What the HR function will look like in 2026

We asked senior human resources professionals for their predictions for the coming year. Here’s what they told us.

According to a handful of experts, next year will bring a continuation of the AI transformation, calling for a greater involvement of people in the loop, as well as an emphasis on change management.

Changes in AI use cases

Insight people and culture director in APAC, Elyse Philippi (pictured, left) predicted that next year, AI will move beyond being a supporting HR tool into a “strategic driver” of workforce transformation, redefining talent management.

As the shift from rigid job roles to dynamic and skills-based job roles will accelerate, AI will be used to continually map capabilities to “predict future skill needs, and connect people to meaningful work aligned with both business priorities and individual aspirations”, Philippi said.

She said that this change will be for agility and resilience, not just efficiency.

“Traditional job descriptions will give way to fluid talent marketplaces, enabling employees to move seamlessly across projects, learning opportunities, and career pathways based on skills, potential, and ambition rather than titles,” Philippi added.

Keeping a human in the AI loop

Swaab head of people and culture, Angela Sharpe (pictured, middle), predicted that the “human element” will be increasingly critical to tempering AI’s speed, precision, and insight, with empathy, context, and ethical decision making.

Sharpe said: “HR leaders will blend data-driven intelligence with human understanding to anticipate gaps, redesign workforce structures, and unlock internal mobility at scale.”

In addition, David Field (pictured, right), Canon Oceania director of people and finance, predicted “growing nuance and maturity,” surrounding next year’s AI conversation.

For him, recognition of tasks that “genuinely lift” human efficiency, such as “AI-enhanced search, AI for reconciliation, and organisational data-mining for insights,” will be crucial.

Change management

For Sharpe, next year, change management will be “more important than ever before.”

Sharpe said for next year, HR professionals must be across the change process for not just the implementation of AI products, but to support workers not as quick to embrace the technology to “help them come to terms with a rapidly changing work environment.”

“Organisations need to invest more thoughtfully in skills and frameworks to help employees use AI tools in ways that improve efficiency, rather than just exacerbating people’s information overload and stress, or leading to an environment where so much information is being generated that no one actually has their hands on the wheel,” Field said.

Recommendations

“We, in HR, will also have to get our heads around AI, specifically focusing on the impact it will have on an individual’s mental health (both positively and negatively) and how we can minimise and reduce any adverse impacts,” Sharpe said.

“By championing frameworks that balance technology and culture automation with human connection, HR leaders can create environments where technology amplifies – not replaces – human potential,” Philippi said.

“Those who combine AI-powered intelligence with human insight will help organisations adapt faster, deploy talent smarter, and build resilient, people-centric cultures.”