This week Barry Phillips argues there will never be a better time for HR to enhance its professional standing than in this digital revolution.

Transcript:

Hello Humans

And welcome to the podcast that aims to summarise in around five minutes every week an important development relating to AI for HR.

Today, I want to talk about something that could fundamentally reshape how we think about Human Resources. 

Let's be honest. For too long, HR has been regarded as the poor relation around the C-suite table. While Finance commands the budget, Technology drives innovation, and Marketing owns the customer narrative, HR has sometimes been relegated to administrative tasks and compliance checkboxes. The perception? HR is a cost centre, not a value creator.

But here's the thing: that perception is about to change. And it's AI that's going to change it.

There will never be a better opportunity than this. Seriously. Moments like these don't come around often in business—maybe once in a generation. We're at an inflection point where every organisation is scrambling to figure out AI adoption, and most are getting it wrong because they're approaching it purely as a technology problem.

But AI isn't just a technology problem. It's a people problem. And that's where HR should be stepping up to the plate.

This is HR's chance to move from the sidelines to the centre of strategic decision-making. To go from being reactive to proactive. To transform from policy enforcers to transformation leaders. Miss this opportunity, and HR risks being sidelined for another decade. Seize it, and you enhance your status permanently.

Here's the uncomfortable truth that every CEO needs to hear: AI can't work without human assistance. Whichever way you look at it, you're going to need HR.

Think about it. Who's going to reskill your workforce when AI automates 30% of current job tasks? Who's going to manage the anxiety, the resistance, the fear that comes with technological change? Who's going to redesign roles, redefine career paths, and rebuild your talent strategy for an AI-augmented future?

Technology can deploy AI. But only HR can deploy AI successfully—because only HR understands the human side of the equation. You need to hire differently, train differently, evaluate differently. You need to address ethical concerns about algorithmic bias. You need to maintain culture and engagement when the nature of work itself is changing.

Every one of these challenges sits squarely in HR's domain.

So here's my message to HR leaders: This is your moment. Don't wait for a seat at the table—build the table. Don't ask permission to lead AI adoption—make the case that you're the only ones who can.

The organisations that thrive in the AI era won't be the ones with the best technology. They'll be the ones with the best integration of technology and humanity. And that integration? That's HR's job.

Ask yourself this question:

Do you want to be known as head of a cost department or a value creation team that completely transforms how your organisation does talent acquisition, retention, performance improvement and indeed how your employer gets the work done.

Until next week.

Bye for now.