For HR thought leader Josh Bersin 2025 will be the year that organisations’ HR and recruitment teams must immerse themselves in new technology. He says AI will soon give employees ‘super powers’ but businesses will need to be agile and adapt rapidly to respond to the possibilities now on offer. This is an edited extract of Bersin’s essay on prospects for 2025.
2025: the Year of the Superworker?
Everyone has suddenly been given a superpower – and it’s up to us to decide how to use it. This isn’t the next stage of a Marvel or DC superhero film; it’s a metaphor for what’s unfolding in workplaces worldwide due to AI. What started as modest productivity improvements is now transforming into entirely new ways of working, shifting from automating routine tasks to generating autonomous, data-driven solutions of its own design.
In the future, we may not even notice our AI companions – they’ll simply blend into our workflows. But during this critical transitional period, HR must lead the charge, preparing organisations and teams for the significant productivity revolution ahead. Starting in 2025, we can expect a wave of “robot buddies” working tirelessly alongside us to enhance efficiency and impact.
Based on the many conversations I’m having, it is clear that AI is intimidating many employees, so make sure your AI investments are positioned as tools for job augmentation, not people replacement”
This shift will begin, perhaps surprisingly, in HR. AI is already reshaping talent acquisition – analysing job requirements, sourcing candidates, comparing skills, and assessing cultural fit.
Simultaneously, AI will drive a major shift toward what we call “productivity-based organisational design,” where jobs and roles are restructured to leverage the growing capabilities of AI platforms. The rapid rise of multifunctional agents underscores this shift, making job redesign the top trend to watch.
The key themes of 2025 will centre on two priorities: a) not how to just introduce AI but how to use it to redesign work, jobs, and processes and b) upskilling employees to collaborate effectively with these tools. In the coming quarters, organisations will invest heavily in redesigning work, empowering teams and ensuring effective system management to leverage AI’s potential.
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Implement AI responsibly
To implement AI effectively, companies must also do so responsibly. Have action teams ready to work on finding your way through issues such as:
- What level of visibility should HR and leadership have into employees’ AI usage, e.g., should we be able to see all their prompts and usage patterns?
- Who owns the intellectual property created by employees through AI platforms?
- Who ensures data privacy and security when employees upload content?
- How can we govern and test AI to prevent institutionalising bias or errors?
- How do we select and partner with vendors we can trust?
- How can we protect these systems from external threats, including the internet, customers, partners, or supply chain ecosystem?
- When AI generates incorrect or harmful information, who is accountable?
Hard work lies ahead – along with a potentially sobering realisation: as AI becomes ubiquitous, success will hinge on job, process, and business design (and culture), not just the technology itself. Simply enabling tools like MS Copilot to summarise meetings is a commodity improvement and won’t deliver a competitive edge. The real differentiator will be your ability to redesign work and roles for high-value productivity.
Salary expectations will be higher
2025, the Year of the Superworker, will see a surge in demand for IT, data, and software roles, particularly in data management, as AI depends on precise labelling and tuning. However, non-technical specialists will also benefit significantly as they leverage AI to enhance their performance and profiles. Both groups will expect to be rewarded for their contributions, or they may walk. Compensation will increasingly reflect value and capabilities, not just titles.
The rapid rise of multifunctional agents underscores this shift, making job redesign the top trend to watch”
This shift will disrupt traditional HR practices, such as performance management, where metrics will evolve from adoption speed to measurable productivity gains. Additionally, there will be inflationary pressure on wages. While increased productivity typically suggests lower labour costs, the average pay per worker is likely to rise – or at least be strongly advocated for. Also brace for some tense conversations about AI in general: based on the many conversations I’m having, it is clear that AI is intimidating many employees, so make sure your AI investments are positioned as tools for job augmentation, not people replacement.
The simple takeaway to share with your boss: AI can analyse endlessly, but it’s up to humans to decide what work truly matters.
Get set for a new talent model
All this suggests that the traditional prehire-to-retire approach to talent management is not going to help us that much. While we still need processes like onboarding, career development, performance management, and leadership development, I believe it’s time to rethink and redefine how they’re executed.
To be honest, this will be challenging unless you can answer “yes” to more than one of these prompts:
- Do you have a gig work platform or an internal talent marketplace?
- Are managers comfortable sharing work across teams and empowering employees to develop skills outside of their current job?
- Does your HR organisation have a vision of a dynamic career and can you support career paths that may not move into management?
- What rewards are in place for technical experts, project leaders, or professional specialists in a world with fewer managerial roles?
In other words, it’s time to reimagine career progression in a world defined by Superwork.
New conversations with the HR and L&D tech market
“Many new HR and edtech firms will soon be vying for your attention – and your budget. AI-first platforms often render traditional systems obsolete.
We’re at a point where the tech stack can be re-engineered. Legacy LMS and LXP infrastructure can now finally be replaced with AI-driven front-ends, AI-generated content, and highly personalised learning experiences. Expect a wave of pitches for new AI systems designed for management coaching, employee support, and self-service. While the vendor landscape is still immature, these solutions are now mature enough for prototyping and initial implementation.
it’s clear that while the impact of AI is just beginning, HR’s responsibility for time-to-market, execution, and leadership will be pivotal, as all are directly influenced by human capital”
As someone who has been immersed in L&D since 1998, I can confidently say the field has never been more exciting. Concepts like learning in the flow of work, micro-learning, mobile-learning, video-learning, adaptive learning, learning objects, and gamified learning are finally becoming achievable at a low to modest cost, giving organizations the chance to truly reimagine their approaches.
Another look at employee experience
What is the deal you offer to employees, and how does your employee experience truly compare with others’? As we move into 2025, rising demands for inflation-adjusted pay, greater flexibility (with remote working as a standard expectation), and persistent labor shortages may force organisations to re-evaluate their entire benefits stack. In a Superworker economy, we all have to think more deeply about what we’re doing for each employee, and that strategy starts with a discussion of the effort and money you’re putting behind that.
Upgrade your notions of what leaders do
In a year marked by job redesign and automation, leaders must navigate significant change. We have to bring our leaders together as automation accelerates, not only to reassure them of its value but also to position the rise of AI/Superworking as an opportunity.
Supe-up Your Team
In the age of the Superworker, HR becomes the backbone of organisational success. With labor markets growing ever more competitive and employees demanding unparalleled levels of agency and flexibility, HR’s role is more critical – and more complex – than ever. With 94 distinct capabilities assessed in our Josh Bersin Academy, it’s clear that while the impact of AI is just beginning, HR’s responsibility for time-to-market, execution, and leadership will be pivotal, as all are directly influenced by human capital.
However, the HR function is often undervalued. On average, companies employ one HR professional for every 100 employees, representing less than 1% of total payroll. Despite this, HR teams are tasked with hiring, training, supporting, and inspiring every employee and leader within the company.
Therefore, in 2025, I strongly urge CEOs to invest in their HR teams. It’s essential that HR becomes more technology-enabled, impactful, and strategic to ensure the success of the company as it navigates the complexities of the Superworker economy.
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