With AI use quickly ramping up across all sectors, new research from HR, payroll, and recruitment platform Employment Hero’s SuperHuman: AI adoption shaping the future of HR Report found that nearly half of HR professionals across ANZ worry about AI taking their jobs. Despite these concerns, 76 per cent of HR leaders agreed that AI can help them save time and make their job easier, while 66 per cent reported that they are excited about how AI will transform the role of HR.

Almost half of HR leaders worried AI will take their jobs, but 76% say it streamlines workflows and makes their job easier.

Key findings from Employment Hero:

• Employment Hero study finds almost half (45%) of HR professionals in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) fear their jobs are at risk from AI.

• Yet, 76% of HR leaders agreed that AI can help them save time and make their job easier.

• As 86% of HR operations already use AI-powered software, the findings support leveraging AI to empower HR professionals to strategise and innovate operations.

• 66% of HR leaders report that they are excited about how AI will transform the role of HR.

With over 86 per cent of HR operations already actively using AI-powered software in the workplace, what is clear from the findings is that the adoption of AI into the HR industry delivers substantial benefits that begin with reducing admin work and will lead to HR professionals having a stronger pulse on the well-being, skillsets, and engagement of their employees.

The report surveyed 521 HR leaders and showed that AI will empower and support them to take a more strategic and human-centric approach to their roles. Uncertainties will also be alleviated as they will be decision-makers in deploying AI within the industry and influence the pace of change, areas of AI integration, and how it’s implemented.

What skills will AI look to replicate, and where will it increase?

Looking ahead, 72 per cent of HR professionals predict that the use of AI in their role or HR function will increase in the future, with most expecting it to take a paced approach – with 46 per cent believing it will increase slightly and 26 per cent believing it will grow significantly.

Training and development were identified as the areas where AI will have the most significant impact (34 per cent), followed by employee analytics (32 per cent) and employee self-service (29 per cent). On the other hand, employee offboarding (12 per cent), reward and recognition (14 per cent), and remuneration and benefits (16 per cent) were seen as the least affected areas of HR.

The benefits of AI for modern HR

Processes, analytics and efficiency are at the forefront of what benefits HR professionals believe AI tools will bring. At the same time, retention and culture are still seen as human-first problems.

With speed and efficiency top-of-mind for 41 per cent of HR leaders regarding AI benefits, improved HR analytics (36 per cent) and streamlined HR processes (33 per cent) follow. In contrast, only three per cent believed that using AI will have no benefit in their role at all. Interestingly, 33 per cent of HR professionals in practice (those who work for businesses providing HR services) identified improved employee engagement and well-being as one of the most significant benefits of AI tools, compared to 40 per cent of HR professionals working in business services who say improved employee productivity is one of the greatest benefits.

The AI knowledge gap

Dave Tong, Co-Founder, CTO, and Head of Product at Employment Hero said: “The data from our latest study represents the HR industry in the midst of a transformation due to the influence of AI technology. Instead of their jobs being at risk, HR professionals are being given the tools and time to be more strategic in workforce planning and employee care. Through AI integration, they are crafting what their roles will look like in the future, shifting from more admin-heavy work to a strategic people and culture focus. While professionals are happy to let AI enhance their understanding of data or generate content for them, they’re less likely to lean on AI to help them recognise or reward their staff, instead relying on a more personal and individual understanding of performance to lead these discussions.

“Interestingly, we found that most HR professionals believe there will be a paced approach to the increasing use of AI in their roles. This could reflect how they’d like to see AI rolled out so they have time to learn and adapt as these new tools are introduced. These findings showcase how HR leaders today see AI tools helping employees become self-sufficient when advancing their careers and giving managers an easier way to check in and analyse progress and performance,” Mr. Tong added.