As businesses discover new ways to capitalize on the benefits of AI, a new survey from The Conference Board reveals that HR leaders are not prioritizing the reskilling of workers that will be most impacted by AI’s use.
Only 7% of CHROs say they are implementing reskilling strategies for job roles that have a high probability for at least a quarter of tasks to be taken over by AI. How are leaders preparing for and incorporating AI instead? They are experimenting with pilots and use cases to assist human capital management functions.
“Organizations that don’t prioritize upskilling reskilling their workforce might be caught in a perilous position as the proliferation of AI requires new skills for different roles. But by preparing and reskilling your workforce now, HR leaders will put their companies at a competitive advantage,” says Diana Scott, leader of the U.S. Human Capital Center at The Conference Board.
Overall, CHROs’ outlook on the state of the workforce remains stable. The Conference Board CHRO Confidence Index dropped only slightly to 54 in Q4, from 55 in Q2. While hiring and retention expectations fell in Q4, employee engagement expectations are looking up moving into 2025.
Key findings from the index include the following.
- Reskilling workers in the face of AI is the lowest priority for CHROs and other HR leaders. Only 7% of CHROs say they are implementing reskilling strategies for job roles that have a high probability of for at least 25% of tasks to be taken over by AI.
- The top priority is AI experimentation. More than half (62%) of CHROs said modeling AI experimentation with pilots and use cases in human capital management functions was their top priority to capitalize on the benefits of AI.
- Addressing risks and concerns as well as investing in AI literacy and expertise were also priorities. Approximately 36% of CHROs are advocating for governance policies that will help mitigate the risks of AI use across the enterprise. A fifth (21%) are developing and implementing AI literacy programs for the entire workforce. An additional 21% are mitigating concerns about AI—specifically labor displacement—by emphasizing the potential benefits. And 20% of CHROs are supporting the creation and fulfillment of new roles that bring AI expertise to the organization.
The hiring component of the CHRO Confidence Index fell to 54 in Q4, down from 59 in Q2. Hiring expectations are also down slightly year-over-year from 55 in the fourth quarter of 2023. CHROs’ workforce expansion plans have fallen in the last six months, with 19% expecting to decrease their hiring over the next six months. More than one-third (37%) of CHROs expect to increase hiring over the next six months.
The retention component of the CHRO Confidence Index also dropped slightly to 53 from 54. Still, retention expectations are up year-over-year from its low of 51 in the last quarter of 2023. CHROs are mixed on how challenging it will be to retain employees in the next six months. One-fifth (21%) of CHROs expect their retention levels to decrease, while about one-third (34%) expect retention to improve.
Additionally, the engagement component of the CHRO Confidence Index ticked up to 55 from 53. Engagement is also up from a low of 52 in the fourth quarter of 2023. CHROs are more optimistic about engagement going into 2025, with 24% expecting levels to decrease and 42% expecting levels to increase.