A new study found what areas are of the highest priority to companies as businesses head near the end of the third quarter.  

By Gillian Manning 

The state of business is always changing, but a report from Surface analyzed data from 650 companies across various industries and pinpointed the primary focuses of HR leaders today.  

According to the report, the core workforce priorities for the next 12 months are the following. 

• Increasing operational efficiency (75% of companies) 

• Accelerating AI adoption (54%) 

• Retaining high performers (47%) 

• Upskilling employees (35%) 

• Improving workforce adaptability (33%) 

Thankfully for HR departments, budgets seem to reflect those priorities, as there is a large investment in both technology and people. 

Here’s the breakdown, according to the report. 

• HR technology
  • 49% increasing
  • 51% maintaining
• Compensation and benefits
  • 39% increasing
  • 52% maintaining
  • 9% decreasing
• Learning and development
  • 63% maintaining
  • 17% increasing
  • 20% decreasing

As leaders try to address the top concern (increasing operational efficiency), eyes turn to middle management. And while middle managers are still feeling squeezed, the data shows that companies are taking steps to fix that. Of the companies that Surface used in their data, 64% give managers access to resources and 50% offer coaching.   

More than a third of companies are currently increasing their manager-to-employee ratios (17%) or considering it (29%). However, 26% aren’t tracking manager spans of control at all, and just 10% incorporate this data into their workforce planning strategies—presenting a potential opportunity for HR.   

AI adoption was the second largest priority across companies, however, just 4% indicate that AI is deeply integrated into core business processes.  Still, when asked how much AI is used in day-to-day business, companies reported the following. 

• Rarely or never used: 9%  

• Informal/inconsistent experimentation: 34%  

• Deployed in select workflows: 38%  

• Broadly adopted across functions: 16% 

For those who are trying to implement AI but are struggling, the issue, Surface’s report says, is not the lack of available tools or budget, but that “most companies haven’t built the organizational conditions that turn AI experimentation into scalable practices.” Just 28% of organizations utilizing AI actively share takeaways from their pilot programs company-wide. When these tools generate poor or unexpected results, employees usually handle the issue in isolation (19%) or resolve it internally within their immediate team (26%). 

“When lessons around using AI are contained at the individual or team level, organizations are running the same experiments in different areas repeatedly without building on what they find. They’re also not centralizing knowledge or establishing new working norms that give their workforce the confidence they need to truly harness the power of AI,” the report says.  

Looking to dive deeper? We keep an ever-growing archive of HRO Today Association member webinars. Watch now: “Human Fluency in the Age of AI: Rethinking Talent Strategy for What’s Next.”