- In the next few years, most traditional HR activities will shift to AI agents while entirely new roles will emerge in AI governance, ethics, and orchestration.
- Every employee will soon manage “digital direct reports” — AI agents that handle repetitive tasks so people can focus on more creative, strategic work.
- As HR, you must lead by example by being ready to embrace AI so you can teach your workforce to be ready for AI.
The spreadsheets, the repetitive emails, the endless status updates — these tasks consume hours of your time each week. But what if you could delegate these to a digital team member that never sleeps, never complains, and continuously learns?
That’s the promise of agentic AI, and according to a recent panel we hosted with global HR leaders, it’s set to fundamentally reshape how we all operate within the next few years. Executives from ING, Dell Technologies, Ericsson, and Deloitte shared insights on preparing for this transformation. The conversation covered both the exciting opportunities and the mindset shifts that will happen as HR evolves from traditional operating models into AI-augmented platforms.
Here are our top takeaways from the conversation.
Daniel Florian, Head of AI Policy and Regulation at Eightfold, explains how AI can help organizations become more knowledgeable about the skills their employees have and potential skills they could further develop.
The Ulrich model is headed for retirement
Andreas Mayer, Director of Employee Experience and Operational Excellence at ING, didn’t mince words about the scale of change coming.
“The world as we know it, from an HR perspective, is coming to an end, and it’s going probably much faster than you think,” he said.
Mayer predicts that within three to seven years, the traditional Ulrich model — with its HR business partners, centers of excellence, and people services teams — will be largely obsolete. The Ulrich model is a framework created by David Ulrich that redefined the role of HR in an organization by shifting it from administrative to strategic.
This doesn’t mean mass layoffs are coming. Rather, it signals a dramatic reinvention of HR roles. Approximately 80% of current activities will shift to agentic AI systems, while new positions emerge in areas like workforce strategy, employee experience design, AI orchestration, and AI governance and ethics.
As the focus shifts from activity to impact with AI, you should be able to attract talent through more diverse methods, apply more personal development plans for employees, and support them through more seamless, omnichannel experiences.
Everyone will manage digital direct reports
Perhaps the most tangible way to understand agentic AI’s impact is through Bloomfield’s concept of “digital direct reports.” He says that every employee will soon manage one or more AI agents, each with unique roles and responsibilities.
“Think about what are the activities you might delegate? What are the activities you might choose to outsource?” said Jason Bloomfield, Global Head of Talent Acquisition Transformation at Ericsson. “Those are highly repetitive things that get in the way of creativity. They get in the way of curiosity.”
This reframing transforms AI from a threatening replacement into an enabling teammate. Christoph Gerhold, Workforce Transformation Partner at Deloitte, emphasized that as the HR workforce combines people working with AI agents, the key is viewing AI not as technology to fear but as a colleague to collaborate with — one that handles the tasks you have to do so you can focus on the work you love to do.
Claire Renaud, Global HR Director at Dell Technologies, added that this shift creates an opportunity to reclaim what makes us distinctly human.
“I think in the future, it might be our opportunity to shift back toward [being] more human,” she said. “What makes us really human, and where do we want to be present as human in these interactions within our organizations?”
Christoph Gerhold, Workforce Transformation Partner at Deloitte, explains why digital playgrounds are important for helping employees get comfortable with using AI in their day to day work.
AI literacy must start within HR
Before HR can guide the broader organization through AI adoption, it needs to master the technology itself. As Mayer said: “If we in HR are not ready to embrace AI, how can we even teach our workforce to be ready for AI?”
The panelists outlined a multi-faceted approach to building AI literacy. At Dell, Renaud’s team combines formal foundational training with active experimentation within clear ethical boundaries. The emphasis is on trust and learning by doing.
Gerhold stressed the need for digital playgrounds where employees can test AI capabilities in safe environments without fear of making mistakes. This hands-on learning is essential.
“We don’t know what our future jobs would look like in terms of skills required,” he said, “but we also are not 100% sure what kind of task or outcome we should shift to AI and what should remain human.”
Daniel Florian, Head of AI Policy and Regulation at Eightfold, noted a concerning statistic: more than 50% of U.S. workers are actively avoiding AI due to automation anxiety. Addressing this fear requires demonstrating AI’s value through progressive deployment, starting with simple chatbots, advancing to knowledge-grounded systems, and finally implementing agentic AI that reimagines entire workflows.
Design choices must prioritize human judgment and ethics
As AI capabilities expand, we face critical decisions about what should remain human-led versus AI-driven. The panel agreed this isn’t an either-or proposition, but rather a question of thoughtful collaboration design.
Gerhold outlined a three-part framework:
- Tasks requiring human judgment, empathy, and ethical reasoning should always remain human.
- Activities involving massive data analysis, pattern recognition, and automation can shift to AI.
- Strategic functions like workforce planning benefit from AI augmentation with human validation and oversight.
Importantly, these design choices must align with your company values.
“You need to ground the implementation of AI into your values as a company,” Renaud said. This means being transparent about where AI is deployed, conducting bias audits on AI tools, and ensuring people present for emotional and ethical needs.
The regulatory landscape is rapidly evolving, particularly with frameworks like the EU AI Act. Florian said it’s essential to become fluent in both AI technology and AI regulation, enabling your HR team to engage with legal, governance, and procurement teams at eye level.
Understanding that different AI models have different strengths and weaknesses isn’t just about performance — it’s critical for compliance.
Claire Renaud, Global HR Director at Dell Technologies, and Andreas Mayer, Director of Employee Experience and Operational Excellence at ING, discuss why the collaboration between people and AI is important.
Cross-functional partnership is a must
Implementing agentic AI isn’t an HR-only or IT-only initiative. Renaud described Dell’s approach of bringing together its AI Center of Excellence with stakeholders across legal, compliance, data privacy, data science, security, and multiple HR functions.
“Legal, compliance, and data privacy are really essential partners from the start,” she said, “because agentic AI introduces new questions around accountability, data usage, and their impact on decision making.”
These partners help define boundaries and create frameworks that protect the organization while enabling innovation.
The technical partners ensure data quality, infrastructure readiness, and security. But perhaps most critically, HR brings expertise in workforce readiness, change management, and skills development.
“Implementing AI agents is not only about automating tasks,” Renaud said. “It’s really about redesigning roles and the whole organization.”
The path forward: Curiosity over fear
The panelists offered final words of wisdom for us at this transformative threshold. Their advice was remarkably consistent: embrace curiosity, experiment, and maintain perspective.
“Be curious. Don’t be scared and just get started,” Gerhold said. “Nothing to lose, just to win.”
Bloomfield reminded the audience that while the specific details will evolve — “guarantee you things will be very different than the world we’re sitting and talking around right now” — the fundamental approach remains constant: view AI as an opportunity to shed burdensome tasks and do more of what you love.
If you approach integrating agentic AI into your HR actions with an open mind, invest in learning, design around your team, and collaborate across functions, you’ll be better positioned to thrive in this new era.
Watch the full conversation, How to prepare HR for the age of agentic AI: The next evolution of work, available now on demand.