HR has a vital mandate to move past automation and focus on the human implications of AI—specifically defining new skills, designing ethical partnerships, and ensuring a shared vision across the enterprise.
Maria Valero
Editorial Strategist, HR
Workday
If you look around the world of work today, the ground beneath our feet is moving faster than ever. For HR, this is a critical turning point in our careers, where leaders are shepherding their workforces into a future they’re actively shaping.
HR leaders have never held a more challenging, yet more vital, seat at the executive table.
The decisions made today about people, skills, and technology will define our companies, our cultures, and our future success.
At the core of this transformation is AI, and its impact extends far beyond a moment-in-time IT project. AI is fundamentally transforming roles, shifting required talents, and redefining the very nature of work itself.
HR leaders have never held a more challenging, yet more vital, seat at the executive table.
When we talk about the future of work at Workday, our focus is on human-centric, AI-powered and future-ready technology that propels us forward.
We’re addressing how to move human talent to tackle new priorities, measure effectiveness in a blended workforce of humans and agents, and, most importantly, help our people gain the new skills necessary to use AI as a powerful partner.
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The urgency of this shift is clearly visible in the data. Our recent C-Suite Indicator Report found that an impressive 89% of businesses are using AI tools.
Yet, they recognize a significant, and potentially dangerous, disconnect: Nearly two-thirds (62%) of leaders report that their people, processes, and technology do not work together very effectively.
This lack of a shared vision highlights exactly where the CHRO's strategic mandate begins. While the technology team sharpens its focus on models and infrastructure, HR must champion the human implications, most notably:
Defining the new skills required for success.
Designing the optimal human-AI partnership across every function.
Ensuring the ethical governance and fairness of the systems we implement.
This leadership role moves the CHRO into the chief work officer role, shepherding a collective engine of human and artificial intelligence while ensuring our businesses move forward responsibly and inclusively.
Nearly two-thirds (62%) of leaders report that their people, processes, and technology do not work together very effectively.
This moment demands we move past philosophical discussions about AI’s potential to tangible use cases that raise the potential of our workforces and our future.
That's why Workday is sponsoring the Gartner HR Symposium 2025 to support CHROs that are in the midst of this transformation.
Join Workday at the Xpo:
We’ll dive into our vision for the next-generation ERP: AI-powered, human-centric, and future-ready. The time to define your organization's future has arrived—let's make sure we meet this challenge together, with a focus on people, purpose, and the powerful role of AI.
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