As leaders adopt AI, absorb new skill requirements and manage shifting employee expectations all at once, some companies could face eroding trust between employers and employees. For others, it could unlock new opportunities to empower a more capable, human-centric workforce.
The SAP SuccessFactors Future of Work Research Lab has been mapping that terrain with advanced insights and global survey data of thousands of employees. In a recent report, “The Road Ahead: Predictions and Possibilities for the Future of Work,” it developed 10 predictions for how working, the workforce and work practices may evolve—and argues the outcomes are still up for grabs.
At SAP Sapphire in Orlando this May, the company put a product vision behind that argument, introducing Autonomous HCM: AI assistants designed to run core HR processes end-to-end grounded in deep process expertise and enterprise-grade governance.
What is Autonomous HCM?
The goal is not simply to automate HR processes, but to build greater organizational agility by freeing people to focus on higher-value work.
Lara Albert, Chief Marketing Officer
SAP SuccessFactors
Forbes spoke with Lara Albert, chief marketing officer at SAP SuccessFactors, about what is required for enterprises to keep humanity at the heart of the workforce—from engagement and unified data to skilling, hiring, role design and pay.
Explore her insights below.
Beyond Efficiency: A Bigger Question For AI
Q: Many organizations frame their AI strategy around doing the same work faster. What distinguishes an AI strategy focused on efficiency from one that aims to empower long-term human capability?
Albert: The difference comes down to what outcome you’re optimizing for. An efficiency-focused strategy asks, “How do we do the same work faster and with fewer resources?” That’s a valid goal, but it’s only part of the equation.
An AI strategy centered on human capability asks a much bigger question: “How do we help people do work that creates more value?” The most successful organizations aren’t using AI simply to automate work. They’re using it to augment human potential—removing friction, surfacing insights, accelerating learning and giving people more time to focus on the work humans do best: solving problems, making decisions, collaborating, innovating and leading change.
That’s where SAP’s vision for Autonomous HCM becomes so powerful. It’s not just about automating individual HR processes. It’s about creating an intelligent system that can anticipate workforce needs, surface opportunities, recommend actions and help organizations continuously adapt as business priorities evolve. AI helps coordinate and execute routine work, while people remain at the center of judgment, strategy and decision-making.
Q: How does that alter the balance between administrative workflows and high-impact work for the average employee?
Albert: Historically, a lot of time at work has been spent navigating processes rather than actually moving work forward. Employees search for information, managers chase approvals, HR teams coordinate routine transactions, and everyone spends time switching between systems to get things done.
Autonomous HCM changes that balance. Rather than asking people to manage every step of a process themselves, intelligent systems can help coordinate routine tasks, surface the right information at the right time and remove friction from everyday work.
The impact goes beyond efficiency. The goal isn’t simply to help people do the same work faster. It’s to create more space for the work that drives real value—solving problems, making decisions, collaborating with colleagues, serving customers and developing new ideas. For managers, that can mean spending less time on administrative tasks and more time coaching and developing people. For employees, it means spending less time navigating systems and more time doing meaningful work.
Ultimately, this is about helping work move up the value chain. AI handles more of the coordination and routine execution, while people focus on the judgment, creativity, empathy and leadership that only humans can provide.
The People-Empowerment Disconnect
Q: What do you see as the primary barriers to employee engagement in today’s workforces—and why should employers want to overcome them?
Albert: One of the biggest barriers is disconnection. SAP research found that many employees are questioning the very foundation of their relationship with their employer as trust and loyalty continue to decline. Employees who are actively disconnected are 3.1 times more likely to say their organization has failed to follow through on its promises, and they put in 16% less effort than their peers.
Employees can become disconnected in a lot of ways. Sometimes it’s not seeing a clear path for growth or not understanding how their work contributes to the bigger picture. And sometimes it’s simply feeling unsupported during periods of rapid change. That’s especially relevant today: Organizations are navigating AI, evolving skill requirements and changing employee expectations all at the same time. When people don’t see opportunities to learn, grow or contribute in meaningful ways, engagement naturally starts to decline.
Employers should prioritize engagement not simply because it’s an HR metric but because it has a direct impact on business performance. Highly engaged employees tend to contribute more. They’re more productive, more innovative and more likely to stay with the organization. When people feel disconnected, organizations feel the impact in performance, retention and culture.
Ultimately, the organizations that will thrive are the ones that help employees feel connected—to their work, to growth opportunities, to their managers and to the company’s purpose. In a world that’s changing faster than ever, creating that sense of connection can become a real competitive advantage.
Q: What’s key to increasing engagement—and how can Autonomous HCM help?
Albert: It really comes down to helping people feel connected to their work, their growth and their future within the organization.
Most employees want the same basic things. They want to know that what they’re doing matters, they want opportunities to grow, and they want to feel like someone is invested in their success. The challenge is that delivering that experience consistently across an organization, especially a large one, can be difficult. Managers have limited time, priorities are constantly shifting, and employees aren’t always aware of the opportunities available to them.
That’s where the vision of Autonomous HCM offers a different path forward. At its core, it’s about creating a more intelligent and adaptive relationship between employees and the organization. Rather than relying on occasional talent reviews or employees having to navigate their careers on their own, organizations can take a continuous approach to understanding skills, identifying opportunities and supporting growth.
For example, AI agents in SAP SuccessFactors can help connect employees to learning opportunities, surface potential career paths, up-level performance and development conversations, and make it easier for people to find the resources they need at the right moment. At the same time, skills intelligence and workforce insights can help organizations better understand both employee aspirations and evolving business needs.
Engagement grows when people can see a future for themselves, understand the impact they’re making and feel supported along the way. To me, that’s one of the most compelling aspects of the Autonomous HCM vision: helping create stronger connections between employees, opportunity and purpose while keeping people at the center of the experience.
Eliminating Silos: HR As A Strategic Partner
Q: What impact do unified data and AI-enabled decision-making have on alignment between HR and broader business priorities?
Albert: Unified data changes the conversation because it helps organizations stop thinking about workforce decisions and business decisions as two separate things.
Historically, HR has often been asked to support business strategy after the fact. The business sets a direction, and HR is asked to figure out how to hire, develop or reorganize the workforce to support it. When workforce data and business data come together, that dynamic starts to change. Organizations can better understand where skill gaps are emerging, where talent risks exist, what capabilities they’ll need in the future and how workforce decisions will impact business outcomes.
The need for that visibility is clear. SAP research found that 62% of C-suite executives are dissatisfied with their current level of integration between people and business performance data—highlighting how difficult it is to make confident decisions when workforce and business information remain disconnected.
AI adds another layer by helping leaders identify patterns, model potential scenarios and anticipate challenges before they become problems. Instead of reacting to changing market dynamics, organizations can take a more proactive approach to planning and decision-making.
That’s what Autonomous HCM is about—bringing workforce and business strategy closer together so leaders can make decisions with a more complete picture of both. It allows HR to be a strategic partner that helps organizations adapt to change, build the skills they need for the future and execute on business priorities with greater confidence.
From Reactive Planning To Continuous Readiness
Q: How does Autonomous HCM change how mid-market and enterprise organizations approach training, skilling and talent sourcing?
Albert: One of the most significant shifts is moving from reactive workforce planning to continuous workforce readiness.
Organizations need to constantly adapt to new technologies, changing market conditions and evolving skill requirements. The challenge is making sure the workforce can evolve just as quickly. SAP’s workforce planning research found that 56% of workforce planning professionals say workforce plans feel outdated by the time the planning process is completed—a sign of how quickly business conditions are changing and why traditional planning approaches are losing effectiveness.
Autonomous HCM helps make a more continuous approach possible by enabling organizations to better understand workforce skills, anticipate future talent needs and create development opportunities that prepare employees for what’s coming next.
The same shift is happening with talent sourcing. Rather than focusing primarily on job titles, degrees or previous roles, organizations can place greater emphasis on skills, capabilities, learning agility and potential. That opens the door to talent that might otherwise be overlooked while helping organizations make better use of the talent they already have.
Ultimately, the goal is to create a workforce that’s ready for change before change arrives. That matters because, in today’s environment, competitive advantage increasingly comes from how quickly an organization can develop and deploy skills—not just how quickly it can hire for them.
Q: How do the real-world outcomes of predictive recruiting systems compare to traditional hiring methods?
Albert: The real difference is that predictive recruiting shifts the focus from finding the best match for a job today to identifying people who can succeed and grow over time.
Traditional hiring often relies on resumes, prior experience and signals that may not fully reflect a candidate’s future potential. SAP’s research suggests the future of recruiting will place greater emphasis on capabilities like learning agility, adaptability, judgment and long-term fit. Predictive approaches can help organizations look beyond traditional credentials and better understand which candidates are most likely to thrive, develop new skills and contribute as business needs evolve. At the same time, they can help organizations anticipate talent needs earlier and make more informed workforce decisions.
What’s important is that this isn’t about replacing recruiters or hiring managers. The most effective approach combines predictive insights with human judgment. Technology can surface patterns and possibilities, but people still play a critical role in assessing potential, culture fit and the unique qualities that don’t always show up in data.
The goal is not simply to make hiring more efficient. It’s to make it more accurate. Organizations that can better predict future success—not just past experience—are likely to build stronger talent pipelines and make decisions that deliver value over the long term.
Redesigning Work, Rewards And The Role Of Technology
Q: As AI integration deepens, what framework should leaders use to rethink job roles and modern compensation practices?
Albert: Leaders need to start by rethinking the relationship between jobs, skills and value creation.
When employees estimate that AI could perform 42% of their tasks today, it’s clear that leaders need to think about work at a much more granular level. Rather than asking, “What should this job look like?” leaders should be asking, “What work creates the most value, and how should humans and AI work together to deliver it?”
That requires moving away from static job descriptions and toward a more dynamic understanding of skills, capabilities and outcomes. As work evolves, organizations need a skills-informed approach that helps them continuously identify emerging needs and create opportunities for employees to develop new capabilities.
Compensation is likely to evolve as well. Many organizations have traditionally rewarded people based on role, tenure or hierarchy. Going forward, I think we’ll see greater emphasis on skills, adaptability, contribution and business impact. The question becomes less about where someone sits in the organization and more about the value they create.
Ultimately, the organizations that navigate AI most successfully will be the ones that continuously redesign work, invest in workforce development and create environments where people and AI complement each other’s strengths. The goal isn’t to compete with technology—it’s to unlock more value by combining human potential with what AI can do.
Q: SAP’s 2026 predictions report describes a “symbiotic strategist” approach to work redesign. How does that influence workforce dynamics and retention?
Albert: The most interesting aspect of the symbiotic strategist approach is that it expands the conversation beyond productivity.
Too often, discussions about AI focus on efficiency and cost savings. The symbiotic strategist model asks a different question: How can organizations use AI to make work better for people as well as better for the business? SAP’s research suggests employees are looking for exactly that. Four in five employees believe AI will help them focus on more valuable work, and many say they’d like to spend more time on projects they’re passionate about.
From a workforce perspective, that can have a meaningful impact. Employees are more likely to stay with organizations where they feel challenged, where they can continue learning and where their work feels meaningful. The symbiotic strategist approach encourages organizations to use AI to remove friction and low-value tasks while creating more opportunities for employees to contribute in ways that are energizing and impactful.
For leaders, the takeaway is that AI adoption and talent strategy can’t be separated. The way work is redesigned will directly influence employees’ willingness to stay, grow and contribute within the organization.
Planning The Road Ahead
Q: Any final thoughts for leaders navigating this shift?
Albert: If there’s one thing I’d emphasize, it’s that the future of work isn’t something that’s happening to organizations—it’s something organizations have the opportunity to shape.
AI is creating an incredible opportunity to rethink how work gets done, how people grow and how businesses adapt to change. The question isn’t whether AI will transform work. It’s how intentionally we choose to apply it.
And that opportunity isn’t limited to large enterprises. Organizations of all sizes are navigating many of the same challenges: rapid technological change, evolving skill requirements and increasing pressure to do more with existing resources. Whether an organization has hundreds of employees or hundreds of thousands, workforce readiness is becoming a business imperative. The ability to understand workforce capabilities, identify emerging skill needs and quickly adapt to change will increasingly separate organizations that lead from those that react.
The organizations that thrive won’t be the ones that automate the most. They’ll be the ones that create environments where people can continuously learn, adapt and contribute their best work. In a world of constant change, that may be the most important competitive advantage of all.