What HR pros need to know about AI in the workplace

To improve artificial intelligence tool adoption, HR needs to lean more on managers and their connection with their teams, rather than rely on employees to experiment on their own, according to an analysis from Gartner.

Close to half of managers surveyed by Gartner in July 2025 said they are experimenting with AI to improve their work, while only 26% of employees said they are doing so. However, in a separate July 2025 survey, only 14% of nearly 2,000 managers said they don’t have any challenges in “driving effective use of AI across their team,” Gartner said.

That means HR has the opportunity to offer support to managers to improve integration of AI more broadly, Gartner said.

That support, according to the report, may look like:

• Tailoring AI training and support to the specific motivations and challenges of different teams
• Preparing managers to handle emotional resistance to AI changes
• Coaching managers on how to communicate the upward value of AI

While AI is only saving “small and fractured blocks of time” for workers at the moment, that will shift as the technology evolves, Carmen von Rohr, senior principal in the Gartner HR practice, said in a statement.

That saved time will then need to be redeployed — and managers will be key to ensuring that takes place, Gartner said.

A July 2025 Gartner survey of 114 HR leaders showed that only 7% of organizations provide any guidelines on what to do with time saved by AI use. And while 55% of HR leaders surveyed by the company said they’d want employees to use that time to work on special projects outside their core jobs, only 28% of managers said they would prioritize the same.

The opportunity for HR is to help managers “tie activities to impact,” the report said.

“Managers must find a balance — ensuring they don’t lose trust and confidence with their teams while also translating the benefits of AI they observe into the value narratives senior leaders and the business desire,” von Rohr said.

AI skills may now be as fundamental as the ability to write, a recent report from DataCamp said — but employees are also worried about job displacement as employers continue to adopt the technology, a Dexian report recently indicated. Much of that concern was tied to lack of confidence in AI adoption efforts.

Enterprises have increased hiring for people with AI governance expertise as adoption of the technology unfolds, according to data from enterprise talent intelligence firm Draup. The company reviewed Fortune 500 hiring posts alongside its proprietary data for the report. 

Hiring for AI governance and model risk skills increased 81% year over year, the report found. Demand for workers with cost optimization and margin protection skills increased by 77% from 2024, according to the report.

The world's largest companies also saw an uptick in interest for AI skills outside IT. AI skill requirements increased nearly 25% for customer support roles compared with last year, in addition to a 24% uptick in sales and marketing and 21% in financial operations.

AI upended hiring strategies across large businesses, placing whole categories of jobs in question while creating anxiety for employees and job seekers alike.

Now, hiring data is beginning to reflect the broader effects of automation as companies shift their skills priorities. Fortune 500 job postings for finance roles in what Draup identifies as having "high AI augmentation potential" fell 40% from last year, compared with more modest single-digit declines in roles with less AI exposure.

With enterprise AI integration underway, leaders at top enterprises are focusing on execution rather than hierarchy when designing new models for work, said Vijay Swaminathan, CEO and co-founder of Draup. 

"Skills are expanding, roles are consolidating and operators of AI are in demand," said Swaminathan in a Tuesday press release. "Efficiency, governance, and resilience now anchor growth strategies."

With AI systems more embedded in daily operations, interest in AI governance is rising amid concerns over wasted spend, shadow AI and cyber risk.

Nearly half of employees are using unsanctioned generative AI tools through personal devices, a trend that highlights the risk of sensitive data exposure, according to Netskope research. Even systems visible to IT that are using AI can introduce risk, according to Zscaler, which found most AI apps were vulnerable to adversarial activity.

Although leaders have amplified upskilling to bridge AI skills gaps, the rapid pace of technology development is hindering efforts.

IT workers now see their core tasks change every year and half, Info-Tech Research Group found. But training isn't keeping pace, causing a delay in utilizing the skills enterprises need now, according to the research firm.

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Across eight countries, including the U.S., UK and Canada, more than 8 in 10 employed workers who use AI report saving at least one hour per day with AI tools, research by Indeed’s Hiring Lab found.

Workers most commonly use the time freed up by AI to take on other tasks and projects, according to a May and June 2025 survey of more than 80,000 individuals across eight countries, which also included Ireland, France, Germany, Japan and Australia. Workers’ other top uses for the saved time include enhancing the quality and efficiency of their current tasks and increasing throughput on existing responsibilities, according to the research, which was released in late December.

“We find that workers whose employers actively encouraged AI use are significantly more likely to actually use AI at work,” Hiring Lab economist Yusuke Aoki wrote in an analysis. The implication is clear, Aoki added: “If employers want workers to use AI effectively, encouragement and training are likely to matter more than waiting for workers to adapt on their own.”

Studies repeatedly identify employer encouragement and AI training as key to AI transformation.

For example, research released in October by the London School of Economics and global consulting firm Protiviti found that AI training is critical to unlocking measurable gains. In particular, with AI training, workers can double productivity and save upward of 11 hours per week, the research showed.

“Even active AI users report insufficient training, indicating that one-time introductions are insufficient. Ongoing skill development will be essential as AI capabilities evolve,” Aoki noted in the Hiring Lab post.

Notably, although 43% of workers in the U.S. said they have used AI at least more than once per month, according to the Hiring Lab analysis, daily use may be limited to about 10% of the American workforce and is concentrated in specific roles, a December report from Gallup found.

The Gallup report also found that broader AI adoption among employees is strongly associated with employees who receive greater managerial support for AI and when AI is strategically integrated into their role.

“Simply using AI is not enough,” Hiring Lab’s Aoki pointed out. How AI is integrated into workflows makes a difference, Aoki said.

About a third (32%) of U.S. workers who saved time using AI say they use it to improve their work-life balance, Hiring Lab found. Almost a quarter (23%) redirect the time toward breaks and stress management.

Data and artificial intelligence literacy skills are no longer considered specialized, a new report concluded, and instead have “crossed a critical threshold” as something widely expected in the workplace. 

Nearly 9 in 10 leaders surveyed rated basic data literacy skills as either important or very important, and a similar percentage said the same of a worker’s ability to write, according to the 2026 State of Data & AI Literacy Report by DataCamp, a platform for data and AI skill building. 

“Data and AI skills are now as fundamental to modern work as the ability to write,” per the report. “We don’t treat writing as optional; we expect it from everyone. We practice it constantly, because it’s simply built into how we work.”

AI skills are widely considered the most important in the workplace, the report found. Yet, of the more than 500 U.S. and U.K. business leaders surveyed, about half reported “significant” skills gaps within their company. 

AI-related skills, for the first time, are the most challenging for employers to find globally, passing traditional IT and engineering skills, a February report by Manpower Group found. 

“This historic shift highlights a new era in the persistent global talent crisis,” ManpowerGroup said.

The need for AI skills doesn’t exclude HR either. A February LinkedIn report found that AI literacy was the second fast-growing skillset for the profession. 

In some cases, skill needs are evolving too quickly for companies’ training cycles, according to a February report by Info-Tech, a research and advisory firm. For example, IT workers’ core responsibilities change about every 18 months, but training is only “periodic” and treated “as a benefit instead of a business discipline,” the organization said.

Skills related to artificial intelligence have, for the first time, been designated the most difficult for employers to find globally — surpassing traditional IT and engineering, which historically led, according to a report from ManpowerGroup.

“This historic shift highlights a new era in the persistent global talent crisis,” ManpowerGroup said in announcing its findings, noting that 72% of employers report hiring difficulties, down only slightly from 74% last year.

AI skills may in fact displace IT and data skills in terms of demand, the report showed; traditional IT skills fell to seventh place, below skills including AI literacy, sales and marketing, and manufacturing, “signaling a rapid realignment of strategic talent investment toward AI-driven capabilities,” a press release said.

While talent scarcity is currently “universal,” ManpowerGroup said, it is also in part defined by location. Western European countries, including Germany, France and the U.K, are facing especially stark shortages, while the U.S. is slightly below the global average (with 69% of employers reporting difficulties). 

But the struggle to find talent spreads across numerous industries, from information to hospitality and the public sector. To fight this issue, employers are focusing more intently upon internal development, ManpowerGroup said — but schedule and location flexibility are also high on the list of deployed strategies.

Retention, more generally, is top of mind for employers this year, a recent Monster report said, with a little over half of employers surveyed saying it was their top workforce priority in 2026. Skills building is part of that strategy, though it is also an answer to an inability to find qualified candidates otherwise, per the report.

Skills requirements, also, have been made especially volatile by the introduction of AI, a Lightcast report said. Many workforce strategies — which may not account for macroeconomic forces such as an aging population and decreased immigration — may be designed for “a world that no longer exists,” Lightcast noted.

The end of 2025 painted a dour picture of the job market, especially entry-level roles.

Entry-level jobs are disappearing, says one survey. Companies plan to replace those positions with artificial intelligence tool use, says another. The tech may even be killing younger workers’ job prospects at a disproportionate rate.

But amid a market recently described as “frigid,” is AI actually to blame?

The story is more nuanced than that, experts told HR Dive, but the ramifications of AI adoption are numerous. And employers that use the technology for tasks typically apportioned to entry-level employees may be unprepared for the changes such investment may require.

What the narrative hides

Some high-profile layoffs and job cuts at the end of 2025 — including 14,000 roles eliminated at Amazon — were pinned on AI adoption, but that may be a convenient narrative for employers, Jason Walker, co-founder, CEO and CPO of Thrive Consulting, told HR Dive in an email.

“Layoffs are pretty much always on the table, frankly,” Walker said. “But I think what makes them easier to do is the guise of ‘we need to get more efficient’ and AI allows for that narrative.”

Companies are hiring less, he continued, particularly right now as they assess the effect of AI and whether it will actually make them more efficient.

Entry-level workers seem to be at risk, but they aren’t necessarily the only victims of cuts, and they’re not necessarily being laid off faster than anyone else, Emily Rose McRae, senior director analyst with Gartner, told HR Dive. But organizations are hiring less, she said, and universities report difficulty helping graduates land jobs.

Early career workers aren’t likely to be completely shut out from the market, either, Wendy Mazoway, global vice president of recruitment process outsourcing at Korn Ferry, told HR Dive. One of the company’s clients, a large global aerospace tech manufacturer, brought AI into the fold while maintaining a “very strong commitment to hiring early career folks,” Mazoway said. That program for early hires has actually grown, she added, spotlighting how work is changing but still creating opportunity.

So is AI adoption really driving massive headcount shifts? “The thing is, no one can really tell you how much of that is due to excellent returns in AI,” McRae said. “It probably isn’t at all.” 

Employers are still in speculation mode when it comes to the technology’s benefits. Many may be pressured to make cuts as a form of “debt financing,” hoping AI investment gains will eventually justify the layoffs, McRae added.

Uncertainty about AI’s actual impact on operations, however, remains a sticking point. While some companies, such as Salesforce and Amazon, have openly explained how AI is changing their businesses, Walker said, those tangible examples are few and far between.

“Nobody can really tell you tangibly [t]hat AI is going to improve their business and make it more efficient,” Walker said. 

AI’s benefits have been notoriously difficult to quantify, Walker said. And as employers experiment, they may struggle to see the powerful productivity gains often promised by tech companies.

The key, according to McRae, is clarity: “Don’t make investments in your talent strategy assuming some sort of tech capability you don’t have access to,” she said.

If entry-level jobs are at risk, what does that mean for pipelines?

Even if AI’s impact on job cuts is so far overblown, the reality is that many entry-level jobs are, in fact, at risk, Walker said. And that effect can be quantified. 

Entry-level researchers, marketing communications professionals, administrative assistants and even early software engineers have seen large aspects of their work be taken over by automation, he noted.

Employers also may redesign workflows to better use AI, which could lead to entry-level jobs being cut, McRae said. But that creates another problem: How does an employer build a sustainable, trustworthy pipeline of workers with the experience needed for higher-level jobs? 

“That’s a two-fold problem,” McRae said. Not only are workers not obtaining the skills, in that case, but there’s also no easy proxy for competency — such as years of experience in a certain role — that employers can look to when considering promotions or hiring. 

And while employers can train those workers up, as Mazoway noted, those painstakingly trained workers could easily be poached by competitors instead — and they often are, McRae said. Too much uncertainty will drive people to leave fields entirely, making the talent crunch even more severe.

A question of change management and decision-making

Because AI is still so new, few guides exist on how to prepare the workforce for its impact, McRae said. To see returns on those investments, employers may have to lead costly redesigns on workflows and job designs — and many leaders, after seeing what effort it would take, may not see the change as worth it, she noted.

Employees, too, may be wary of employers’ attempts at change management. A December report from Eagle Hill Consulting showed that only 1 in 4 employees surveyed said their organizations effectively manage major change.

But not all change spells doom for jobs or opportunity. Many companies are investing in training centers again after they fell out of favor during the pandemic, Mazoway said. AI, in general, will require significant investments in infrastructure that will create jobs, she added.

AI is just the latest technology changing how work is done, and knowledge-based jobs have long faced this trend, she noted. “If I think about my job as a recruiter 30 years ago, I was flipping through a phone book and calling people,” Mazoway said. Instead, the person with that job today is much more focused on relationship building thanks to developments in applicant tracking systems and other recruiting technology.

But generally, change management will remain the elephant in the room as AI conversations move forward, Walker said. 

“I think educating and training are not the issues, it is change management and understanding how you use AI to be more efficient,” he said. “That is what people need to learn.”