CHROs: Hopefully, you're having the real strategic conversation with the ELT: The strategy for reducing costs through job reduction enabled by AI. We can lead this conversation through organization, operating model and job design, where we should be experts. Unfortunately, the AI conversation in HR seems dominated by tactical discussions about how to write AI prompts, inane thoughts about creating "superworkers" and working alongside AI "agents." CEOs are clear about how AI will impact the way work is done. We need to at least keep pace, and hopefully lead. https://lnkd.in/eQQiTapt
I'd like to posit a more radical conversation - what does the economy and society look like when all the economic gains from AI flow upward to the capital owning and executive classes while 20-50% of all "normal" jobs disappear leaving us with fewer consumers, a smaller tax base, increased entitlement burdens, and ever shrinking wages since we'll be constantly be facing AI displacement? If we're not careful, AI will be a race to the bottom. There are going to be serious social and economic impacts from all of this that we are not yet discussing at scale. The default cannot be "cut headcount." We should be asking "where can we reskill to develop new capabilities or grow the business?"
Yes, and… to spotlight your point, it’s not just job loss, it’s job design: what we don’t talk about enough is how AI reshuffles roles, tasks, and responsibilities across every level of an organization. AI can already take on even high-level, strategic work—which means we need to reimagine what comes next to fill that space. This is our opportunity to lean into what humans do best, what we WANT humans to do MORE of, and design for it. This is about reimagining what we could achieve with more capacity from our best talent, and HR is right at the front edge of this unlock. A barrier to getting there that I see again and again is that we still view AI through an old automation lens: we are used to automation that can only take on rote, repetitive tasks. But AI opens an entirely new landscape of automation—one where we collaborate with machines to amplify even the work only humans can do. To unlock true value in AI, true future-competitiveness for our organizations, we have to activate our organizations to leverage this shift.
I couldn’t agree more Marc Effron. This is the time for HR to lead (alongside CEOs) a fondamental conversation about the Future of Work. Unfortunately the function is barely being even tactical about AI. And yes, there is a lot of hype about AI, but this is not a reason to avoid talking about the elephant in the room. Despite all the hype Gen AI is going to massively impact the way work is designed and done. This will have unprecedented impact on society and ee need to start defining a “new operating model”, not for companies but for society as a whole
AI will soon be a major disruptor, reshaping entire industries, leading to new market structures and competitive landscapes. HR leaders need to get ahead of this now, and begin to build strategies to evolve structures, roles, rewards and culture. We can't continue to do things the same way and expect to be successful.
Absolutely agree Marc Effron. I believe the people (employee) impact of AI will be one of its greatest, particularly in the 3-5yrs. This is where #HR must be front and centre for the development of org strategy and guiding #CEOs/ELTs on people-related direction. If double-digit %s of workforces will be replaced, CEOs will need all the help they can to ensure they manage the "disruption" correctly and design their organisations for the Future of Work. Great post!
If the big value of AI is not just drive productivity but the redesign of work processes and thus teams then HR has a much bigger role to play, and should definitely be one of the functions investing the most on AI literacy. Otherwise those discussions will be Tech centered
Here's another angle as well: we will be (especially in some industries) running out of workers due to declining birth rates (globally)--AI and robotics could be coming just in time to help us navigate this. I first made the connection when the keynote talk before mine was from someone who studied population trends, it ended up being a perfect pairing that both the organizers and both of us didn't realize until I walked on stage after his talk with a new opening based off of what I had just heard--
Correct. Enough with the AI impact euphemisms and focusing on prompts etc. as a way not to deal with the real implications. Generative AI will increase white collar productivity - therefore less jobs for the same output. Agentic AI will also impact productivity as well as actually replace some jobs. Tomorrow? Probably not. Sooner than we think? Probably.
I agree Marc. It is important we all “Grow up” and have these real conversations. Also because several actors need to have skin in the game, including governments. Will we be happy with a 2027 unemployment rate of 35% for white collars workers? I don’t think so. An open conversation is truly needed on this matter. From a pure productivity perspective, it is obvious that if 1 person can produce the output of 2, I don’t need 2 but 1. At the same time, we also know organization are more complex than that and leaders need to manage change sustainably.
That's so true! The disconnect between HR's tactical AI debates and CEOs' hard truths on job displacement is alarming. Gartner reports that only 17% of HR leaders have a workforce restructuring plan tied to AI adoption. Now is the time for HR to take ownership of this transformation - we must move beyond "superworker" hype to lead strategic workforce redesign through reskilling, ethical transitions, and operating model innovation. The coming workforce disruption demands HR step up as core actors, not just passive members.