources practices, the Human-Centered Steward is committed to upholding people-first policies within the organization.

Factors for success

Deep understanding of DEI, ethics, and employee experience strategies

Expertise in wellness, mental health, and cultural transformation

Strong advocacy and stakeholder engagement skills

6. Service Champion

• Focus: Dedicated to ensuring operational excellence in HR service delivery 
• Example roles in this cluster: Service Centres, Benefits Teams, Policy Champions, Generalists

The Service Champion is dedicated to achieving operational excellence in HR service delivery, ensuring that HR processes are smooth and efficient, and enhancing the overall employee experience. 

This role type emphasizes process optimization, HR automation, and seamless service delivery, ensuring that HR operations are responsive, reliable, and aligned with business needs. Using technology and continuous improvement methodologies, the Service Champion ensures that HR is a dependable function that supports employees and improves the business’s efficiency.

Factors for success

Expertise in HR operations, process optimization, and automation

Strong focus on employee experience and HR service excellence

Experience in HR shared services, compliance, and service management

Taking action

These six HR role personas outline the key skills needed to make an impact in today’s business environment. HR leaders need to take clear steps to assess and develop these personas to prepare HR teams for the future.

Start by grouping HR team roles into these six personas to understand how roles are distributed. Depending on your structure and operating model, this may vary, but our career map is a helpful starting point for mapping roles.

Next, evaluate how well the team’s skills align with the personas to identify strengths and areas for improvement. A skills audit or self-assessment can help pinpoint where individuals and the overall HR function feel confident—and where there are gaps.

Finally, focus on upskilling and learning opportunities. Upskilling initiatives should strengthen technical and strategic HR capabilities while leveraging mentorship, cross-functional projects, and leadership exposure can help build expertise. 

The role of HR is not just about executing processes. It’s about driving transformation, shaping strategy, and enhancing employee experiences. By deploying these six personas and actively developing the skills needed to sustain them, HR leaders can help their teams elevate their impact and create lasting value for the organizations.

How we can help

AIHR’s enterprise solutions help HR leaders build the right skills and capabilities within their teams that drive real business impact. 

By combining data-driven insights with modern best practices, we provide HR teams with a roadmap to build the right knowledge and skills to achieve business goals. This ensures HR doesn’t just support organizational objectives but actively helps achieve them.

With AIHR’s Certificate Programs, HR leaders can develop future-ready teams of T-Shaped HR professionals—experts with deep knowledge and versatile, cross-functional skills. These professionals are equipped to adapt to market changes, tackle complex challenges, and deliver lasting value to their organizations.

The post The 6 Roles of Human Resources That Drive Business Impact appeared first on AIHR.

While 79% of business leaders recognize ESG as a critical driver of financial performance, less than half say their organization has an actionable ESG strategy. Publicly, many organizations have been accused of greenwashing, making false claims as to the legitimacy of their ESG efforts. This disconnect leaves organizations vulnerable to reputational damage, regulatory penalties, and disengagement from employees and investors. 

For many years, HR has played a passive role in creating ESG value. HR leaders recognize its importance but haven’t been able to articulate effectively the role that HR can play in making ESG practical and translating high-level strategies into tangible value.

In this article, we will examine ESG value creation and how HR can deliver value through practices, policies, and people. We unpack risk, reputation, relationships, and returns as value outcomes and outline the steps HR leaders can take to shift ESG initiatives from performative to transformative. 

We’ve also developed a free ESG value statement template to use as a base for HR’s value creation statement.

Understanding ESG value creation

ESG value creation refers to how an organization aligns its business strategies with sustainability principles to generate tangible benefits across environmental, social, and governance dimensions. For HR, ESG value creation is about how ESG goals can be embedded within the HR agenda to unlock and create business value. For HR, ESG value in business is created by:

• Reducing risk: Through compliance with labor laws, ethical employment practices, and workplace sustainability measures.
• Enhancing reputation: By positioning the organization as a responsible employer that values sustainability, social equity, and ethical governance.
• Strengthening stakeholder relationships: By fostering trust and engagement among employees, customers, investors, and the wider community.
• Driving business performance: Through policies and programs that improve employee wellbeing, attract diverse talent, and optimize operational efficiency.

ESG value creation vs. ESG participation

While creating ESG value seems straightforward, execution is often complex. HR often participates in ESG-related projects, with little explicit focus on embedding ESG into the ways that HR ‘does business.’ While “participation” is essential, it remains largely reactive and only serves the purpose of compliance and risk management. A more proactive approach to value creation needs to complement these activities for HR to add impact and value through ESG.

The main differences between ESG participation and ESG value creation are highlighted below.

ESG value creation model for HR delivery

Successfully transitioning from ESG participation to ESG value creation requires a new approach. 

To make this practical, we highlight an ESG value creation framework below that guides HR to move beyond ESG participation to sustainable value creation:

The ESG value statement: Defining what value means 

Central to the model is the starting point of an ESG value statement for HR. This statement highlights why and how HR contributes to ESG and incorporates the organization’s commitment to ESG efforts. The ESG Value Statement has three parts:

• Why are we committing to ESG
• What we want to focus on as HR
• How we will achieve these outcomes.

We’ve created an ESG value statement your HR teams can use as a foundation in developing HR’s ESG value statement.

4 levers of value

HR’s ESG value statement guides the ESG efforts of HR aligned to four key value levers: risk, reputation, relationships, and returns.

1. Risk 

ESG non-compliance poses significant organizational risks. While the environmental and governance components of ESG compliance are usually taken care of by other departments, the social component refers to people-related aspects. 

HR lever: The social component is often overlooked or not embedded in the organization, creating unnecessary organizational risk. However, HR can unlock significant value in this area.

2. Reputation 

Despite good intentions, organizations face reputational risks and consequences when ESG is not supported or backed up by tangible actions. Here, it is about more than managing perceptions. 

HR lever: HR can build the organization’s ESG reputation by intentionally embedding ESG into policies and practices, presenting another opportunity for value creation.

3. Relationships

Regarding ESG, the stakeholder landscape comprises employees, leaders, shareholders, and society. 

HR lever: HR can support these relationships, both internally and externally, by delivering value and addressing the needs of the various stakeholders.

4. Returns

Returns refer to the monetary impact of ESG practices. This value is created for investors through good market performance, compliance, and positive net effect. 

HR lever: HR can create value by ensuring that HR priorities are aligned with broader ESG goals, supporting organizational performance and profitability.

How HR can implement ESG value 

Delivering value across these four areas requires HR to align practices, policies, and people to the ESG agenda and goals.

 Let’s unpack each:

Practices

HR practices turn ESG into everyday actions and can operationalize ESG goals. From hiring and onboarding to performance management and training, these practices embed ESG into how the workforce operates. 

For example, sustainable hiring practices reduce risk by ensuring compliance with labor standards while fostering a reputation for ethical behavior. Integrating DEI principles into training and development builds trust and loyalty among employees, strengthens internal relationships, and attracts talent aligned with the organization’s purpose. 

Also, ESG-aligned performance management systems encourage accountability, improving outcomes that resonate with customers and investors.

Real-life example:

Starbucks’ HR practices exemplify ESG integration. Through its ethical sourcing initiatives and sustainable training programs, Starbucks educates employees about its commitment to sustainability. Additionally, HR incorporates ESG metrics into team performance reviews, reinforcing accountability for these goals at every level of the workforce.

Policies

HR policies provide the structural guidelines to align workforce behavior with ESG principles. These policies define expectations for ethical conduct, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and employee wellbeing, creating the framework for accountability. Also, policies around travel, remote work, and workplace flexibility offer new opportunities for HR to influence ESG outcomes directly.

Real-life examples: 

Deloitte has introduced sustainability-focused travel policies that encourage virtual collaboration as a default. For essential travel, employees are required to use specific tools to measure and offset their travel emissions. Companies like Shopify have adopted fully remote work models, significantly reducing office space usage and carbon emissions while creating more inclusive work environments. These HR-driven policy initiatives demonstrate how aligning work practices with ESG goals creates measurable value.

People

People are the heart of any organization’s ESG strategy. HR is critical in fostering an ESG-aligned culture by connecting people’s work to purpose and impact. Great Place to Work found that finding “meaning” in work is the most significant predictor of retention across generations — more than promotions, recognition, or even wages.

People who feel their employers positively impact the world are 11 times more likely to say they plan to stay with their organizations for the long haul and 14 times more likely to say they look forward to coming to work.

A workforce actively supporting sustainability and ethical practices enhances the company’s reputation, positioning it as a purpose-driven organization. Engaged employees also strengthen internal relationships, boosting retention, collaboration, and productivity. For investors, a motivated and values-driven workforce signals resilience and long-term viability.

Real-life example:

Patagonia demonstrates the power of aligning people with ESG goals. Its HR team actively recruits employees who share its environmental mission and equips them with opportunities to make an impact, such as paid time off for activism. Patagonia also invests in leadership development that emphasizes sustainable decision-making. This alignment strengthens the company’s ESG reputation and fosters a highly engaged and purpose-driven workforce.

How to measure ESG value: People, practices, and processes

In this model section, we define the key operational metrics that will demonstrate how the people, practices, and policies show our progress toward value. These metrics are more operational in nature and should all collectively contribute to the “Returns” value lever.

For example, organizations such as Apple, Chipotle, and Danone link executive pay to the achievement of ESG goals. 

5 steps for HR leaders to get started

Defining an ESG value creation model for HR is more than just articulating the desired end state in your value statement. To ensure it adds value, here are five steps to get started:

Step 1: Understand the organization’s ESG strategy, goals, and desired outcomes 

Conduct an assessment of the existing ESG strategy, identifying areas where HR can have the most impact. This involves reviewing sustainability reports, stakeholder expectations, and key risk areas.

Step 2: Define an ESG value statement for HR

The ESG value statement outlines how HR will contribute to the company’s ESG ambitions. This statement should articulate HR’s role in driving workforce sustainability, diversity, ethical business practices, and governance.

Step 3: Establish the four value levers you want to drive 

These are Risk, Reputation, Relationships, and Returns. The levers determine key metrics to track progress. Define success indicators such as employee engagement in ESG initiatives, retention rates of diverse talent, and alignment with sustainability goals.

Step 4: Evaluate your current HR strategy, practices, and policies

Identify gaps that must be addressed. Assess how aligned these are to your ESG value statement and the value levers you identified. Use this input to make the necessary adjustments and prioritize actions. 

Step 5: Incorporate ESG initiatives into the employer brand and Employee Value Proposition (EVP) 

Including ESG initiatives in these will increase their visibility both internally and externally. Branding, recruitment messaging, and leadership advocacy will ensure that ESG commitments are communicated to employees, job candidates, and investors.

Final words

For ESG efforts to be successful, HR has to go beyond participation in ESG initiatives to focus on creating sustainable value. The ESG Value Creation Framework provides a roadmap for HR to move beyond compliance and reporting, ensuring that ESG becomes a fundamental part of the organization’s DNA.

The post ESG Value Creation: How HR Can Create Value for the Business appeared first on AIHR.

HR faces barriers that limit its ability to focus on strategic imperatives—lean back-office operations, insufficient data, outdated technology, and inefficient processes often steal focus from big-picture goals. The key to overcoming these challenges lies in balancing strategy with tactical excellence.

For HR strategies to succeed, HR leaders must help their teams build foundational skills and capabilities to translate strategy into HR practices. These tactical competencies create the structure and efficiency needed to support broader strategic initiatives. 

This article explains how HR can deliver value across three levels (strategic, tactical, and administrative) and the HR skills and capabilities needed to enable your HR team to deliver and show impact.

Why is HR still not strategic enough?

The HR Business Partner (HRBP) model was introduced in the late 1990s to transform HR into a strategic function. It aimed to elevate HR’s role by driving impactful solutions, leveraging advanced technologies, and increasing efficiency. In response, HR teams launched transformation initiatives to align with this model, aiming to deliver greater value to their organizations.

The outcome? 

Despite over 75% of organizations adopting the HRBP model, more than 60% of business leaders still view HR as overly administrative. Data from 600 organizations further highlights the main roadblocks: outdated systems of work—spanning data, technology, and processes—and structural inefficiencies, all of which hinder the model’s potential to drive real business impact. 

The promise of a truly strategic HR function remains, but realizing it requires addressing these barriers head-on through delivering value across three levels.

The 3 levels of HR value

HR teams operate on three levels, each with its own focus and impact. While each level adds value individually, the greatest impact comes when they are aligned and work seamlessly together.

• At the strategic level, HR addresses the big-picture question, “What do we want to achieve?”.
• Tactical HR then asks, “How do we design solutions, implement practices, and track progress?”.
• Finally, the administrative level ensures execution, answering, “How do we handle the day-to-day tasks to get it done?”

Aligning these levels helps HR deliver meaningful and lasting outcomes. Below, we explain each level before further unpacking the skills and capabilities your HR team needs to excel at the tactical level.

Level 1: Administrative HR 

Administrative HR lies at the base of the HR triangle, which focuses on executing core HR processes and practices. This level forms the backbone of HR’s daily operations, making excellence in this area critical to any organization.

HR leaders can optimize this and drive more efficiency by introducing technologies such as GenAI, Cloud, and self-service platforms. It will also remain an essential contribution of HR in the future.

Administrative HR examples

Examples of work at this level include: 

• Employment contracts
• Benefits processing
• Payroll
• Recruitment activities and; 
• Coordination.

Level 2: Tactical HR 

The center of the triangle represents tactical HR work, where strategic priorities are translated into executable deliverables.

Most of the challenges and barriers that HR faces are at this level, as these activities are often neglected or overshadowed by administrative work. For instance, a strategic focus of becoming an employer of choice must be translated into meaningful employee experiences for administrative activities to be of value.

This involves designing HR practices such as onboarding, performance, and career development and implementing effective talent strategies. Tactical HR connects strategic aspirations with the practical execution of administrative HR.

Tactical HR examples

Examples of work at this level are: 

• Employee experience initiatives
• Talent strategies
• Employer brand, and; 
• Performance management practice design.

Level 3: Strategic HR 

HR also contributes at the strategic level by responding to the business’s needs and identifying what HR teams need to do to drive business outcomes. This focus defines how HR contributes to the business strategy and directs the HR function on priorities and where to focus execution.  

Strategic HR examples

Examples of work at this level include: 

• HR Strategy
• Culture, and; 
• Governance.

Collectively, these three levels drive impact in HR, yet they all contribute in their own right.

Too much focus on strategy can lead to poor execution, misalignment, and weaker results. On the other hand, focusing only on admin work leaves HR stuck in a reactive mode, handling only the day-to-day tasks.

Tactical HR is the key to bridging this gap. It turns strategy into action, ensuring things actually get done and driving real business impact. Unfortunately, this middle layer often doesn’t get enough resources, which limits its ability to make a lasting difference.

5 tactical HR skills to hone in your HR team

Tactical HR doesn’t demand an entirely new skill set from HR professionals. Instead, it calls for adapting and refining existing skills to strike a balance between technical expertise, strategic insight, business acumen, and effective execution. 

Based on our T-Shaped HR Competency Model, we’ve identified five core competencies essential for success in this approach:

1. Business acumen with a focus on strategy translation

Tactical HR demands a deep understanding of the business to align HR initiatives with organizational goals effectively. 

However, the key lies in translating strategy—breaking down high-level objectives into actionable steps for teams within the HR function. By doing so, HR transforms into a strategic enabler and problem solver, moving beyond the role of task executor to drive organizational success actively.

Now

While 73% of HR professionals* are confident in identifying trends and aligning strategies with business priorities, many struggle to demonstrate impact and adapt to shifting expectations.

Next

Translate HR strategy into priorities, establish mechanisms for iteration, and define success metrics to demonstrate tactical HR’s value to business strategy.

2. Data-driven decision-making

Successful tactical HR relies on an evidence-based approach grounded in data collection, analysis, and action. Assessing this information, from workforce analytics and employee engagement metrics to performance data, allows your HR team to prioritize initiatives, track progress, and demonstrate their value to the business.

Now

Only 49% of HR professionals* feel confident analyzing and using data, making it harder to align with business goals and focus on the right priorities.

Next

Upskill teams to use data daily, build a culture of evidence-based decisions, and invest in tools that simplify data-driven processes.

3. Digital agility

Technology is at the heart of tactical HR. Tools like performance management systems, applicant tracking systems (ATS), and employee engagement platforms are essential for executing initiatives efficiently. HR professionals must become proficient in these technologies to optimize processes and enable seamless strategy execution.

Now

Most HR professionals (63%)* lack confidence in using technology to boost HR’s impact, but with AI advancements, incorporating digital tools is essential to improve HR execution and processes.

Next

Focus on digital upskilling, integrate technology into daily HR practices, and encourage experimenting with AI tools to improve efficiency and employee experience.

4. People advocacy 

Tactical HR connects strategy, operations, and people advocacy to ensure human-centered values are reflected in HR practices. It embeds wellbeing into daily employee experiences, guides teams through change with structured support, and uses data to address risks like burnout or inequities.

Tactical HR also champions ethics by helping leaders navigate moral dilemmas and promotes sustainability through community-oriented and eco-friendly initiatives. This approach balances immediate organizational needs with long-term societal impact, aligning daily actions with strategic goals.

Now

While 75% of HR professionals* feel confident in creating human-centered cultures, fewer are confident in embedding principles like wellbeing and inclusion into other HR practices for lasting change.

Next

Incorporate human-centric design into HR practices and include wellbeing, inclusion, and sustainability in HR impact metrics.

5. Execution Excellence through problem-solving and collaboration

Execution in tactical HR goes beyond action-oriented tasks. It requires a problem-solving mindset, where challenges are proactively anticipated and addressed. Collaboration across departments is also vital in driving initiatives forward. Your HR team must be adept at working with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment and success. They should also be able to manage the expectations of multiple stakeholders to deliver value.

Now

HR professionals excel in execution, with 83%* confident in problem-solving and stakeholder engagement, but risk over-focusing on operations without clear strategy or tech support.

Next

Align execution with strategic HR priorities using tools like strategy maps or OKRs. Use technology to enable scalable delivery and focus on high-value activities.

Getting started: 5 enablers of success

While skills are fundamental to success in tactical HR, establishing tactical HR as a core HR capability also requires technology, processes, and skills enablement. To achieve this, focus on five enablers that set tactical HR up for success:

1. Pinpoint where tactical HR fits into the operating model

To maximize its impact, tactical HR must be integrated into the HR operating model, bridging the gap between strategic planning and operational execution.

Begin by clearly identifying where tactical HR should reside—whether within Centers of Excellence, HR business partners, or specialized roles. Establish clear processes and guidelines for delivering tactical HR initiatives and ensure they align with organizational priorities. Map tactical HR deliverables to business goals and define handover points to facilitate smooth collaboration across teams.

2. Invest in tools and technologies that support the operating model

Technology serves as the foundation for effective HR execution. Invest in tools that automate routine tasks, enhance workforce analytics, and foster collaboration. Prioritize solutions that align with your operating model, streamline processes, and free up HR teams to focus on strategic, high-value initiatives.

3. Define transparent processes and roles

For tactical HR to succeed, clarity in processes and responsibilities is essential. This begins with establishing well-structured workflows that address the following key areas:

• Roles and responsibilities: Clearly define each team member’s role in driving initiatives from planning through to execution, ensuring everyone understands their contribution.
• Handover points: Define where and how responsibilities transition between HR teams, business units, and technology systems.
• Automation opportunities: Identify repetitive, high-volume tasks that can be streamlined through technology, freeing HR professionals to focus on more value-added activities.

Documenting these processes creates consistency, reduces inefficiencies, and fosters collaboration. 

4. Assess your team’s skills and gaps

Use the T-Shaped HR Competency Model to evaluate your team’s current strengths. This approach helps you measure both core HR skills (the “vertical” depth) and broader cross-disciplinary skills like problem-solving, digital proficiency, and data literacy (the “horizontal” range). Gaining this insight provides a baseline for identifying gaps and areas for development.

5. Upskill with purpose: incubate, rotate, elevate

Close capability gaps by adopting targeted upskilling strategies:

• Incubate: Create learning pathways that address foundational skills, such as data analysis or technology adoption.
• Rotate: Use job rotations or project-based assignments to expose HR professionals to tactical work in different contexts, like leading change initiatives or aligning HR processes with business strategy.
• Elevate: Invest in specific upskilling programs to help HR professionals refine stakeholder engagement and advanced problem-solving skills.

Over to you

HR’s ability to execute strategy hinges on the strength of its tactical capabilities. By addressing the gap between high-level strategy and day-to-day execution, HR can deliver measurable business impact and drive lasting organizational change. This involves not only streamlining processes and implementing technologies but also building a culture of problem-solving, collaboration, and evidence-based decision-making.

Tactical HR is where strategy meets action, and developing these capabilities is key to transforming HR into a strategic enabler.

How we can help

We can help HR leaders strengthen tactical capabilities within their teams through specialized Certificate Programs and resources built for HR teams. From mastering data analytics to enhancing execution frameworks, AIHR provides the tools and training necessary to elevate tactical HR performance.

Whether your focus is upskilling teams, adopting new technologies, or redefining processes, we can support your strategic goals.

The post Building a Tactical HR Capability: Actions for HR Leaders appeared first on AIHR.

Despite these advancements, the adoption of AI within HR departments remains slow. For example, currently, 34% of marketing departments regularly use Generative AI tools, whereas only 12% of HR departments do. Additionally, only one-third of HR leaders are actively exploring potential use cases for Generative AI.

Why the sluggish adoption by HR?

AIHR’s research indicates that major adoption barriers are a lack of digital skills (91%) and uncertainty about which tools are best for HR needs. However, more significantly, HR professionals are concerned about the safety and secure use of AI in the department and across the organization.

In this article, we will discuss the risks of AI, HR’s role in mitigating these risks, and actions HR can take in managing AI risks to overcome barriers to adoption.

Risk management is not compliance

A key misconception about AI risk management is that it’s just about compliance. HR professionals often look for clear rules to comply with and the do’s and don’ts to follow, but with AI, simply complying with the rules is not enough. Managing AI risk requires a proper understanding of the risks involved and how to identify, mitigate, and manage those risks. 

By taking this proactive approach, organizations can take advantage of AI’s full potential while safeguarding against unintended consequences. It also helps build trust in AI, ensures compliance with legal standards, and helps maintain organizational integrity, positioning AI as a valuable tool for long-term success rather than a source of unforeseen challenges.

3 AI risks to manage and why it matters to HR

AI-related risks can be grouped into three broad categories, each posing a unique set of challenges to the organization and affecting HR in different ways. A holistic risk management framework should acknowledge these risks and provide guidance on how to address them at various levels.

However, the foundation of a holistic risk framework begins with an understanding of the type and nature of the risks associated with AI.

1. Inherent risks of AI 

This category of risks involves issues directly related to AI technology itself. These inherent risks arise from how the technology works rather than how it’s used and applied. They can emerge from integrating and using AI in various business processes.

Common inherent risks include: 

• Bias
• Lack of transparency
• Unintended consequences of automated decision-making.

Often seen as the shadow side of AI’s benefits, these risks are directly tied to AI technology’s capabilities and limitations.

Bias and fairness risks

AI systems can unintentionally perpetuate bias if they are trained on biased data. For example, suppose an AI model used for hiring is trained on past recruitment data that shows an underlying preference for certain demographics (e.g., more men than women). In that case, the AI might continue this unintended bias by favoring candidates from those groups.

Bias in hiring or performance evaluations can lead to unfair decisions, resulting in discrimination and damaging the organization’s reputation. It can also expose the company to legal risks and create a less diverse and inclusive workplace. A case in point is the ongoing court case against Workday, as an applicant accused its software of unfairly discriminating against them as part of the screening process at various employers using the technology.

Opacity and explainability

Some AI systems, especially complex models such as deep learning, operate like “black boxes,” making it hard to understand how decisions are made. This lack of transparency can be problematic, particularly when AI is used in HR functions like recruitment or employee assessments.

If HR professionals cannot explain how AI reaches certain decisions, it could create a lack of trust and accountability. Employees may question whether the system is making fair choices, and it can be difficult to justify decisions to regulators or in legal contexts.

An example beyond HR is how Google’s Deepmind’s AI agent AlphaGo defeated the world Champion Go player in 2016. The series of decisions and moves the AI agent made became so complex that its behavior was unpredictable regarding what it would do next. Even though this was a breakthrough in how AI technologies learn and deal with complexity, the notion that AI can operate without oversight and a human being able to implement sufficient controls poses a risk for the future.

Autonomy risks and unintended outcomes

AI systems, especially when left to operate autonomously, can sometimes behave unpredictably in complex situations. For example, an AI tool might misinterpret candidate qualifications or incorrectly assess employee sentiment, leading to poor hiring decisions or misguided HR actions.

Unintended outcomes in HR processes can lead to incorrect hiring decisions, employee dissatisfaction, or the mismanagement of talent. This could impact the organization’s productivity, lead to poor employee experiences, and potentially harm the company’s culture and reputation.

Actions for HR

• Use diverse training data: Use diverse, representative data when training AI models to minimize bias.
• Regular bias audits: Periodically audit AI decisions to check for patterns of bias.
• Human oversight: Ensure human review in AI-driven decisions, especially in critical areas like hiring, promotions, and evaluations. Verify AI outcomes before taking action.
• Bias mitigation tools: Use tools designed to detect and reduce bias in AI models.
• Use explainable AI models: Choose AI models that clearly explain their decisions whenever possible.
• Documentation: Ensure that the AI’s decision-making process is well-documented to be explained when necessary.
• Transparency: Be transparent with employees and candidates about how AI is used in decision-making processes.
• Test unusual scenarios or outliers: To minimize unpredictable behaviors, test AI models extensively, especially for unusual scenarios (edge cases).
• Monitoring and feedback loops: Continuously monitor AI systems in real-time and collect feedback on their performance to quickly identify unexpected outcomes.
• Fallback mechanisms: Implement safeguards where AI decisions can be overridden or revised by humans when necessary.

2. Application-based risks 

This category of risks refers to risks that arise from AI use and application. Application-based risks relate to how AI is deployed, implemented, and managed within HR processes. Even if all inherent risks are well-managed and mitigated, poor use or lack of proper oversight can lead to errors, unethical outcomes, or damage to the organization’s reputation.

Application-based risks can be categorized as human or behavioral risks stemming from humans interacting with AI to fulfill their work. 

These risks often relate to: 

• Ethical considerations
• Reputational impact, and; 
• Balancing AI-powered and human oversight.

Clear guidelines and guardrails for application and intentional behavior change are needed to manage these risks. 

Misalignment with organizational values

When AI makes decisions that are misaligned with your organization’s values or ethical standards, it can conflict with your company culture. For instance, if your company prioritizes diversity and inclusion, but the AI’s hiring decisions reduce diversity, it directly undermines those core values.

When AI contradicts company values, it can harm internal morale, disrupt the company culture, and create confusion about what the organization stands for. It may also lead to ethical concerns that could affect the trust employees and candidates have in the company.

Reputational damage

If AI is used insensitively or inappropriately, it can lead to bad press and public backlash. For example, using AI to handle mass layoffs without human oversight could come off as cold or impersonal, damaging the company’s image.

A damaged reputation can affect employee trust, candidate attraction, customer loyalty, and overall business performance. Bad publicity about how AI was used can affect the company’s public image and potentially lead to a loss of business or legal issues.

Ride-hailing app Uber is a good example, where its AI-based surge pricing algorithm has been criticized for raising prices during natural disasters or even terrorist attacks – even though the AI performed as expected, without the context of what was happening in the environment as to why people were seeking more rides, it faced public backlash and created damage to Uber’s reputation. 

Over-reliance on automation

Relying too much on AI for HR tasks without involving humans can lead to impersonal or flawed decisions. AI may miss important context or emotional nuances critical in HR situations, such as conflict resolution or employee grievances.

Actions for HR

• Define ethical guidelines: Clearly outline the company’s values and ensure that AI tools are programmed and monitored to reflect those values.
• Human oversight: Always include a human review of AI-driven decisions to ensure they align with the company’s ethical and cultural standards.
• Regular ethical audits: Periodically audit AI outputs to ensure they don’t conflict with the company’s mission, vision, or values.
• Use AI thoughtfully: Apply AI in areas where it can assist humans, but don’t use it for susceptible decisions (e.g., layoffs) without human involvement.
• Communication and transparency: Be open with employees and the public about how AI is used and ensure decisions are communicated emphatically.
• PR and legal safeguards: Work closely with PR and legal teams to ensure that AI use aligns with the company’s public-facing strategy and ethical responsibilities.
• Balance AI and human input: Use AI to assist with routine tasks (e.g., screening resumes), but make sure humans handle decisions that require empathy or complex judgment (e.g., employee performance reviews or disciplinary actions).
• Regular monitoring: Continuously review AI-driven decisions to catch errors or areas where the AI might lack proper judgment.
• Training for HR teams: Train HR staff on how to use AI effectively as a tool, ensuring they understand where human intervention is essential.
• Structured AI technology implementation: Ensure that AI tool implementation is supported with change management and upskilling to ensure behavior change in adoption.

3. Compliance-related risks 

In recent years, various laws have been drafted to regulate the use of AI. These laws typically establish conditions for its responsible use and regulatory and reporting obligations. 

For example, in 2023, New York City introduced Local Law 144, which requires organizations to conduct bias audits on automated employment decision tools (AEDTs) used in hiring, promotions, and performance evaluations. On a larger scale, the EU Artificial Intelligence Act is one of the most comprehensive attempts to regulate AI across sectors.

Companies using AI for recruitment or performance evaluations must ensure compliance with transparency, risk management, and data governance requirements, and non-compliance can result in significant penalties. Compliance-related risks in AI are tied to legal and regulatory standards, particularly concerning data protection and employment laws. 

These risks often relate to: 

• Data privacy violations
• Discrimination and employment law compliance, and; 
• Auditing and documentation management requirements.

When using AI in HR, it’s critical to comply with both local and global regulations to avoid breaches that could lead to legal penalties or sanctions. These risks can be monitored and managed by ensuring that AI policies and practices align with legislative requirements.

Data privacy violations 

AI systems often handle sensitive personal data, such as employee information or candidate details. This increases the risk of data breaches or failing to comply with data protection laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which sets strict rules on how personal data should be collected, stored, and used.

Violating data privacy laws can lead to severe penalties, lawsuits, and damage to the organization’s reputation. It can also erode trust between employees, candidates, and the organization, making it harder to attract and retain talent.

Discrimination and employment law compliance 

AI systems that make hiring or performance evaluation decisions risk discriminatory results (e.g., favoring one group over another based on race, gender, or age). This can lead to legal issues, including lawsuits or regulatory actions against the organization.

Discrimination in hiring or employment practices can also result in significant financial penalties, reputational damage, and a toxic workplace culture. It can also hinder the organization’s efforts to promote diversity and inclusion.

IBM implemented an AI system to help manage promotion and performance reviews. However, internal reports and subsequent lawsuits alleged that the system disproportionately discriminated against older employees, favoring younger workers for promotions. IBM was accused of perpetuating age bias through the AI tool, leading to a class-action lawsuit filed by employees. 

Auditing and documentation requirements 

In some states or regions, laws may require companies to document how their AI systems work and how decisions are made. This includes being able to explain AI decisions to ensure they are made fairly and legally.

Failure to maintain proper documentation and auditing can lead to non-compliance with legal standards, resulting in fines and legal challenges. It can also hinder transparency and accountability within the organization, making it difficult to defend decisions made by AI systems.

Actions for HR

• Implement data protection policies: Establish clear policies for handling sensitive data and ensure all employees are trained on these policies.
• Data minimization: Only collect and use the data that is absolutely necessary for AI applications, minimizing the risk of exposure.
• Regular audits and monitoring: Conduct audits of data handling practices to ensure compliance with laws and identify potential vulnerabilities.
• Use encryption and security measures: Employ strong security measures to protect sensitive data, including encryption, secure access controls, and regular security assessments.
• Legal compliance checks: Work with legal experts to ensure AI-driven processes comply with all relevant employment laws and regulations.
• Adjust algorithms: Modify algorithms to minimize bias and ensure they are designed to promote equitable outcomes.
• Maintain comprehensive records: Keep detailed documentation on how AI systems are used, including data sources, decision-making processes, and any changes made to the algorithms.
• Regular compliance reviews: Conduct regular reviews to ensure documentation meets legal requirements and best practices.
• Establish clear protocols: Create procedures for monitoring and reporting AI systems to ensure accountability.
• HR upskilling: Upskill the HR team on the importance of documentation and compliance to ensure everyone understands their role in upholding standards.

Next steps 

Awareness of the risks associated with AI use is the first foundational step in risk management and ensuring responsible adoption. To manage risks systematically, a clearly defined process must be developed, outlining the various steps to identify, mitigate, monitor, and audit risks.

In addition, a robust and comprehensive AI risk framework ensures that relevant risks are considered and all stakeholders are aligned to the overarching risk management strategy. 

The post AI Risk Management for HR: 3 Key Risks To Manage & HR Actions To Take  appeared first on AIHR.

Generative AI, in particular, is changing HR workflows, acting as an ‘intelligent co-worker’ that can assist in many areas. Yet, despite the hype, AI adoption has been slow and inconsistent.

This article dives into the various ways HR professionals are using AI today, the challenges they face, and the four unique adoption profiles—from skeptics to champions—that shape how AI is integrated into HR functions. Where do you fit, and what can you do to leverage AI’s potential?

For practical ways to start using AI in HR, download our ChatGPT Prompts for HR Guide and get ready-to-use prompts that streamline workflows and boost productivity.

Contents
Adopting AI beyond individual use: Key success factors
4 AI adoption personas in HR
1. The Skeptical Avoider
2. The Reluctant User
3. The Active Explorer
4. The Adoption Champion
Next steps to get started in your AI adoption

Adopting AI in HR beyond individual use: Key success factors

Our research in AI adoption has identified some of the common barriers HR professionals face: 

• Limited use of AI in HR practices, which leads to less exposure and familiarity with the technology
• Emphasis on individual AI applications for efficiency instead of broader, strategic implementation
• AI is mainly applied in recruitment, resulting in limited experience with more complex, company-wide solutions.

You’ve probably faced some of these barriers to adopting AI in your role. To overcome these challenges, you’ll need first to understand the critical success factors for adoption.

AI must be a strategic priority for business and HR

The key to successful AI adoption is making sure it is a top priority for both business and HR. If an organization is slow to embrace AI, it will be challenging to drive adoption within HR. Additionally, using AI in HR to meet business objectives should be a strategic choice. Without this focus, efforts to implement AI in HR will struggle to gain the support and momentum needed for success.

Exposure to AI in your role

Personal curiosity can encourage the use of AI, but our research indicates that exposure to AI in your job plays a significant role in its adoption. For instance, HR professionals in senior roles tend to have a more positive outlook on AI applications because they often have a broader perspective on how technology can improve organizational efficiency.

We also found that Talent Acquisition Specialists are more likely to use AI across all their tasks, likely because they encounter AI in recruitment processes. So, being exposed to AI in your role is essential for driving its adoption.

Your sentiment toward AI

Human behavior, including how we adopt new technologies, is influenced by our thoughts and feelings. To embrace AI, you must recognize its value, understand its benefits, and have a positive attitude toward using it. Along with hands-on experience, having an open mindset is essential.

With this in mind, we’ve identified four adoption profiles that represent different stages in the AI adoption journey in HR and key behaviors and actions you can take to move forward. Let’s take a closer look at these profiles.

4 AI adoption personas in HR

Not all HR professionals are embracing AI at the same speed or with the same enthusiasm. By understanding these four profiles, you can identify your current approach and discover ways to advance in your AI adoption journey.

1. The Skeptical Avoider

Skeptical Avoiders don’t see the value and use of AI or fear what this might mean for them and their future. They often find themselves in environments where AI is not used, meaning AI remains distant from their current reality. The most significant risk for Skeptical Avoiders is being left behind as AI will continue to impact their future.

Are you a Skeptical Avoider?

1. Do you question AI’s value? Skeptical Avoiders doubt AI’s benefits and view it as an overhyped trend.
2. Do you avoid AI discussions? Skeptical Avoiders steer clear of AI conversations, showing discomfort or disinterest.
3. Do you resist learning about AI? If you are reluctant to engage in AI training or upskilling, then you could be a Skeptical Avoider.
4. Do you focus more on the risks of AI? Skeptical Avoiders focus on potential downsides like job loss or privacy concerns.
5. Do you prefer the way things worked before AI? If you choose to follow manual processes and instead emphasize AI’s failures, you could be a Skeptical Avoider. 

What Skeptical Avoiders can do: 

• Start with the basics: Learn AI fundamentals through accessible resources like articles, videos, or courses.
• Experiment with AI tools: Use simple AI tools for low-risk tasks like scheduling or email drafting.
• Explore success stories: Review case studies or testimonials to see AI’s benefits and share examples with your HR colleagues.
• Engage in discussions: Join conversations with an open mind, ask questions, and address misconceptions.
• Seek mentorship: Connect with an AI-savvy peer or mentor to learn from their experience and gain guidance.

2. The Reluctant User

Reluctant Users are often seen as unwilling participants. While they may have access to AI tools, they don’t see their value or fear using them. If they had a choice, they would steer clear of AI use. This reluctance can lead to stagnation in their AI adoption, as they are not intrinsically motivated to fully embrace it.

Are you a Reluctant User?

1. Are you reluctant to use AI? Reluctant User engages with AI only when it’s mandatory, often with hesitation.
2. Do you express discomfort using AI? If you frequently voice skepticism about AI’s accuracy and impact, then you could be a Reluctant User.
3. Do you use minimal AI features? Reluctant Users stick to basic AI functions and avoid the more advanced tools.
4. Do you prefer manual methods? Seeking traditional workarounds and bypassing AI when possible could make you a Reluctant User.
5. Do you avoid learning about AI? Reluctant Users show little interest in AI training or giving feedback on AI tools.

What Reluctant Users can do: 

• Start small with AI tasks: Use AI for simple, low-risk tasks to see immediate value.
• Gradually explore features: Experiment with new AI functions that address daily challenges.
• Blend AI and manual methods: Integrate AI into specific parts of tasks to complement traditional approaches.
• Engage in training and give feedback: Participate in upskilling initiatives and provide feedback on AI tools, sharing your concerns and suggestions for improvements.
• Explore AI’s impact with data-backed insights: Challenge your perceptions by reviewing the measurable improvements or efficiencies gained from AI tools.
• Connect AI to daily challenges and goals: Set personal goals and use data-backed insights to see AI’s impact on your work.

3. The Active Explorer

Active Explorers are excited and curious about how they could utilize AI. They often see the potential for AI to transform their day-to-day tasks, their roles, and how HR can operate. However, they might have limited opportunities to use AI beyond personal use because of the slow adoption of AI into HR functions. Given the chance, though, Active Explorers can become advocates and catalysts for AI adoption.

Are you an Active Explorer?

• Do you actively experiment with AI? Active Explorers seek out and test new AI tools and features independently.
• Do you share AI ideas with others? If you regularly propose new AI uses and show enthusiasm for its potential in HR, you could be an Active Explorer.
• Do you actively learn more about AI? Active Explorers engage in self-directed AI education and seek involvement in AI initiatives.
• Do you advocate for AI? If you promote AI adoption to colleagues and management and suggest integration strategies, that indicates you may be an Active Explorer.
• Are you frustrated by slow adoption? Active Explorers express impatience with the organization’s limited support for AI.

What Active Explorers can do: 

• Lead AI pilot programs and advocate for using AI in HR: Volunteer for AI initiatives in HR to demonstrate quick wins and tangible benefits.
• Create and share use cases: Develop detailed examples showing how AI can improve HR processes and share them with the team.
• Collaborate cross-functionally: Partner with other departments to explore AI’s impact on broader challenges.
• Participate in formal AI training: Pursue training or certification in AI and data analytics to build expertise.
• Experiment, explore, and share how you use AI: Keep experimenting with and using AI tools and solutions, share successes, and advocate for broader adoption.

4. The Adoption Champion

Adoption Champions are the greatest supporters of AI adoption in HR. They have a positive attitude toward AI and actively work to improve their skills and find ways to create value. They usually work in environments that promote and use AI in HR processes, allowing them to apply and experiment with AI. Adoption Champions have the potential to drive AI adoption and transformation within HR. 

Are you an Adoption Champion?

1. Do you promote AI’s benefits? Adoption Champions advocate for AI use in meetings and communication with colleagues, emphasizing its value and impact.
2. Do you lead AI initiatives? If you take charge of AI projects and drive new HR applications and improvements, you could be an Adoption Champion.
3. Do you influence decision-makers? An Adoption Champion engages with leadership to highlight AI’s strategic value.
4. Do you seek out continuous learning? Actively pursuing advanced AI training, certifications, and conferences to stay current indicates you may be an Adoption Champion.
5. Do you mentor and support peers? Adoption Champions guide colleagues to help them successfully use AI tools, fostering a collaborative environment.

What Adoption Champions can do: 

• Expand AI integration: Identify and implement AI opportunities across various departments through cross-functional projects and workshops.
• Form AI working groups: Create or join committees to align AI goals and share best practices company-wide.
• Advocate for AI investments: Showcase AI benefits and success stories to secure broader organizational support and funding.
• Foster external partnerships: Build relationships with organizations, vendors, or industry groups to explore new AI solutions.
• Drive AI culture: Promote a pro-AI culture through impactful events and initiatives, encouraging innovation and participation.

Next steps to get started in your AI adoption

The four adoption personas help identify how you and your colleagues engage with AI at different levels. Recognizing where you and others fall in the adoption journey can help guide how you approach AI implementation and transformation. 

Here are some practical steps you can take to play a more active role in AI adoption within the HR function. 

• Step 1: Promote collaboration and knowledge sharing: Actively share AI insights and best practices through meetings, workshops, and knowledge platforms, encouraging team members to contribute and learn from each other.
• Step 2: Address concerns and build trust in AI: Create a safe environment for voicing concerns about AI, listening actively, and providing evidence-based reassurance about AI’s role in enhancing rather than replacing human tasks.
• Step 3: Encourage experimentation and exploration: Start with small, manageable AI projects and experiment with accessible tools to build familiarity, advocate for AI exploration, and demonstrate its long-term benefits and alignment with organizational goals.

Over to you

The journey towards AI adoption in HR is not just about implementing technology. To use AI to its full potential, you’ll need to cultivate a culture of learning, innovation, and collaboration that empowers you and your colleagues to contribute to the transformation actively. 

These four adoption profiles provide a valuable framework for HR professionals navigating the AI adoption journey. By understanding these profiles, you, your HR leaders, and your team members can take intentional steps to foster greater AI adoption and use. 

The post Which AI Adoption Persona Are You in HR? [Take the Quiz!] appeared first on AIHR.

As the workplace continues its digital transformation, HR leaders need a clear strategy. To succeed, they must fast-track AI adoption within HR and position the function to guide the organization on its AI journey. Our research into AI in HR*, which involved over 1,500 HR professionals, identified four distinct personas that reflect HR’s relationship with AI adoption, each with its own challenges and opportunities. 

In this article, we discuss the current state of AI adoption in HR, explore these four personas, and highlight the key priorities HR leaders need to focus on to harness AI’s potential effectively.

3 insights into HR’s adoption of AI

Our data shows that the adoption of AI in HR reflects both the promise and the pitfalls of integrating advanced technologies into human-centric functions. On the one hand, AI has the potential to transform HR—boosting efficiency, improving decision-making, and creating more personalized employee experiences. On the other hand, the pace of adoption is tempered by concerns about expertise, data privacy, and the difficulty in quantifying AI’s impact on HR outcomes.

The insights at a glance:

• Insight 1: Promise and potential, but adoption barriers remain
• Insight 2: Individual, low-risk adoption is the norm for HR professionals
• Insight 3: Difficulty articulating the business impact of AI in HR

Insight 1. Promise and potential, but adoption barriers remain

HR professionals are optimistic about A’s potential to improve efficiency and decision-making. However, its widespread use in HR practices is still limited.

This cautious approach is due to the unique challenges HR faces, such as managing sensitive employee data and the need for a more human-centric approach to work. Despite these challenges, the positive sentiment towards AI indicates that HR is slowly moving towards deeper adoption, with the potential for significant changes as familiarity and trust in AI technologies increase.

A major challenge to AI adoption in HR is the lack of expertise and confidence among HR professionals. Many feel they don’t have the skills to use AI technologies effectively, which makes them hesitant to fully embrace these tools. 

Concerns about data privacy and the ethical use of AI also add to this reluctance. These factors create a double-edged sword: while many HR practitioners have a positive attitude toward AI, their lack of confidence and concerns over the quality of data hold them back from tapping into AI’s full potential.

To move beyond basic AI adoption and towards more advanced and impactful applications in HR, it’s essential to address these gaps in skills and confidence.

Insight 2. Individual, low-risk adoption is the norm 

In HR, AI adoption mainly focuses on improving personal efficiency, such as through automating routine tasks, analyzing data, and enhancing decision-making processes. However, this adoption tends to be individual, with HR professionals using AI tools to streamline their own workflows instead of fully integrating AI into wider HR practices. 

This suggests that while AI’s potential to transform HR functions like talent management, employee engagement, and workforce planning is acknowledged, these areas haven’t seen widespread use of AI-driven solutions.

The current emphasis on efficiency suggests that if integration challenges are addressed, AI could take on a more strategic role in HR in the future.

Insight 3. Difficulty articulating the business impact of AI in HR

HR professionals are increasingly exploring AI, but one major hurdle is proving its real business value. Unlike other business areas like sales or operations, where the impact of AI can immediately be measured, HR struggles to quantify the benefits of AI tools when it comes to improved employee engagement, better talent management, or enhanced decision-making. 

This challenge is compounded by the fact that many AI applications in HR are still in their infancy, mainly focused on efficiency rather than driving strategic change. Without clear metrics to demonstrate the return on investment, justifying further AI integration becomes difficult, which slows down the adoption process.

The current challenges in adopting AI in HR pose several l risks for the field. These include individual competence and confidence, as well as the integration of AI into HR practices and demonstrating the business impact of AI.

HR must proactively address these risks to bridge the gap in adoption. This can be achieved by managing expected risks and understanding the underlying sentiment and behaviors that influence adoption. 

4 personas to drive AI adoption 

Our data shows that three main factors significantly influence AI adoption in HR: 

1. How AI is used and integrated in HR practices and processes 
2. The level of exposure HR professionals have to AI in their roles
3. The extent to which AI is viewed positively by HR professionals. 

These factors affect the underlying behaviors of HR professionals, impacting the extent of AI adoption and how AI is integrated into their daily work. 

Based on these findings, we categorize HR professionals into four distinct adoption personas. These personas highlight the groups’ shared behaviors and motivators for adopting AI, allowing us to define targeted actions for accelerated adoption. This approach ensures that HR’s adoption strategies are proactive, fit-for-purpose, and focused on the needs relevant to the HR workforce. 

The skeptical avoider

These users don’t actively use AI in their daily activities, nor is it integrated into their HR practices. They don’t see AI as valuable or necessary, leading to little motivation to upskill or prepare themselves for AI adoption. As a result, they often have negative or indifferent attitudes towards AI in HR.

The reluctant user

Reluctant users are often in environments where AI is actively used or integrated into their daily HR processes, yet they minimally engage with it. Their reluctance to adopt AI stems from various factors, like a lack of understanding, budget constraints, or integration challenges. As such their learning approach tends to be mostly self-exploration or depending on tech teams for guidance. 

The active explorer

These users utilize AI in limited ways, mainly for content creation, research, and task automation. While they see the potential benefits, their opportunities to experiment with these technologies are restricted, typically not extending beyond individual productivity enhancements. They work in settings with limited investment in AI, leading to minimal structured adoption. As a result, these users depend primarily on self-learning through exploration and online resources. 

The adoption champion

These users actively use AI across various HR practices and for personal productivity, reporting tangible benefits like increased efficiency, time savings, and improved decision-making. 

They typically operate in environments with more investment in AI. Adoption champions view the technology as a strategic driver and are eager to experiment. They actively participate in formal training through courses, vendor programs, and collaboration with tech teams, fostering a positive sentiment toward AI and allowing them to focus on strategic tasks.

Take action

To drive AI adoption, we need to tackle current challenges while harnessing the potential of AI. This means using AI in low-risk areas that can immediately bring value, establishing early guardrails to build trust, and continuously experimenting to enhance AI capabilities in HR.

If HR practitioners don’t act now, they will not only miss out on AI’s efficiency gains but also risk losing credibility and confidence. The message is clear: inaction leads to stagnation and threatens HR’s relevance in a world increasingly shaped by AI.

The post AI Adoption in HR: 3 Insider Insights and Adoption Personas Defined appeared first on AIHR.

In partnership with Revelio Labs, our analysis of 50 top-performing companies reveals seven surprising insights. We also share recommendations on how to enhance your HR strategies in the future.

• Insight 1: Successful HR strategies go beyond the business
• Insight 2: Good HR strategies prioritize an inside-out or outside-in approach
• Insight 3: Even though focus areas are similar, successful companies execute them differently
• Insight 4: Successful HR strategies have multiple narratives — but one message
• Insight 5: When defining success, they make the metrics count
• Insight 6: Successful HR strategies proactively factor in risk
• Insight 7: Even successful companies underinvest in HR — leading to sustainability challenges.

HR leaders dedicate significant time to crafting, aligning, and measuring HR strategies, considered the golden thread linking HR activities to business value and impact. These strategies guide decisions on resource allocation, hiring, and HR investments. In the longer term, HR strategies support and enable the business to deliver on its strategic intent and remain profitable and sustainable.

While many HR leaders assert that their strategies are unique and provide a competitive advantage for their businesses, a closer look shows that most emphasize similar themes: The importance of people, the battle for talent, and the creation of great workplaces. The generic nature of HR strategies often leads business leaders to adopt the mentality of “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.”

To investigate this perception, we examined successful and top-performing organizations to see how their HR strategies drive financial results and foster engaged and productive employees. We defined success not only by financial performance but also by organizations recognized as some of the best places to work by their employees.

Based on our findings, we share seven surprising insights and offer recommendations on how to enhance HR strategies in the future.

Insight 1: Successful HR strategies go beyond the business

Successful HR strategies align closely with the overarching business strategy and market positioning. These top-performing companies ensure that their HR strategies are guided by how the business wants to compete in the market. They are built around the core capabilities that provide a competitive advantage.

However, we found that highly successful companies extend their HR strategies beyond the requirements of their business alone. They move away from a strategy process that starts by solely incorporating the business strategy as the guiding influence on HR objectives.

We observed commonalities across various HR strategies, reflecting these companies’ industry, legislative environment, and workforce context. Companies often develop similar strategic focuses across sectors by using these factors as key inputs to their HR strategies. 

Elevate

• HR strategies should proactively incorporate the external environment and industry requirements more explicitly.

Initiate

• Stress-test your HR strategies against macro and industry scenarios to ensure they adequately incorporate strategic responses to those environments.

Insight 2: Good HR strategies prioritize an inside-out/outside-in approach

Our research shows that successful organizations clearly define the focus of their HR strategy in terms of an inside-out or outside-in approach. 

Companies with an inside-out focus in their HR strategy emphasize the importance of internal HR processes and practices and their impact on the employee experience. They track and measure specific metrics related to talent development, employee engagement, leadership development, and culture, viewing these as critical indicators of success and value. 

Conversely, companies with an outside-in focus in their HR strategy are concerned with the organization’s external image as an employer, its relations with the external labor market, and its role and impact in the broader community and society. 

These companies emphasize the visibility of their employer brand, external recognition of their HR practices, participation in industry and community projects, and accessing scarce talent pools. They track and measure net promoter scores, ESG and DEIB targets, the participation of designated groups in the labor market, HR practices, and the organization’s attrition and retention rates.

Elevate

• Clearly articulate how you want to build your strategies — inside out or outside in. This will guide how you prioritize activities and metrics depending on the decision.

Initiate

• Evaluate the content of your current HR strategy to ensure it aligns clearly with the business’s overarching strategic goals.

Insight 3: Success lies in the execution of focus areas

Successful companies all focus on the same things. When describing their focus areas, they highlight that ESG, DEIB, and employee engagement are critical to their success. This is reflected in their HR strategy focus areas, and they actively monitor and report on relevant metrics.

However, how successful companies execute the activities related to these focus areas in the context of their business and operating markets sets them apart.

We found that successful companies make distinct decisions about operationalizing ESG, DEIB, and Employee Engagement. These distinctions are closely linked to their inside-out or outside-in focus, guiding how they execute these focus areas.

For ESG, successful companies first focus on employee development and upskilling, ensuring they have the skills for the future. This may also extend to the communities they serve. The second area focuses on the societal impact of the organization and its HR practices in the future.

We found that companies with an inside-out focus tend to concentrate their ESG efforts first on internal upskilling before contributing to the broader community. In contrast, organizations that adopt an outside-in approach focus on community and society first, then turn inward to their employees.

The HR strategies analyzed reflected two different approaches to DEIB. 

• Approach 1: Some organizations focus their DEIB efforts on increasing the representation of designated groups and, in turn, on initiative-based practices. 
• Approach 2: On the other hand, some organizations focus on making systemic changes through their policies and practices that impact certain excluded or disadvantaged groups. 

The DEIB efforts of inside-out companies focus first on the organization’s internal representation before setting their sights on ensuring systemic barriers within society are addressed. This is achieved through policies and procedures that have a long-term impact on equity and access to opportunities.

Lastly, the companies we analyzed had different approaches to employee engagement as a shared focus area. For some, employee engagement practices are centered around monitoring employee satisfaction levels and managing disengagement through directed efforts that address this. In other cases, employee engagement focuses on a holistic employee experience and the levers that enable this within the organization. 

Elevate

• Organizations should be clear on how they will operationalize and execute the focus on ESG, DEIB and employee engagement
• The inside-out and outside-in focus can help as a frame through which to understand how to create clarity in execution

Initiate

• Evaluate whether the current HR strategy focuses on the areas of ESG, DEIB and employee engagement 
• Review the current execution plans to see whether there is consistency within these three domains in terms of inside-out versus outside-in thinking

Insight 4: Successful HR strategies have multiple narratives — but one message

In the past, the HR strategy was considered well-communicated if business leaders were aware of it. However, successful organizations get two things right when they communicate the HR strategy. 

The first is understanding the broader stakeholder landscape beyond managers and business leaders. Based on that, the second step is understanding their needs and interests in the HR strategy and communicating what success will look like. 

In essence, successful companies have one core message related to the focus of the HR strategy, yet depending on the audience, the story is positioned aligned to the needs of the relevant stakeholder. Successful companies translate and communicate their HR strategies to five distinct audiences.

Successful organizations:

1. Include broader societal considerations and the impact of their HR strategy on communities, sustainability, and the environment.
2. They translate their strategy into clear impact and value for shareholders and investors keen to understand the long-term value the HR strategy unlocks for the business.
3. The executive team is particularly interested in the HR strategy’s key performance indicators and metrics and how they support and enable the business strategy.
4. Each strategic focus area is translated into clear objectives and measures for this audience.
5. The strategic HR focus areas are embedded into the culture, values, and HR practices to ensure leaders understand and contribute to the overall HR strategy. This approach clarifies how leaders contribute and delineates what HR is accountable for. 

Finally, successful organizations recognize the pivotal role of their HR strategy in shaping their employer brand (what is promised externally) and the employee experience (what is delivered internally), which is a crucial area of interest for employees and a cornerstone of the organization’s success.

Elevate

• HR strategies should be translated for various audiences to ensure understanding aligned with their needs
• HR strategies should, however, have one core message that remains the same upon which the specific stakeholder narratives can be built

Initiate

• Evaluate the current messaging of your HR strategy against the needs of the five stakeholder groups and identify areas of improvement

Insight 5: When defining success, they make the metrics count

The success of the HR strategy is about more than defining focus areas and the KPIs that are tracked and measured. It is also about more than reporting on activities and efforts. This delicate balance, a significant challenge for even successful organizations to achieve, underscores the complexity of managing an HR strategy.

They rigorously showcase changes and impact over time, just as their other functional counterparts. This proactive approach ensures that the link between the HR focus areas, success metrics, and broader impact is transparent, allowing for clear accountability and transparency of the HR strategy. 

The graph below shows how the 50 top-performing companies incorporate different metrics into their strategies:

Elevate

• Define the operational metrics that should be reported on and the stakeholders that it should be visible

Initiate

• Review the current KPIs and reported metrics — what story does it tell about the HR strategy?

Insight 6: Successful HR strategies proactively factor in risk 

Operational plans are essential for executing strategy, which also holds true for HR strategy. However, successful organizations understand that it is crucial to go beyond outlining activities, timelines, and responsibilities. They recognize the importance of proactive risk management in HR strategy, as it helps to anticipate and address potential risks, ensuring the strategy remains resilient and adaptable.

Within most organizations, people risks are highlighted and reported on across the organization through other risk categories, such as operational, financial, and cybersecurity risks. This makes risk management an operational activity of tracking and mitigating while no clear ownership is assigned. 

Successful organizations adopt an integrated approach to risk management. While some risks span multiple business areas, clear accountability is established within HR in the broader risk framework. Risks are also proactively identified and managed when developing and implementing HR strategies. Companies doing this well can link the risks monitored and reported in their strategic HR focus area. 

Elevate

• Identify the people risks relevant to the current HR strategy
• Incorporate the risks as part of HR Executive discussions and business reviews

Initiate

• Adopt a robust HR Risk framework to drive proactive risk monitoring and mitigation

Insight 7: Even successful companies underinvest in HR

In successful companies, the size of the HR function (in relation to business size) is larger than the national U.S. average (1.9% versus 1.3%). The size of the HR function is seen to grow with the business size, although it remains relatively small compared to the business headcount.

Successful companies tend to invest more in transformational HR skills such as leadership development, talent management, and performance enhancement than their counterparts, aligning to the previously mentioned focus areas of ESG, DEIB, and Employee Engagement.

Despite their success, our findings indicate evidence of underinvestment in HR, which can have significant long-term consequences. Our data showed that average HR salaries in these companies have declined relative to other business roles.

Given the high levels of burnout generally observed within HR, there is a risk that underinvesting in HR can lead to reduced wellbeing, decreased engagement, and increased attrition rates. This trend is already evident in the workforce data of the 50 companies we analyzed.

Within these organizations, the average tenure of HR professionals is shorter than that of other business roles. The attrition rate of these HR functions is significantly higher than other functions. This signals that an underinvestment in HR has a detrimental effect on HR retention and the sustainability of the function.

Elevate

• HR investment should be contextualized in line with business objectives and growth
• Companies should proactively invest in HR teams to ensure continuity and sustainability.

Initiate

• Develop a workforce plan for HR growth aligned to business growth and secure adequate investment
• Identify current HR flight risks and ensure retention plans are in place
• Proactively monitor HR wellbeing and health levels to ensure the management of team members responsibly.

Final words

HR strategy is crucial in clarifying the focus and intended value that HR brings to the organization. However, many HR strategies fail to achieve successful execution. Instead of enabling the function, they often create confusion, loss of credibility with key stakeholders, become too generic to provide value, or lack metrics to demonstrate HR’s impact.

As this article proposes, learning from top-performing organizations can help HR leaders develop more impactful strategies, which can then be used as a vehicle for future and sustained HR success.

Research methodology

The post 7 Surprising HR Strategy Insights From Analyzing 50 Top-Performing Companies appeared first on AIHR.

Based on our analysis of 50 top-performing companies, we determine the critical success factors of an HR strategy that delivers its intended value:

• Success factor 1: Strategic choices are aligned with the organization’s core purpose
• Success factor 2: The HR strategy is embedded into the HR value chain
• Success factor 3: A successful HR strategy needs to demonstrate its relevance, impact, and value.

Organizations are increasingly turning to HR to help them stay competitive and sustainable in the future. The HR strategy remains a key value driver for many companies, dictating focus and clarifying how they will drive impact. 

However, a solid strategy on paper is just the beginning. In fact, even with a business strategy in place, 28% of managers cannot name the business’s top strategic priorities.

A robust HR strategy goes beyond a promise. It needs to be a clear, executable roadmap that addresses the business’s needs, reflects the external environment, and shows value and impact by guiding strategic choices and decisions. This kind of strategy builds confidence and encourages action among those who play a role in execution by clearly communicating its focus and providing a clear operationalization plan. 

In this article, we share insights from analyzing 50 top-performing organizations to identify the critical success factors of an HR strategy that delivers the intended value. We begin by exploring why some HR strategies fail before outlining the common success factors in these top-performing companies.

What successful companies do differently

There are many reasons why HR strategies fail. The most common reasons for these failures are due to:

• Lack of clear strategic intent
• Limited involvement of critical stakeholders in developing the strategy
• Inability to turn strategies into actionable operational plans
• Insufficient investment to support strategy execution.

Our data shows that successful companies are intentional in addressing these issues. Here’s how they approach strategy development and execution:

Along with taking mitigating steps to tackle common reasons for failure, our data shows that impactful HR strategies share key success factors that set them up for excellent execution.

3 critical success factors underpinning impactful HR strategies

Success factor 1: Strategic choices aligned with the organization’s core purpose

Successful organizations all share a focus on environment, social and governance (ESG), Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB), and employee engagement. However, they make different strategic choices regarding how to operationalize and deliver on each of these domains. These choices are closely aligned with the organization’s core purpose. 

The organization’s core purpose refers to the underlying beliefs around what makes the organization successful, how it competes and contributes in the market, and how its workforce and people contribute to that success. This purpose sets the tone for the organization’s business priorities, culture, values, and people agenda.

When the core purpose aligns with HR’s strategic choices, it fosters an integrated and relatable narrative about people. This connection ensures that HR priorities make a meaningful impact, align closely with business goals, create clear internal alignment within the HR function to a common purpose, and provide authentic employee experiences. 

Success factor 2: Embedding the strategy into the HR value chain

Strategic focus areas represent the broad commitments and deliverables of the HR strategy, showcasing its value to the business. These areas are executed by multiple teams and functions within HR. A key factor for success is effectively translating these strategic focus areas into the HR value chain and supporting practices.

While translating strategic focus areas into HR practices is usually considered part of executing the strategy, it’s important to identify dependencies and interconnectedness from the beginning. 

This proactive approach ensures that strategy execution permeates all levels of the HR function and clearly defines accountability throughout the process. It underscores the feasibility of the HR strategy, specifies where accountability rests, and explains the impact on various HR practices over time.

Success factor 3: Measurement, impact, and visibility

A successful HR strategy needs to demonstrate its relevance, impact, and value. This is achieved through accurate and timely measurement that reflects the impact that key stakeholders have agreed on for the HR strategy execution.

Firstly, the measurement of the HR strategy should confirm that the strategic focus areas are relevant and delivered and also help create a positive work environment. 

Secondly, a strategy that is not monitored and measured against clearly defined key performance indicators has limited opportunity to show its impact and value. This includes connecting the links between the delivery of the strategy atond the longer-term business value it can provide. 

Finally, the strategy’s impact and value should be visible to key stakeholders. The HR strategy must be measured with the same rigor and discipline as other business areas to build HR’s credibility and legitimacy in the longer term.

These three critical success factors ensure that HR strategy is formulated in collaboration with the business, has a clear focus, and is clearly translated into actionable execution plans. It is also measured against a set of pre-defined criteria in a disciplined and rigorous manner.

Take action

As Morris Chang famously said, “Execution without a strategy is aimless; strategy without execution is useless.” This requires a renewed focus on not only the process of defining the HR strategy but also the quality of the content that is included. It also challenges our perception that a good HR strategy contains the ‘right’ things.

For the HR strategy to deliver value, it must reflect the business’s priorities and demonstrate precise alignment with its long-term sustainability. This requires critically examining the inputs considered in defining the strategic focus areas and translating these focus areas internally within HR and to various audiences.

To show impact and value, the cadence of measurement, as well as metrics of success, must be included in the strategy. 

The post Average to Exceptional: The Key Success Factors For Impactful HR Strategies appeared first on AIHR.

• We examine the current state of using AI and GenAI in HR, the challenges faced, and strategies for responsible implementation, based on research involving over 1,137 HR professionals.
• Despite initial enthusiasm for GenAI in HR, widespread adoption and tangible value remain elusive due to regulatory, ethical challenges, and a cautious approach from HR professionals.
• HR professionals face obstacles in adopting AI because of a lack of digital competence, confidence, and clarity, resulting in cautious behavior and difficulty integrating the technology into existing processes.
• To successfully use AI in HR, it’s essential to focus on integrating upskilling, fostering an experimentation mindset, and developing clear risk frameworks to enhance digital competence, confidence, and responsible AI usage.

While AI has been available for some time, the launch of the Generative AI (GenAI) tool ChatGPT and subsequent rival applications garnered much interest. Since then, there has been a dramatic increase in the adoption of GenAI tools, including Microsoft’s Copilot and Google’s Gemini. 

In fact, 92% of Fortune 500 companies are incorporating Generative AI (GenAI) into their workflows. 

In the Human Resources field, HR leaders believe this is just the beginning of AI adoption. 76% predict that their organizations will implement AI technology within the next 12–18 months to achieve anticipated business benefits or face the risk of lagging behind. 

Many HR departments have been eager to experiment with GenAI. Use cases range from managing employee records to recruitment, onboarding, and analytics. Broader AI adoption use cases include (but are not limited to) AI-powered talent acquisition tools, AI-supported learning development, and performance management.

Despite the opportunities AI offers HR widespread, sustained adoption has yet to happen, with concerns raised about privacy, data security, and internal governance barriers. Without addressing these issues, the potential productivity gains promised by AI in HR may remain unfulfilled.

In this article, we draw on research conducted by AIHR involving over 1,137 HR professionals across various companies. We explore the current state of AI and GenAI adoption in HR, the challenges hindering its broader use, and strategies for responsibly harnessing its value.

Has the hope lived up to the hype of emergent AI in HR?

Gartner’s Hype Cycle succinctly illustrates the rise and fall of emerging technologies like emergent AI. GenAI is one example of an emergent AI. 

The graphic shows specific technologies’ maturity, adoption, and social application. It consists of five phases:

1. Innovation trigger: A breakthrough or innovation generates significant interest and media coverage.
2. Peak of inflated expectations: Enthusiasm and unrealistic expectations build up as early successes and failures are reported.
3. Trough of disillusionment: Interest wanes as experiments and implementations fail to deliver. Some producers fail or exit the market.
4. Slope of enlightenment: Understanding and practical application of the technology as its use grows, with more realistic and informed perspectives.
5. Plateau of productivity: The technology becomes mainstream, demonstrating real-world benefits and stable adoption.

Currently, GenAI is at the peak of inflated expectations on the Gartner Hype Cycle, where initial enthusiasm has yet to translate into widespread, sustained adoption and tangible value. In addition to ongoing regulatory and ethical debates, many organizations face challenges in identifying practical use cases that fulfill GenAI’s broader promise beyond simply enhancing individual productivity within their teams.

Our sentiment analysis of 1,173 HR professionals reveals a cautious and skeptical outlook for GenAI’s long-term value in HR. While participants indicate a desire to experiment with GenAI, they struggle to envision its practical integration into HR solutions at scale. The sentiment shows that HR has been wary of the hype and prefers to take a more measured and risk-averse approach. 

This aligns with our compliance and risk management roots within HR. Although this has successfully insulated the HR function against specific risks, it also results in GenAI adoption and HR lagging behind the business. This trend is not new and mirrors previous adoptions, such as the slower introduction of SaaS technologies in HR.

Most HR GenAI adoption at the moment is largely vendor-led, with recruitment technologies dominating this space. This situation raises crucial questions about how HR can unlock GenAI’s potential, address barriers to adoption, and expedite the transition through the “trough of disillusionment” to fully realize its benefits.

3 obstacles blocking HR’s adoption of AI

We found three obstacles that HR professionals face that inhibit the adoption and use of AI within HR. These include competence, confidence, and clarity around how and when AI should be used. 

1. HR’s digital competence lags

Digital Agility is the lowest-rated competency for HR professionals, based on data from over 2000 HR professionals who have completed our T-Shaped HR Competency Assessment. Only 9% indicate they have the right skills and are fully equipped to use and apply digital technologies. With accelerated technology development, such as AI, this lack of digital competence continues to lag. 

Most HR professionals are optimistic about AI’s potential and how it can enhance their personal effectiveness and HR practices. However, specifics like prompt engineering, using GenAI in collaboration with other technologies, and image creation are critical areas of concern for HR professionals. In addition, being able to evaluate and apply AI outputs is also a notable skill gap. 

HR professionals also report struggling to integrate GenAI into existing HR processes practically. They cite a lack of the ability to spot opportunities to use GenAI and the technical skills to incorporate the technologies as key obstacles.

What’s happening?

• HR professionals lack digital agility as a core competency
• Engaging with GenAI technologies through prompt engineering and integration with other technologies remains a missing skill

Why does it matter?

• Without the necessary skills, HR professionals cannot effectively use and incorporate GenAI into their work

2. HR professionals don’t feel confident about using AI

In addition to a lack of skills needed for AI use, HR professionals also don’t have confidence in their ability to experiment with AI. Although HR has started to experiment with AI, it’s still predominantly used for personal productivity and efficiency. For example, AI is used to draft emails, create communications, and research topics. 

HR individuals also indicate that, in terms of digital technologies, they often feel that they lack an experimentation mindset to become confident in their use. HR professionals come from a background of risk, quality, and zero tolerance for mistakes, leading to cautious behavior when it comes to new digital innovations.

What’s happening?

• Limited confidence of HR professionals in experimenting with GenAI
• HR professionals struggle to see the application of GenAI at scale beyond personal productivity.

Why does it matter?

• Investing in HR technologies without the confidence to use them leads to wasted investments and resources
• Scaling AI beyond personal productivity can foster innovation and enable new ways of working for HR professionals.

3. A lack of clarity leads to cautious behavior

How HR professionals engage with AI in their day-to-day work is hallmarked by caution and risk avoidance. There are many concerns around responsible adoption, data security, and privacy. This is further pronounced in inherently high-risk applications such as hiring decisions or related to sensitive topics like diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging or advice on legal matters. 

Because of a lack of clarity on when to use GenAI, many HR professionals prefer not to engage with the technology at all, choosing to err on the side of caution.

What’s happening?

• The history of risk avoidance and caution is limiting HR in their exploration of GenAI
• HR is not willing to take risks for fear of inappropriate use

Why does it matter?

• A lack of AI experimentation due to cautiousness hampers the development and application of new skills

Taking action: 3 priorities for HR to capture value from Gen AI

Considering the current reality of AI adoption within HR, simply introducing more AI tools into HR is not the solution to driving sustainable adoption. Instead, we must address the issues of digital competence and the lack of confidence in using AI and clarify how AI should be used responsibly. 

Action 1: Upskilling is not enough — integration is needed 

Upskilling and reskilling HR to develop digital competence in using AI involves a structured approach that combines education, practical experience, and continuous learning.

Start by evaluating the current digital competence of the HR team to identify exact gaps in knowledge and skills. Align this to your AI strategy and use it within HR. For example, recruitment practices, automation of processes, or using AI tools to improve personal efficiency. Provide formal upskilling opportunities on relevant AI concepts, tools, and specific platforms.

Experimentation and incremental adoption help clarify how AI can be used and, over time, create momentum for adoption across various processes and practices. They provide clear guidelines for HR professionals concerned with associated risks, mitigating risk-averse behaviors that often inhibit use. Supporting adoption through upskilling and use case examples builds confidence in using AI beyond personal efficiency and automation. 

Create low-stakes opportunities for HR professionals to experiment with new AI technologies. This is critical to upskilling and builds confidence in individual competence and AI capabilities.

In the longer term, it ensures that AI technologies can unlock their full productivity potential and are maximized to show a return on investment.

Action 2: Develop an experimentation mindset 

Developing a mindset of experimentation begins with understanding and embracing different thinking styles. This involves cultivating an analytical and systematic approach to problem-solving and decision-making. HR professionals can better navigate the digital landscape by learning to break down complex issues into manageable parts and critically examine them. This analytical mindset reduces the perceived risk of experimentation by providing a structured framework for understanding potential outcomes. 

Additionally, fostering a sense of curiosity and openness to learning is crucial. These attitudes encourage the exploration of new technologies and methods without fear of failure. This involves adopting habits and behaviors that promote continuous learning and adaptability. For example, maintaining a curiosity about the latest digital tools and trends allows individuals to stay updated and informed, which can boost their confidence in trying new approaches. 

Enhancing digital awareness is another key component of developing an experimental mindset. Additionally, by regularly engaging in low-stakes digital tasks, such as experimenting with new software features or participating in online forums, individuals can build skills and experiences. This practical exposure helps demystify the digital world and reinforces the belief that failure in a controlled, low-risk environment is simply a stepping stone to mastery.

Practical knowledge and hands-on experience with digital tools can significantly boost an individual’s confidence in their ability to navigate and use digital resources effectively. This confidence is crucial when experimenting with new techniques or tools. 

Action 3: Develop risk frameworks for GenAI adoption 

While many HR professionals may be concerned about using AI technologies, a clear AI risk framework can provide a roadmap for their safe and effective use. This framework helps to manage any risks that may arise and also serves to dispel any myths and misconceptions that could hinder the adoption of AI. By outlining risks associated with both content generation and use and the intent of application and use, this framework paves the way for a more confident and informed use of AI in the HR field.

We have previously discussed an AI Risk framework specifically related to recruitment, yet more work is required to make these frameworks easy to access, validate in practice, and adopt as a way of working within HR.

Final words

AI is radically transforming every aspect of work, and HR has never had more opportunities to leverage this transformation. However, HR needs to develop more skills to become more confident and competent, which might be limited by our current beliefs and inaction. 

To overcome these limitations, we need to take bold and brave action. Equally important is creating environments that encourage responsible experimentation and foster the development of digital mindsets and skills.

The post Using AI in HR: The Impact, Hurdles & Actions HR Leaders Must Take appeared first on AIHR.

• The CHRO role’s complexity and internal challenges deter many from aspiring to it, despite its critical importance. This highlights the need to address these barriers to attract and retain top HR leadership.
• Additionally, the CHRO role has evolved from heading HR to a business leadership position with expanded scope, including ESG, digitalization, and a complex stakeholder landscape.
• There are five challenges that CHROs indicate inhibit their success in the role. These include power, politics and unpredictability, lack of legitimacy, a lack of belonging, inheriting and navigating historical HR leader failures, and perception that CHROs “serve” at the CEO’s discretion.
• A change is required in how CHROs are developed. We propose a three-pronged approach that considers the ecosystem needed for CHROs to be effective.

The CHRO role is notoriously difficult and complex, leaving many CHROs feeling ill-equipped and unprepared. Politics, a complex stakeholder environment, and Board dynamics are some challenges new CHROs face. For many, this makes the role unappealing. 

Only 40% of senior HR leaders say that they have the ambition to move into the CHRO role, while senior HR leader turnover is reported to be significantly higher than in other C-suite roles. Contrary to what many believe, this is not a symptom of the role’s demands — more often, it is due to significant internal barriers that CHROs face.

In this article, we draw on our latest research to discuss the current reality of CHRO careers, how the role changes, and the unique challenges we must address to set the role up for success. 

The reality of the CHRO role: Changing expectations and scope

The CHRO role has significantly changed over the last decade. Even before the pandemic, the CHRO scope changed to include the inclusion of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) as a critical strategic priority. Similarly, the digitalization of HR and the rising importance of board oversight on people matters have significantly impacted the role’s focus.

Beyond the evolution of the scope and responsibilities of the CHRO role, the reality of talent in CHROs highlights significant challenges. Recent rates show that the turnover (14%) within top HR roles is higher than in other C-suite roles.

Similarly, the internal promotion rates for CHROs are much lower than their C-suite counterparts, at only 57%. This signals that the CHRO role is not set up for success within the business and requires urgency in developing CHROs for the future and addressing the symptoms of underlying challenges.

5 challenges inhibiting the success of the CHRO role

CHROs state that they experience five barriers to success:

Barrier 1: Power, politics and unpredictability

By its nature, the CHRO role is at the heart of complex relationships and organizational politics. This results in CHROs spending significant time and effort managing relationships across the organization and navigating politics. To make this practical, CHROs often spend more time navigating organizational demands rather than focusing on activities that lead to strategic HR impact. 

When reflecting on their careers, many CHROs say that they felt ill-prepared to work with the Board and C-suite, and managing conflicting agendas and dynamics contributed to their feeling of being an imposter within the C-suite.

Many CHROs share that they don’t feel fully prepared for the role. As many as 41% of CHROs advanced from the HRBP role, with 29% moving into the role from outside of HR. This means that CHROs enter the role with varying skill sets and exposure, which might not always align with the role’s expectations.

Barrier 2: Lack of institutional legitimacy

The CHRO role is often not given credibility within the organization, holding very little power and autonomy. In some organizations, this is explicit – the CHRO is not seen as part of the executive leadership team. In others, the role is included at face value but holds no real influence or power. CHRO decision-making power and autonomy are often diluted at the C-suite level, which contrasts the expectations that CHROs hold of the role.

CHROs impact business, society, and people. However, once they enter the role, they struggle to build trust and credibility with leadership, often feel isolated and not part of the C-suite, and struggle to manage overwhelming expectations and decision-making responsibilities. This leaves many CHROs feeling disempowered and needing more agency to drive the strategic HR agenda.

Barrier 3: The CHRO role is lonely

CHROs report that being elevated into the CHRO role often brings a sense of loneliness and lack of belonging. On the one hand, the CHRO is considered the people leader of the HR function and represents business leadership in meetings. On the other hand, they do not feel fully integrated into the business executive team. This leads to dissatisfaction with the role, with only 52% of CHROs reporting that they are satisfied with their careers.

Chief Human Resources Officers also experience little support in their roles, resulting in burnout, disengagement, and often premature exits from the profession. This poses a significant risk to the readiness and availability of experienced CHROs. Many CHROs remark that being the ‘outlier’ in the C-suite (treated differently than other functions) and advocating for the HR function and profession creates a challenging and lonely environment, which was not anticipated in the role.

Barrier 4: Carrying the burden of HR’s past

Thirty-eight percent of CHROs progress into the role through upward advancement and promotions. While this leads to solid business acumen and an understanding of the organizational context, it often diminishes HR’s credibility and ability to transition into a C-suite leader. “Growing up in the business” brings with it the responsibility of carrying the history of previous HR leaders while also being seen as part of historical failures.

Where HR has been established as a successful contributor under a strong leader, new CHROs carry the burden of being measured against their predecessors and continuously compared to them—which is especially true if the new CHRO grew within the business under the leadership of the previous incumbent. Even though this is not unique, given the intimate stakeholder relationships that successful CHROs hold, it often makes it difficult for new incumbents to establish their brand.

Barrier 5: A perception that CHROs “serve” at the CEO’s discretion

The relationship between the CEO and CHRO contributes significantly to the role’s success. This relationship also often dictates the accessibility of the CHRO in terms of key strategic discussions and its critical role in managing board dynamics.

Unlike the relationship between the CEO and other C-suite executives, there is a close link between the perceived credibility of the CHRO and the CEO. CHROs mention that working for a CEO where they align with the values and ways of work significantly contributes to their own career decisions. 

To put this practically, a CHRO is 2x more likely to leave the role following a CEO transition, with the likelihood of this churn increasing to 54% within the first 24 months. 

Given the changing nature of the CHRO role, the current CHRO talent development approach cannot overcome these challenges. Similarly, the impact CHROs can make is lessened because of institutional factors inhibiting their performance. These challenges and changing expectations set the stage for the future CHRO profile. They will significantly influence the development of a healthy and sustainable CHRO talent pipeline.

What should we be doing to create a healthy CHRO talent pool?

We need to change how we develop CHROs. Traditional upskilling will not be enough. We propose a three-pronged approach that considers the ecosystem needed for CHROs to be effective.

Individual level

CHROs must reflect on their skills and experience to identify gaps and proactively address them to build confidence to prepare for the role. Beyond the required skills, CHROs also have to demonstrate clarity in their belief system and how this impacts their professional identity.

This is essential for making tough calls, navigating ambiguity, and remaining true to purpose. Self-awareness is essential in any leadership role, but for CHROs, the ability to reflect and make sense of their strengths and limitations is even more critical.

Organizational level

The organization plays a key part in creating an environment where CHROs can thrive. On the one hand, this requires clearly defining the contribution and expectations of the CHRO role and giving it appropriate decision-making authority.

This means legitimizing the role, its positioning within the C-suite, and its power and influence. It also requires a proactive approach to CHRO succession planning and feeder pool development to ensure the role’s readiness and continuity.

Profession level

Beyond the organization, the HR profession as a collective also needs to address past perceptions about why the HR profession exists and the type of work it is responsible for. The baggage of the past often impacts the credibility of the CHRO or even demotivates individuals from entering the profession in the first place.

Also, the profession needs to establish communities of support, coaching, and mentorship to ensure that CHROs receive tangible support in transitioning into the role and navigating the loneliness of the profession.

 A call to action

The scarcity of qualified CHRO talent poses a real threat to organizations’ capacity to cultivate sustainable workplaces in the future. The hurdles confronting the CHRO role demand innovative solutions, as current strategies prove inadequate. HR cannot solve this challenge on its own. It will require a concerted effort that will include multiple parties changing the current perceptions of the role, its value, and the credibility of those who step into the responsibility. 

The post CHROs Are Failing and It’s Our Fault: 5 Barriers to CHRO Career Success appeared first on AIHR.