Designing the future of work: 9 strategic shifts that will define HR in 2030

These shifts are no longer theoretical. According to a 2024 McKinsey study, 60% of global organisations have increased their investments in AI and automation for workforce-related processes. From AI agents replacing apps to climate resilience shaping workforce strategy, the role of HR is set to expand far beyond its traditional boundaries.

By 2030, HR will be responsible for designing intelligent collaboration between humans and machines, embedding climate and ethics into workforce planning, and building flexible models that address employees' needs and contributions more deeply than ever before.

We explore the nine changes we believe will most influence how HR delivers value by 2030 and how organisations can start preparing now.

Shift 1: Intelligent agents will redefine HR interactions

In the next five years, HR interfaces will evolve from static dashboards and multi-step self-service to conversational, AI-powered agents. These agents will be able to handle end-to-end workflows including recruitment, onboarding, performance reviews and shared services.

This means HR will spend less time on daily administration and more time on strategic interventions and curating intelligent systems that support every employee’s day-to-day functions.

Actions to take:

• Complete an AI readiness matrix for HR: Catalogue your existing HR processes, map associated data flows and manual touchpoints, and assess each process for automation feasibility, potential workforce disruption, and risk.
• Evaluate your current tech stack: Explore whether your existing HR platforms already offer conversational AI capabilities. Some may support agentic AI out of the box.
• Start small, but strategically: Pilot a single AI agent in a targeted HR workflow, such as onboarding or case resolution, rather than launching multi-agent systems prematurely. Use this experiment to learn, iterate, and build internal confidence.

Shift 2: AI won’t replace people - but it will require redesigning work

Organisations that succeed with AI will not treat it as a plug-in. They will intentionally redesign jobs, systems, and workflows to reflect how humans and machines can complement each other. AI will take on pattern recognition, recommendation, and automation, while people focus on empathy, judgement, and contextual decision-making.

As Harvard Business Review notes, AI agents are becoming much more than just assistive tools - they’re becoming digital teammates. Agentic AI is already handling complex workflows and expanding what constitutes a qualified workforce.

This shift will turn HR into a co-designer of work, not just its administrator. Collaboration will no longer mean person to person. This will include interactions between humans and AI that are structured, purposeful, and continuously improved.

Actions to take

• Develop AI literacy programs: Prepare to retrain your workforce to collaborate efficiently with AI and educate employees on best practices and potential risks.
• Encourage cross-functional workflows: Departments like HR, IT, and operations must collaborate to establish AI-human collaboration.
• Prepare HR teams for AI adoption: HR teams must be trained to focus on strategic objectives, and explore opportunities to automate routine tasks. 

Shift 3: Behavioural competencies will become the new differentiator

As AI accelerates skill acquisition and access to knowledge, deep experience will no longer be the clearest signal of talent. What will matter more is how people think, adapt, and solve problems in unfamiliar situations. 

Competencies like ambiguity tolerance, critical thinking, and emotional regulation will become essential to individual performance and team stability. These traits will shape hiring, advancement, and how HR defines potential.

HR leaders must now shift focus from just operational excellence to actively shaping behaviours, culture, and talent differentiation in increasingly complex environments.This shift will make HR responsible for governing behavioural insights and assessments across the employee lifecycle.

Actions to take:

• Evolve your skills strategy: Ensure your employees are equipped with both technical skills (what they know) and competencies (critical thinking, logical reasoning and strong decision-making).
• Adopt AI-enabled screenings: Evaluate the skills of potential hires with tailored assessments that reflect daily responsibilities. 
• Use AI to improve skills: Use AI-enabled training systems to encourage employees to improve specific skills they lack.

Shift 4: Employment contracts will be tailored to the individual

By 2030, the standardised employment contract will begin to dissolve. 50% of organisations will offer modular agreements that reflect each employee’s working preferences, financial goals, and life stage. Flexibility will not just apply to work location or hours, but to how pay, benefits, and development are structured.

HR will be responsible for designing systems that support this choice at scale while protecting fairness, compliance, and equity. Simulating contract variations and offering a self-service interface will be key to making this approach operational.

Actions to take

• Design for customisation: Identify which contract elements (such as pay frequency, benefits, and scheduling) can be safely offered as flexible options.
• Simulate for fairness: Use AI to test how contract variations impact equity, experience, and cost across different segments.
• Build self-service tools: Develop interfaces where employees can personalise aspects of their contract within predefined guardrails.

Shift 5: Organisational culture will be localised without losing cohesion

In globally distributed organisations, a single top-down value set will not feel relevant to every employee. As work becomes more team-based and project-driven, local realities will shape howcompany culture is interpreted. By 2030, high-performing organisations will encourage regional and team-specific expressions of values, while remaining anchored to a shared mission.

HR’s role will be to enable this balance. Employees must feel empowered to take ownership, uphold the organisation’s values and cultural cohesion across the enterprise.

Actions to take

• Facilitate local expression: Support regional teams in articulating how core values apply to their work context and cultural norms.
• Anchor to shared purpose: Help teams map their expressions of company culture back to the organisation’s mission and business goals.
• Equip leaders on the ground: Provide managers with the tools and language to lead values-driven conversations with relevance and clarity.

Shift 6: Employee well-being will be built into workflows – not treated as an add-on

Employee wellbeing will no longer depend on individual resilience or voluntary support programmes. Instead, it will be designed into how work is structured, managed, and measured. Teams that operate under constant pressure without built-in recovery are more likely to face burnout, disengagement, and performance risk.

HR will play a central role in shaping systems that surface mental health signals early and support managers in taking timely, effective action.

Actions to take

• Embed wellbeing signals: Integrate data points such as workload, absenteeism, and sentiment into HR systems to monitor mental health risks.
• Design for recovery: Build workflows that include recovery periods after peak effort, conflict, or sustained stress.
• Strengthen manager tools: Equip managers to recognise early signs of distress and respond with confidence and consistency.

Shift 7: Employees will own more of their data and contributions

As digital credentials and data portability mature, employees will take greater ownership of their professional records, achievements, and even intellectual contributions. This includes learning histories, project outcomes, and inputs that help train AI systems. Traditional boundaries between organisational IP and individual contribution will be challenged.

HR will need to design policies and systems that respect this shift, while still protecting enterprise value and ensuring clarity around rights and usage.

Actions to take

• Clarify ownership boundaries: Define which outputs belong to the organisation and which can be retained or reused by the employee.
• Support data portability: Enable employees to carry validated records of skills, learning, and experience across roles and employers.
• Recognise high-impact contributions: Build reward models that acknowledge work with long-term value, including inputs to AI systems.

Shift 8: Technology ethics will become a core HR responsibility

As AI adoption expands across people processes, ethical concerns like bias, transparency, and explainability will move from technical debates into HR’s domain. Organisations can no longer rely on ad-hoc reviews or compliance-only approaches. Ethics must be baked into how tools are selected, deployed, and maintained over time.

HR will play a key role in operationalising these standards, ensuring that fairness and accountability are embedded across platforms, policies, and people practices.

Actions to take:

• Establish ethical governance: Set up cross-functional ethics boards to review and guide the use of AI in HR and workforce decisions.
• Design for digital fairness: Build new HR roles or responsibilities that focus on bias monitoring, consent management, and system accountability.
• Ensure platform transparency: Partner with vendors to demand features that explain how decisions are made and allow for meaningful oversight.

Shift 9: Climate risk will reshape workforce planning

Environmental factors will become a standard input into workforce strategy. From extreme heat to relocation pressure, climate-related disruptions will affect where and how people work. Organisations that treat this as a business continuity issue will be better prepared to protect their operations and their people.

HR will be expected to lead climate-readiness planning by identifying contingency plans for affected workforces, integrating environmental data into workforce models and ensuring safety, accessibility, and mobility across regions.

Actions to take:

• Map exposure points: Identify workforce locations or roles at risk due to environmental hazards such as heat, flooding, or air quality.
• Run readiness audits: Assess whether current HR policies and infrastructure can support relocation, flexible work, or emergency response.
• Build resilient plans: Collaborate with facilities, legal, and operations to develop workforce continuity plans that reflect climate realities.

Preparing your HR strategy for 2030 and beyond

The future of HR is not just about new tools or technologies. It’s about redefining how people and systems interact, how value is created, and how organisations stay resilient in the face of complexity.

These nine shifts signal a strategic evolution for HR – far from administrative efficiency, HR will focus ondesigning human-centred systems, holistic development, and ethical governance. HR leaders who take early action will be better positioned to drive sustainable growth, attract critical talent, and shape a future-ready organisation.

Found something insightful? Download our handy infographic summarising key takeaways.

At Zalaris, we support HR transformation at every stage, helping organisations modernise their systems, navigate regulatory change, and build high-impact people strategies for the long term. Get in touch with our experts to get started.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Q1: What are the key strategic shifts shaping HR by 2030?
By 2030, HR will evolve through nine key shifts, including AI-powered intelligent agents, redesigned human-machine collaboration, personalised employment contracts, embedded employee wellbeing, and climate-resilient workforce planning.

Q2: How will AI impact the future of HR work?
AI will not replace HR professionals but augment their roles by automating routine tasks, enabling intelligent conversational agents, and requiring HR to redesign jobs to enhance human and machine collaboration.

Q3: Why are behavioural competencies becoming more important in HR?
As AI accelerates skill acquisition, behavioural competencies like critical thinking, emotional regulation, and adaptability will become the main differentiators for talent management and career progression.

Q4: How can organisations prepare HR strategies for future challenges?
Organisations should start by assessing AI readiness, designing flexible contracts, embedding wellbeing into workflows, prioritising ethics in AI, and integrating climate risk into workforce planning to future-proof their HR strategies.