AI as the Core of HR Strategy: What 2026 Demands from Organisations | Anke Anderie | Head of HR for Global Delivery Unit | Fujitsu

The era of viewing Artificial Intelligence (AI) as an optional add-on or a standalone technology initiative is firmly behind us. In 2026, AI will no longer sit at the periphery of Human Resources, it will become the central nervous system powering people strategy. Forward-looking organisations now recognise that the true value of AI can only be unlocked when employees trust it, understand it, and are prepared to collaborate with it.

Achieving this shift requires strong cross-functional governance, transparent communication, and a deliberate effort to bring every employee into the transformation journey. Organisations that embed AI into the core of workforce planning, culture shaping, capability building, and employee experience will accelerate growth and innovation. Those that hesitate risk falling behind not because of technology gaps, but because of readiness and adaptability.

These priorities are now widely recognised across global HR and business leaders, shaping a set of seven non-negotiable imperatives that will define the future of work.

Co-lead the AI Transformation or Risk Falling Behind
Human Resources can no longer remain a passive observer in the AI revolution. With companies increasingly expected to demonstrate meaningful AI outcomes within short cycles, the real differentiator is not tools but trust, capability, and change leadership. Employees need clarity, confidence, and support to adopt AI constructively. This places HR at the front line, ensuring transformation remains not only technically sound but also deeply people-centric and grounded in ethical practices.

Reinvest time AI saves into human growth
AI is unlocking extraordinary capacity. Employees will save more than 120 hours per year on average, and increase productivity by around 30%. The strategic question is: How will this freed time be reinvested? If the gains are viewed purely as cost-cutting measures, organisations risk losing institutional knowledge, engagement, and adaptability. The true competitive advantage lies in redirecting this time toward learning, innovation, skill development, meaningful work redesign, and cultural evolution- turning AI into a catalyst for growth, not a pur mechanism for workforce reduction.

Redesign HR for cross-functional speed
Traditional HR structures built on silos and linear hand-offs are no longer fit for purpose. Fragmented processes and data slow down progress at a time when organisations must operate at platform-level speed. The future belongs to agile, outcome-driven networks where HR, technology, and business teams collaborate seamlessly across the employee lifecycle. This redesign is essential to enable AI to drive value creation rather than organisational complexity.

Change headcount to skill count–permanently
Workforce planning based on static job descriptions is rapidly giving way to dynamic skills-based organisational models. Organisations that prioritise real-time skills visibility are already responding faster to change, innovating more effectively, and retaining talent more successfully. By 2026, skills-based planning will be the baseline expectation. AI-powered insights into emerging, adjacent, and hidden skills will enable continuous redeployment of talent to areas of highest impact unlocking potential far beyond traditional role constraints.

Build AI fluency
At present, only 35% of HR professionals state that they are ready to work with AI. Today, only a limited share of HR professionals feel fully ready to work with AI. By 2026, fluency must become universal. AI fluency the ability to interact effectively with AI, challenge its outputs, apply ethical judgment, and integrate it responsibly is becoming a core professional competency. Organisations are embedding this capability through a structured cycle: Educate – Exposure – Experience.

Repeated learning cycles transform uncertainty into curiosity and growth, building a more adaptable and innovative workforce.

Build responsible and inclusive AI
Trust is the foundation of AI adoption. Ethical AI must be designed intentionally, not added afterwards. Explainability, bias audits, transparency, human oversight, and inclusive development practices are rapidly becoming not only regulatory expectations but competitive advantages. AI systems must deliver personalised, fair, and credible experiences for all employees, regardless of background strengthening equity as well as performance.

Arrange hybrid human + AI teams
The transition to actual hybrid human-AI teams is, perhaps, the greatest change of mindset. Orchestration, scheduling, analytics, and routine decision-making, once performed by people, are already being performed by agentic AI, and people continue to do more creative, relationship-oriented, ethical, and complex problem-solving. Leadership on its part is changing to a day-to-day people management to the coordination of systems, development of talent and culture creation.

The bottom line for 2026
The organisations that will lead in 2026 are those that view AI not as a cost-reduction tool, but as a foundation for human potential. They design work around skills rather than roles, embed inclusion and accountability into every algorithm, and invest relentlessly in continuous learning. They create environments where people and AI amplify each other.

When these elements converge, AI stops being a disruptor and becomes the driver of sustainable performance, innovation, and workforce prosperity. The future of work belongs to organisations that put AI and the people who shape it at the centre of their strategy.

We should not forget, it is us, humans who are leading AI, feeding AI. We decide on how to use it.

Links:
https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-12-01-hr-leaders-must-build-future-ready-hr-teams-for-the-ai-age
https://www.forbes.com/sites/cynthiapong/2025/11/09/3-hr-leaders-on-what-2025-taught-us-and-what-2026-will-demand/
https://darwinbox.com/blog/how-ai-will-redefine-talent-management-in-2026