Amid global uncertainty and technological acceleration, we noticed a recurring theme emerge in this year’s Gartner® HR Symposium / Xpo™: The functions and responsibilities of HR teams are being redefined by AI tools. From talent strategy and change management to HR technology investments, organisations are facing a decisive moment in how they harness AI to deliver both operational efficiency and human-centric experiences.

HR is not merely responding to change but leading it. From redefining operating models to mastering change and technology, HR leaders are preparing for a future defined by intelligence, agility and human impact.

AI continues to be a key driver of HR transformation

Benchmark the Use of Generative AI in HR and the Workforce

’ report from July 2025, Gartner notes that “GenAI adoption in HR is accelerating, with the percentage of HR leaders in advanced stages of GenAI implementation — either actively planning or already deploying — rising from 19% in June 2023 to 61% by January 2025.”

Leaders who embrace AI tools strategically can reinvent the HR function and lead enterprise transformation. Clear vision statements and roadmaps are essential to establish an AI-infused HR operating model.

Talent acquisition and workforce strategies are evolving with increasing AI adoption. In Mark Whittle’s presentation at the Gartner® HR Symposium / Xpo™ 2025 in London titled ‘Signature Series: CHRO Leadership Vision: Top Trends & Priorities Shaping 2026’ it was noted that 

“27% of CHROs have redefined job roles or skills due to AI or emerging technologies, 24% have redeployed employees to new roles due to redundancy created by technology, and 10% have replaced employees with AI or automation.” 

The focus is increasingly on shaping work in a human-machine environment where AI is becoming a key driver of optimisation and automation.

Develop a clear AI vision and roadmap aligned with organisational goals

Identify high-impact and ethical use cases for agentic and generative AI tools in HR

Anticipate workforce changes and prioritise employee development where needed

Collaborate with IT and business leaders to ensure HR leads the AI transformation

Leaders must prioritise workforce planning to survive volatility and uncertainty

Workforce planning and agility have become a core organisational requirement. In Sarah Jackson’s session at the Gartner® HR Symposium / Xpo™ 2025 in London titled ‘Harness Diverse Employment Models to Meet Evolving Talent Needs’, it was noted that 

“One in three HR leaders struggles to fill skills gaps quickly enough to meet business demands.” In the same session, it was also revealed that “it takes 101 days to fill open positions.” 

Traditional permanent-only employment models hinder speed and flexibility. CHROs are increasingly turning to diverse employment strategies. These include building internal capabilities through upskilling and internships, buying talent through full-time or part-time employees, borrowing contingent or gig workers, and leveraging automation or AI solutions. Effective and strategic workforce planning requires assessing foundational conditions such as culture, governance, operational enablement, performance management and technology infrastructure.

Workforce planning for various scenarios is critical. Leaders must identify how roles and skills will evolve in an AI-augmented world, co-create new positions with employees and ensure the organisation is prepared for rapid change.

Assess workforce needs and gaps in line with strategic priorities

Implement a mix of build, buy, borrow and bot strategies to increase flexibility

Evaluate cultural and operational foundations before introducing new employment models

Engage employees in co-creating roles and reskilling initiatives

Effective change management starts from leadership

Change is occurring faster and more complexly than ever. Mark Whittle’s presentation at the Gartner® HR Symposium / Xpo™ 2025 in London titled ‘Signature Series: CHRO Leadership Vision: Top Trends & Priorities Shaping 2026’ revealed 

“64% of CHROs agree their leaders and managers don’t have the mindset to lead change effectively. Only 32% of leaders have achieved healthy change adoption. Organizations with above average healthy change adoption report 2x higher YoY revenue growth rate.” 

Transforming change management into a routine, ongoing process requires acknowledging the journey, regulating discomfort and training intuition. Culture plays a central role in sustaining performance, and addressing culture atrophy is essential to maintain engagement and agility.

C-suite alignment is crucial, particularly when implementing AI. Leaders should consider questions such as how AI affects customers, pricing, value propositions, business capabilities, workflows and workforce strategy. Establishing guardrails for ethical AI use ensures trust and mitigates risk.

Build change leadership capability at all levels of the organisation

Embed culture initiatives to support continuous adaptation

Align AI systems and technology initiatives with business strategy and ethical standards

Monitor change adoption and measure its impact on performance

Tackling growth, performance, culture and employee experience in the AI age

The digitally effective CHRO leads HR transformation through technology while amplifying culture and empowering people. Awareness of emerging digital tools, a growth mindset and active engagement in internal and external networks are essential. Influence is a key skill for driving digital ambition and improving strategy execution across the organisation.

AI should be implemented to enhance human work rather than replace it. Employee experience and engagement must remain central, and the impact of AI initiatives on organisational culture should be continuously evaluated. Diverse employment models also support growth and agility, helping organisations access the right talent mix quickly and efficiently.

Develop digital literacy and AI fluency within HR and across the enterprise

Evaluate the cultural impact of technology initiatives

Foster employee engagement in role evolution and reskilling to promote continuous learning

Leverage diverse employment models to meet strategic objectives and boost efficiency

HR technology: Strategic priorities for 2026

Technology is a cornerstone of HR transformation. Leaders should revisit legacy technology plans and adapt them to current strategic priorities. Key hurdles such as budget constraints, business case development and user adoption must be addressed proactively. Consolidation of systems, targeted training and annual strategy reviews ensure that HR technology remains future-ready.

Strategic priorities for 2026 include ensuring cloud adoption for flexibility and scalability, communicating HR’s contribution to the C-suite, evaluating cost-effectiveness of operations, and investing in platforms that support change in scale and skills. AI continues to dominate HCM suite development, with a move from AI assistants to AI agents, a focus on responsible AI and consideration of various AI pricing models. Unified platform strategies, partner networks and end-to-end process integration are increasingly essential.

Update HR technology strategy annually to reflect organisational priorities

Prioritise cloud adoption and scalable platforms

Identify and mitigate user adoption challenges

Evaluate technology investments for cost-effectiveness and future readiness

Partnering for future-ready HR functions in a new era

We left the Gartner® HR Symposium / Xpo™ 2025 with these key takeaways: HR professionals must lead change, integrate AI thoughtfully, and invest in technology that supports human and organisational potential. The organisations that succeed will be those that align workforce strategy, technology and culture to create resilient and agile enterprises.

Zalaris partners with organisations to navigate these transformations, providing expertise in both HR technology solutions and services including implementation, system maintenance, managed HR & Payroll, and consulting. By combining insight, technology and experience, Zalaris helps HR leaders unlock the full potential of their people processes and systems to drive long-term enterprise-wide impact.

Discover how Zalaris can support your organisation in preparing for the future of work and maximising the value of HR transformation.

*Gartner conference, Gartner HR Symposium / Xpo™ conference, 27 October, 2025, Signature Series: CHRO Leadership Vision - Top Trends & Priorities Shaping 2026, Mark Whittlehttps://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/hr-symposium-us

**Gartner conference, Gartner HR Symposium / Xpo™ conference, 27 October, 2025, Signature Series: CHRO Leadership Vision - Top Trends & Priorities Shaping 2026, Mark Whittlehttps://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/hr-symposium-us

Gartner, Benchmark the Use of Generative AI in HR and the Workforce, 17 July 2025.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark and HR Symposium / Xpo is a trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

The Gartner® HR Symposium / Xpo™ 2025 in London brought together HR leaders, C-suite executives and technology innovators. Read to discover Zalaris’ takeaways on AI, workforce evolution and digital transformation that are shaping the future of work.  

HR transformation in the AI era: Zalaris insights from Gartner® HR Symposium / Xpo™

UNLEASH World 2025 drew HR leaders, technology vendors and industry analysts together to make sense of an industry in rapid transition. Artificial intelligence dominated nearly every conversation, but the most valuable insights came not from the marketing messages on display, but from the honest discussions about what AI implementation actually requires. The event revealed an industry grappling with a fundamental tension: technology is advancing faster than most organisations can adopt it.

Most AI in HR is automation, not intelligence

Bolt-on AI features deliver quick wins, but native AI drives transformation

Workforce planning and skills management are strategic priorities again

Legacy systems struggle with interoperability and unstructured data

AI cannot replace human judgement on context and culture

Continue reading for a deeper look at what these insights mean for your organisation.

Walking the exhibition floor at UNLEASH World 2025, you could be forgiven for thinking artificial intelligence has already solved every HR challenge imaginable. Dashboards promised insights, copilots offered assistance, and smart systems claimed to automate everything from recruitment to performance management. Yet, behind the polished demonstrations, a more complex reality emerged.

Much of what is labelled as intelligence was actually sophisticated automation. The systems were impressive, processing tasks with remarkable speed and accuracy. 

However, true intelligence requires more than speed. It demands the ability to understand context, adapt to new situations, and make judgements that account for nuance.

A vast majority of the current HR technology solutions have yet to bridge that gap. Organisations investing in AI-powered HR systems often expect transformational change but receive incremental improvements to existing processes.

From bolt-on features to native intelligence

One of the clearest dividing lines emerging at UNLEASH World 2025 was between organisations treating AI as an add-on feature and those building it into their core operations. 

Bolt-on AI involves adding intelligent features to existing systems and workflows. An AI assistant helps write job descriptions faster, but the approval chain remains unchanged. A chatbot answers employee questions, but the underlying policies stay static. This approach delivers quick wins with minimal disruption.

Native AI requires rethinking entire workflows from first principles. It changes how data flows through systems, how decisions get made, and who makes them. This path is messier and more uncomfortable, but it unlocks possibilities that bolt-on solutions cannot reach. 

The systems learn and improve continuously, adapting to changing conditions rather than executing fixed rules. The organisations making the most progress were those willing to embrace this discomfort, redesigning jobs, flattening hierarchies, and questioning assumptions about how work should be structured.

Beneath the AI headlines, UNLEASH World 2025 showcased a quiet renaissance in workforce planning and skills management. After years of taking a back seat to flashier HR technology trends, strategic workforce planning has returned as a critical capability.

The reasoning is straightforward: AI makes many tasks faster and some roles redundant, but it also creates demand for new capabilities. Organisations need clear visibility into their current skills inventory, future requirements, and the gaps between them. When HR, finance and operations share a unified view of workforce capacity, capability and cost, planning stops being an annual ritual and becomes a continuous strategic process.

Several themes emerged around skills management. Skills taxonomies remain important, but organisations are moving beyond static lists. The most sophisticated approaches treat skills as dynamic, tracking how they evolve and combine in practice. This allows for more accurate matching of people to opportunities and better predictions about capability gaps.

The challenge is that most organisations are still building their foundations, with islands of skills data scattered across learning systems, performance tools, and recruitment platforms.

The major HR platform vendors demonstrated progress at UNLEASH World 2025, but they also revealed ongoing challenges. Legacy systems built for structured data and predetermined workflows are struggling to incorporate AI capabilities that thrive on unstructured information and adaptive processes.

Interoperability remains a persistent issue. Organisations typically run multiple HR systems, each with its own data model and integration approach. Adding AI capabilities across this fragmented landscape requires significant technical work. 

 gained considerable attention at the conference, establishing transparency and ethical standards that affect how HR technology gets built and deployed. The technical challenges are compounded by regulatory ones, and organisations need solutions that address both simultaneously.

For all the discussion about AI's capabilities, UNLEASH World 2025 also clarified its limitations. AI excels in pattern recognition, prediction, and automation. It struggles with context, creativity, and conceptual thinking. It can analyse vast amounts of data about employee engagement, but it cannot understand why a particular team feels unmotivated. It can screen thousands of CVs, but it cannot assess whether a candidate will thrive in a specific company culture.

This reality reshapes what HR professionals need to focus on. The administrative tasks that consume so much time are increasingly handled by technology. What remains is the work that requires human judgement: understanding organisational dynamics, designing meaningful employee experiences, navigating complex interpersonal situations, and making ethical decisions about people's careers and livelihoods. The question is not whether AI will handle routine tasks, but whether HR functions can step up to more strategic roles.

UNLEASH World 2025 painted a picture of an industry in transition. The technology is advancing rapidly, the business case is becoming clearer, and the potential for transformation is genuine. 

However, realising that potential requires more than purchasing new software. It demands a willingness to redesign workflows, develop new capabilities, and make difficult decisions about how work should be structured.

Success requires combining powerful tools with thoughtful change management, clear governance, and a genuine commitment to helping people adapt. Whether your organisation is just beginning to explore AI in HR or already deep into implementation, the path forward requires careful navigation. If you would like to discuss how these insights from UNLEASH World 2025 apply to your specific context, 

we would be happy to continue the conversation

Thousands of HR and technology leaders descended in Paris last week for UNLEASH World 2025, the industry's flagship event for exploring the intersection of people, technology and the future of work. Between the keynotes, expo floor demonstrations and hallway conversations, several clear themes emerged about where HR technology is heading and what it means for organisations navigating an AI-driven transformation. 

What UNLEASH World 2025 revealed about AI and the future of HR

Last week, Paris was buzzing with innovation as the UNLEASH World HR and Payroll Services Conference brought together industry leaders, HR professionals and cutting-edge technology providers.

Amongst these industry leaders and professionals were incredible crepes, champagne and a dynamic team of Zalaris experts exchanging innovative insights on global HR and payroll services and solutions. Here’s how the event redefined HR tech and uncovered key innovations that will shape the future of work.

The AI Revolution: Leading the HR Transformation

AI and automation took centre stage at UNLEASH 2024, setting the tone for discussions on the ever-evolving workplace and how technology is reshaping the HR landscape. Several sessions focused on AI innovations which are not only streamlining operations but also providing predictive insights to improve decision-making.

One of the most talked-about sessions came from Josh Bersin, a renowned industry analyst, who delivered a thought-provoking address on the “The AI Revolution.”

Bersin discussed the growing influence of AI and automation, and its disruptive impact on the HR landscape. He emphasised how perfecting a strategy for harnessing technology will empower organisations to stay competitive in a rapidly changing environment.

A key takeaway was that with AI becoming an integral part of HR, it’s no longer as simple as just adopting the new tools. HR teams need to ensure that chosen AI solutions align with their company’s specific standards, industry requirements, and long-term goals.

Employee Satisfaction: The Heart of Future Workplaces

Employee experience remained a top priority for many organisations attending UNLEASH 2024, noting its direct impact on productivity, retention, and engagement. With the shift towards hybrid work models, fostering a sense of belonging and connection has become more challenging – and crucial.

Discussions were focussed on the need for more dynamic approaches to learning and development. Platforms offering personalised training experiences are becoming critical as companies seek to retain talent by encouraging continuous learning and upskilling, ensuring employees remain engaged and future-ready.

A key takeaway was from Dr Kirstin Ferguson who closed UNLEASH with insights on modern leadership and finding the right times to harness empathy in leadership.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Building Inclusive Workplaces

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives were another cornerstone of the event. As workplaces evolve, so too do expectations around inclusive policies that address the needs of diverse employee populations.

Sessions explored how technology can help track and enhance diversity metrics. Tools now exist to monitor hiring practices, pay equity, and career progression, ensuring that companies are not just talking about DEI but actively promoting it through actionable data​.

A key takeaway came from Claire Isnard, Chief People and Organisation Officer, Chanel. Isnard spoke of the need for courageous leadership to foster trust in a workforce and generate collective success.

Data Driven HR: Unlocking the Power of Analytics

Data-driven HR strategies were a focal point at this year’s conference, with discussions on how data can drive decision-making across all HR functions—from recruitment to employee engagement and performance management. Companies are increasingly using analytics to predict trends, assess workforce needs, and create more agile, responsive organisations.

Speakers noted how advanced analytics platforms are empowering HR teams to make better decisions about talent acquisition, workforce planning, and diversity initiatives​.

A key takeaway was that by harnessing both real-time data and AI-driven insights, organisations can proactively respond to workforce trends, ensuring competitiveness in a rapidly changing environment.

The Evolution of Global Payroll and Compliance

As businesses continue to expand and remote work becomes more prevalent and acceptable, global payroll is becoming increasingly complex. At UNLEASH 2024, global payroll innovations were highlighted, with a strong focus on compliance.

Zalaris led conversations on how companies can utilise automation to navigate global compliance challenges efficiently. With tools that support real-time payroll calculations, companies can stay ahead of ever-changing tax and labour legislation, improving both operational efficiency and employee satisfaction​.

A key focus was the integration of cloud-based payroll systems as a solution to facilitate cross-border payroll operations.

The HR landscape is constantly changing, driven by ongoing legislative updates and rapid technological advancements. Partnering with a reliable HR and payroll services provider can ensure your organisation stay compliant with evolving regulations whilst taking full advantage of the latest technologies.

 to discuss the future of your partnership with Zalaris.

The UNLEASH World HR and Payroll Services Conference was buzzing with industry leaders, HR professionals and cutting-edge technology providers. Here are our key takeaways on how the event uncovered key innovations.

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UNLEASH World 2024: Redefining HR tech and unveiling key innovations

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HR transformation in the AI era: Zalaris insights from Gartner® HR Symposium / Xpo™

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UPCOMING EVENTS & WEBINARS

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