From zero to heroes: Evolving the HR function for the age of AI
Human Resources (HR) is often at the forefront of managing change within an organisation. Now the people function needs to shift and step up to its most significant role ever: steward of humanity.
When I embarked on a career in HR more than 30 years ago, it was a time when the function was called ‘Personnel’ and technology played a limited role in our lives – only academics were harnessing the wonders of the internet back then.
Work was also easily categorised. You were either a blue-collar worker or a white-collar worker, which meant that you worked in an office or at the frontline as a tradie, shop assistant, healthcare worker, teacher etc. Work was well defined and distinct from our personal lives.
The role of HR was clear. We focused on worker safety and employee rights – ensuring that people matters didn't get in the way of efficient running of the company. We were the stewards of employment. And performance and productivity were the primary measures for HR effectiveness. But this never sat right with me – going into HR, I believed my purpose was not just to just manage HR admin and people processes, but above all, ensure that people do matter.
As we entered the 21st century, and the world became more connected on a global scale – and change happened faster – the shelf-life of skills began to shrink, and we needed to think beyond efficiencies. HR’s remit expanded to include functions such as work design, and employee experience and development. We became stewards of work. In this new role, HR was bending the demand and supply curves of work in fundamentally different ways; enabling employees to connect to work more seamlessly and meeting them on their own terms.
Fast forward to 2024 and the world of work is markedly different from when I entered the workforce. Rapid technological disruption, fuelled by a global pandemic has heightened the importance of well-being and psychological safety, converging work and life together in a complex landscape.
This backdrop sets the stage for a new mandate for HR to serve as stewards of humanity. Now more than ever, we’re in an era where people truly matter.
Caring for the human in organisations
There’s such a pressing need for HR to move from being stewards of employment and work to stewards of humanity. A role that guides organisations with a visionary approach to help integrate AI and human capabilities more seamlessly, while ensuring that we leave humans better off than when they began working with us.
But the key to this lies in easing the tension between the business push for productivity, employee trepidation over job security, tech-stress and burnout. As the bridge between executives and employees, it’s up to HR to step up and prepare for this new role as stewards of humanity. It’s one that could be our most consequential yet. And I believe there are four steps to getting there.
1. Advocate for the human at work
In 2022-23, labour productivity across Australia fell by 3.7%, despite the increase in hours worked. There’s a clear push for productivity and AI as the solution, with 40% of Australian executives seeing AI and large language models as a key investment area for greater efficiencies.
But there’s a risk that this push to do more will exacerbate employee burnout and workload rather than relieve it. Productivity gains need to be balanced with employee wellbeing to avoid tech overwhelm.
It’s up to us to advocate for employees and encourage a mindset shift among senior leaders from striving to do more with less, to seeking to do more with less effort.
Productivity gains need to be balanced with employee wellbeing to avoid tech overwhelm.
This means using the time saved from working with machines to give employees more mental headspace and opportunities for upskilling and doing work they value.
And with employees experiencing the uncertainty of AI, Mercer’s 2024 Global Talent Trends study reveals that more than ever, they are expecting their employers to do the right thing by them.
2. Shepherd employees through change
Still in its early stages, AI remains a mystery to many. Less than half of Australian employees believe their organisation clearly communicates how AI will improve the way they work. Employees also expect employers to do their part in bringing them up to speed.
It’s a call for HR to lead from the front to ensure people can access and adopt AI effectively at work, so they don't get left behind. While it’s wise to work closely with our IT folks, AI is too important to be left to them to shepherd our people through the change.
AI training is more than keeping pace with technology change. It’s also about uplifting capability to retain employees, with research showing that 7.5 out of 10 workers see upskilling in AI as important for their career prospects. Employees also tend to stick around when they feel a sense of value and purpose at work. By allowing employees to shape their learning journeys, we can provide a level of ownership that can contribute to employee value and purpose, which has positive flow-on effects for the wider organisation.
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Employees see job reskilling as a must-have:
- One in two employees believe their companies will reskill them if their job changes due to AI.
- Yet 64% of executives think employees aren’t being reskilled fast enough to keep up with evolving technology.
To demystify how AI works, one must first understand how the technology works and its use cases.
3. Educate yourself
Despite ChatGPT bringing Generative AI (GenAI) to the masses in November 2022, we’re still at Ground Zero when it comes to effectively embedding the technology into how we work. Our survey found that two-thirds of organisations implement new technology solutions without transforming the way they work.
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86% of professionals agree that we should embrace AI
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21% describe their organisation as mature in this technology.
HR can change this – if we each take responsibility – but how? Educate yourself; explore how you operate and disrupt your ways of working by experimenting with different tools. Find a digital native in your workplace – such as a recent graduate – and get them to show you how they use GenAI tools. Then use these learnings to pilot a small, low risk use case before rolling it out and training employees.
4. Manage AI ethics and mitigate risks
Understanding AI can also position you to stay ahead of the related risks and ethical challenges. HR plays a crucial role in aligning human and technological resources with the critical responsibility of ensuring ethical AI practices.
This includes considering the role of AI in recruitment, onboarding and professional development. With the rise of AI recruitment tools, you will need to ensure that AI complements rather than replaces human decision-making.
Then there’s the employee perception of AI as a threat to job security. As humans begin to work alongside machines in the future, we need to rethink work. It’s an opportunity to redesign rather than displace jobs to incorporate AI.
The good news is that this is already on HR’s radar, with 42% of HR managers viewing job redesign as a priority for 2024. However, just 16% of employees say their job has been redesigned to leverage the benefits of AI. A focus on protecting employee rights and creating agile job roles could help rebuild the trust that has declined in recent years.
To ethically manage AI for meaningful human outcomes, it’s important to gather support from across the business including IT, legal, compliance and most importantly, senior executives.
More than a seat at the table
It’s time for HR to rise as an organisational hero and embrace its new role as steward of humanity. A hero that collectively lifts the workplace up from Ground Zero and propels it into the future of work.
By fully embodying this role, HR leaders can help ensure they have an ongoing seat at the table and their voices are heard in every room. It’s essential to advocate for human needs, guide people through change, and ensure decisions are made for the good of the organisation and its people.
