A new global study from the IBM Institute for Business Value points to a disconnect between the skills Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) say AI requires and those employees prioritize. While 71% of CHROs identify the ability to supervise, validate and override AI outputs as the workforce’s most essential skill, only 29% of employees rank judgment as important.
The study,* which surveyed 1,500 CHROs and 8,800 employees globally, finds that 60% of employees worry about skills erosion, with critical thinking cited most often as declining. At the same time, CHROs identify critical thinking (57%) and human judgment (48%) as among the workforce’s most important capabilities.
The findings also show that organizations creating the greatest value from AI are redesigning work, decision-making and workforce capabilities around people and technology. Organizations that clearly define workflows as human-led, AI-assisted or AI-executed report achieving 18% risk reduction and 20% quality improvement. Yet, nearly half (46%) of organizations do not involve the CHRO when AI strategy is being defined.
Other key findings from the study include:
Concerns about skills erosion reinforce the importance of judgment and critical thinking
- Among employees who worry about skills erosion, three out of four say AI has already begun to erode at least some of their skills.
- Skills erosion ranks among CHROs’ top concerns, cited by 46% of respondents.
- 49% of employees and 57% of CHROs say critical thinking and problem framing are among the skills that matter most in the AI era.
- Where judgment is built into how work is done, 62% of CHROs report growing employee confidence in AI-enabled decisions; where it is not, 57% report confidence declining.
AI accountability gaps are impacting employees
- 43% of employees report that when something goes wrong with AI, the blame falls on them, while 41% of CHROs believe employees may not feel safe challenging or overriding AI outputs.
- 36% of CHROs say unclear accountability complicates AI deployment.
- Only 28% of CHROs report a joint roadmap with IT backed by a shared operating cadence, and 73% say they struggle to coordinate consistently across the C-suite.
- Where the CHRO at least shares responsibility for which decisions remain human-led, 76% of employees feel safe to question or override AI recommendations, compared with 43% where HR is merely advisory.
AI gains are creating new pressure on the workforce
- 80% of CHROs believe AI adoption creates “invisible” work for employees, including validating recommendations, fixing mistakes, providing context and managing exceptions.
- 42% of employees say AI increases their work or their work goes unrecognized.
- 42% of CHROs say AI productivity gains are primarily reinvested for innovation or reskilling.
HR is expected to lead AI transformation, but its own adoption lags
- 72% of organizations make limited or no use of AI inside the HR function.
- CHROs rate HR’s capabilities particularly low in AI literacy across the team (13%), AI performance measurement (16%) and change management for AI adoption (20%).
- Organizations with mature HR AI capability, including governance, architecture and measurement, are nearly twice as likely to report a higher number of positive business KPIs.
The study also features perspectives from CHROs and people leaders on how organizations are responding to AI-driven changes in the workforce. A selection of these firsthand views is available in the addendum below.
