AI implementation on the rise, yet many are still sceptical

Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly shaping the future of work, and an increasing number of organisations are integrating it into processes. Despite this, there are still a large number who are wary of this tech.

New research from Gartner revealed that 38 per cent of HR leaders are “piloting, planning implementation, or have already implemented generative AI (GenAI)”. This figure has doubled since June 2023, highlighting a significant increase in positive attitudes.

Aaron McEwan, vice-president of research and advisory for Gartner’s HR practice, gave his opinion: “The technology promises significant benefits for organisational performance and workforce productivity, but local HR leaders need to accelerate their exploration and adoption rates to realise these benefits and remain competitive.”

However, while many are optimistic about the future of AI in the workplace, 67 per cent of HR leaders don’t have plans to implement GenAI in the next 12 months.

“More organisations are moving from exploring how GenAI might be used to implementing solutions. Yet, the same Gartner survey revealed that 67 per cent of HR leaders don’t plan to add any GenAI-related roles to their function in the next 12 months,” said Dion Love, vice-president of advisory in the Gartner HR practice.

Initially, Gartner highlighted, headcounts within HR teams were expected to decrease due to GenAI adoption. As of June 2023, there was an anticipated 6.7 per cent decrease in HR department numbers. However, Gartner’s recent data, as of January 2024, saw this figure drop to 5.1 per cent.

It is still early days as far as GenAI usage in the workplace is concerned, and these figures could change dramatically over time. We’re amid a workplace revolution, and the coming years will determine the trajectory of this technology and the impact it could have on employee headcounts in certain departments, including HR.

Eser Rizaoglu, senior director analyst in the Gartner HR practice, commented on this trend: “As HR leaders experiment with GenAI solutions, it remains unknown at this point how they will potentially affect an organisation’s HR headcount. HR must work with business leaders across the organisation to assess how GenAI investments should change their teams’ roles and workflows and the impact to current employees and future hiring needs.”

While this may be cause for concern amongst employees, who could feel threatened by this technology, two-thirds of HR leaders said that the gains that AI brings would be used to allocate employees to other roles within their company. Meanwhile, 46 per cent said they’d stop backfilling roles arising due to natural attrition. Whether these sentiments hold up in the coming years is a different story.

According to Gartner, as of now, the top three areas where AI is being used by HR employees are:

1. HR service delivery: Employee-facing chatbot (43 per cent)
2. HR operations: Administrative tasks, policies, document generation (42 per cent)
3. Recruiting: Job descriptions and skills data (41 per cent)

For HR teams implementing GenAI, the most popular methods for preparing employees for the change were:

1. Updating development plans to upskill employees to use AI and related technologies in their work (34 per cent)
2. Identifying talent based on AI/GenAI skills and proficiency (29 per cent)
3. Preparing employees whose work will be augmented by AI-related automation (28 per cent)

Despite this, 41 per cent of HR leaders have not initiated GenAI training for employees. This could prove to be costly as the AI revolution takes charge.

Rizaoglu concluded: “The organisations that are able to leverage GenAI to the fullest – and generate the most ROI – will be those that trust and empower their HR function to work with business leaders to pilot new programs, add new roles and train their workforce.”