HR Will Be Obsolete by 2030, So How Will You Adapt?

The World Economic Forum’s retreat for Chief People Officers (CPO) just concluded in Geneva, and I was privileged to be involved in this dynamic exchange on emerging trends in talent management. It was an intimate but very global group that buzzed as a hive of insights, experiences, and ideas on how CPOs are redesigning processes to lead their organizations into the future. We discussed the changing workforce and how to lead with your values amid the current political environment.

Many shared the challenges they faced as they strived to design organizations that accomplish goals while elevating work for all. But, it should come as no surprise to learn that AI was a key topic throughout the retreat. The lively debates on AI took two distinct sides: Some see the HR function as rendered obsolete, while others work to reinvent HR in preparation for a human-centered economy empowered by AI.

Pushed by younger generations, organizations in the human-centered economy look beyond efficiency and profits to prioritize people’s well-being over pure economic growth. AI is accelerating this transition. The whirlwind of automation, work disruptions, and the human-centered economy is pushing CPOs to reevaluate their purpose as machines take on more work and the autonomous enterprise becomes a reality.

However, this begs the question: What does HR look like in an autonomous enterprise?

Your role will be obsolete by 2030

HR, like every domain, is at a crossroads in 2025. If you thought the pandemic was a defining moment for our profession, I’m sorry to tell you that it was nothing compared to the disruption of AI. In barely two years, the term AI moved from science fiction and Siri to simple tools anyone can use to write novels, design products, and develop software.

Workers were initially apprehensive of this new technology. But, as we’re seeing, AI and automation are quickly taking the mundane, error-prone work off our plates for more time to think strategically and cognitively. It’s a boon for knowledge workers, at least those who embrace the change.

Workers whose primary role is data entry, compliance, or customer service will likely need to be encouraged to prepare themselves to focus on higher-level work as AI takes on those and other tasks with ease and near-perfect results. “Reskilling” will require some development investment, but much of it will come about simply by freeing up access to the knowledge that their “knowledge-based” teammates already possess. It will naturally put them in more rewarding, less monotonous roles. Those who don’t adapt are at risk of being out of work because their role, in its current form, will be obsolete.

The combination of those factors—AI elevating some roles while rendering others obsolete—should be an HR leader’s number one focus in the near term. Now is the time to map your organization’s path to 2030’s workforce realities, and it cannot be an incremental shift. Instead, just as fast as we moved from “What is generative AI?” to ChatGPT in months, your function will change dramatically and quickly. If you don’t change along with it, your role, in its current form, will be obsolete, too.

HR must transform from administration to human development

Conversations among HR executives in Geneva frequently focused on how much automation will take over HR’s work in the next few years. To level set, let’s look at what can be automated today:

• Recruiting functions like job requisition drafting and posting and talent assessment and retention programs
• Benefits administration, such as payroll setup and compliance reporting for health and safety, labor audits, and job classifications
• Onboarding and exiting functions such as background checks, IT user account and device requisitioning, and employee surveys
• Human development, with bespoke investment maps available to every member of the team

Most HR teams today do most of this work manually, but automation can do it faster and more accurately. I'd estimate that you can automate 25-30% of your HR teams' effort with little effort. Instead of cutting an equivalent number of staff, however, smart HR leaders are redeploying the workers to higher-level functions, such as enhancing the recruiting experience, elevating the company culture, developing the workforce, and improving employee well-being.

With the help of AI and automation, HR will soon automate 70% or more of all tasks, including complex, end-to-end processes. Yes, 70% of the processes you and your team handle manually today will be automated by 2030.

Again, instead of cuts, HR teams will evolve from transactional, policy enforcement, and support functions to "human potential architects" whose roles are rooted in behavioral science. HR teams in an autonomous enterprise will engage with workers, understand work's social, motivational, and contextual effects, and find new ways to motivate and improve workers' lives.

What we’re doing at Automation Anywhere

I'm the chief people experience officer at the leading company in agentic process automation. You'd expect us to be at the forefront of AI, automation, and becoming an autonomous enterprise. And you'd be right!

We drink our champagne in large gulps because it delivers such impressive results. With the assistance of automation and AI agents, our HR spend is about half the accepted benchmark. And we are providing the best service I've seen in my career.

At the 2023 World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting, Mihir Shukla, Automation Anywhere's CEO and Co-Founder, predicted that autonomous enterprises would convert 95% of today's manual jobs to humans working side-by-side with agentic automations. Our HR function and those of our customers are moving quickly in that direction because automation and AI eliminate errors, increase productivity, and give teams more time to focus on culture, wellness, and experiences.

Now, imagine what you would do with that extra time an autonomous function could provide. What's your "if only" list? What would you do if only you and your team had the time? Would it be:

• Focus on leadership coaching and team upskilling to reach tomorrow's goals while incorporating new management structures
• Spend more time understanding and acting on data, research, and science
• Be more collaborative and influential on business strategy and innovation
• Retire old military-industrial thinking of hierarchies, performance ratings, and management
• Adopt new metrics on trust, innovation and creativity, adaptability and agility, and productivity

AI and automation make the autonomous enterprise possible, with AI agents working together, solving complex problems, making decisions, and driving entire workflows across systems, data, and departments—for HR and the whole enterprise.

As an autonomous enterprise, HR can turn those if-onlys into we-did-its.

Define the future of HR at Imagine in Orlando

Think of how fast HR has evolved over the past few years. Shifting attitudes on remote work, adapting to Gen Z talent expectations, improving work-life balance and employee well-being, and taking a human-centered approach.

Change defines HR. But the pace of change is accelerating, threatening to push aside HR leaders who can’t or won’t evolve.

Will your HR leadership role be around in five years? Will you?

These conversations began in Davos, but they’ll continue at Imagine, where the world’s largest enterprises share how they use agentic process automation to advance, adapt, and evolve HR and other crucial organizational processes. Set in Orlando, Florida, this year, Imagine will be a one-of-a-kind experience featuring visionary keynote speakers, industry-specific breakout sessions, and more.

Register now for Imagine. Join us. Engage in the conversations. Be a catalyst for the future of HR.