Workday Video: How AI is Transforming HR

By 2030, every Baby Boomer will be 65 or older, while Generation Z, born after 1997, will make up nearly a third of the workforce. Alongside this demographic shift, transformative technological advances, especially the rapid rise of AI, are already reshaping how work gets done. 

In this video filmed at Workday Rising EMEA in Barcelona, HR leaders explain how these changes will impact organisations’ most valuable assets — their people.

Take a look to understand the key challenges and opportunities ahead for HR, as well as how leaders can recognise AI’s potential and prepare their employees for an AI-enabled future.

Here are six key insights:

1. AI can elevate and simplify the employee experience to meet changing expectations

“People are expecting the same experience in a company that they see in the broader world — they are expecting Uber- and Amazon-like experiences,” explains Cyril Zaidan, Head of Digital Employee Experience at Sanofi, the global healthcare and pharmaceutical company. “Big companies with heavy processes and a lot of tools for daily tasks need to simplify to deliver a great experience.”

2. AI can drive better people decisions that create real results

“We’ve seen the size of people analytics teams grow by 43% since 2020,” notes David Green, Executive Director of global professional services firm Insight 222. “And we’re seeing organisations create value out of people analytics, whether that’s commercial outcomes, workforce experiences, or building an analytics culture across an organisation.”

3. AI can save HR leaders time that can be redirected to higher-value work.

”You're going to see things like AI being able to create job descriptions — whereas in the past people spent hours and hours doing that, now we have the ability to use large language models,” says Rich Bye, VP of Workforce and Payroll Product Strategy at Workday.

4. AI can help create balance, meaning, and satisfaction among employees.

“There’s an opportunity for AI to be incredibly impactful not just for the business, but for the people by giving them better day-to-day lives without the stress of so much manual effort,” explains Pete Tiliakos, Principal Analyst, Advisor and Managing Partner at 3Sixty Insights, a research, advisory, and consulting firm. 

5. HR should have a seat at the table in balancing AI’s potential positives with its potential risks.

“AI can come up with a lot of solutions but there are also a lot of downsides,” says Raimond Rovers, a partner at Deloitte Consulting. “HR has a role to play to make sure everyone understands the value AI can bring and also make sure it’s not used in the wrong way.” 

6. To manage through extraordinary change, leaders need to listen more than ever.

As the role of AI evolves, “HR will have to be very flexible and understand how to adapt in ways they probably haven’t had to do before,” says Stacey Harris, Chief Research Officer and Managing Partner at Sapient Insights Group, a research and advisory firm. “Make sure you’re listening to your employees and building in change management. You need to be able to understand what change is taking place, manage it, and then figure out how to be a part of it.”

You can catch up with all the highlights from Workday Rising EMEA here.