AI Agents Set to Transform Workforce: CHROs Prepare for 327% Growth in Next Two Years

AI agent deployments will grow 327% during the next two years. Here's what to do now

HR chiefs recognize the transformative power of agents. Organizations must focus on strategy, skills, and teamwork to create successful hybrid workplaces. Chief human resources officers (CHROs) plan to expand their digital labor in the next two years, investing in AI agents to increase productivity, according to the latest Salesforce global research. The research surveyed 200 global human resource executives to gather their perspectives on integrating AI into the workplace. The findings indicate a strong consensus among CHROs about the transformative potential of AI agents. Also: 60% of AI agents work in IT departments - here's what they do every day Most (77%) respondents believe agents will become a fundamental part of the workforce, transforming the organizational makeup. This result signals that digital labor is not merely a peripheral development but a central pillar of future business strategy that demands serious consideration. The research also points to a rapid adoption trajectory for AI agents. Over the next two years, HR executives anticipate a 327% increase in their deployment. This widespread integration of agents is expected to yield a 30% gain in overall productivity, underscoring the compelling business case for embracing AI in operational processes. Also: The 4 types of people interested in AI agents - and what businesses can learn from them This projected integration of AI agents is expected to drive considerable changes in workforce skill sets and the overall structural design of businesses. Regarding structure, CHROs foresee a significant need to redeploy nearly a quarter of their global workforce (24%) to accommodate new roles and responsibilities due to implementing digital labor. This trend highlights the proactive measures HR leaders must take to adapt to this evolving landscape. These findings collectively underscore AI's profound transformative potential to reshape the future of work. The findings also emphasize the critical role that HR leaders will play in strategically navigating these significant changes to ensure a smooth and effective transition into a new era of digital labor. Here are the key findings from Salesforce's CHRO and Digital Labor research. The research suggests people and AI agents will co-create value at the speed of need: Also: The work tasks people use Claude AI for most, according to Anthropic CHROs will have several strategic priorities that focus on new capabilities, organizational structures, and fresh opportunities: Also: How an 'internet of agents' could help AIs connect and work together The research suggests autonomous businesses will need teams with a blend of capabilities: Also: This new AI benchmark measures how much models lie Integrating digital labor, particularly AI agents, into business operations is still in its infancy, with widespread adoption being less than two years old. This novelty has generated significant excitement and a sense of urgency among HR executives. However, despite this enthusiasm, many CHROs are still in the initial planning stages as they prepare their workforces for this shift. Only 15% report that their organizations have fully implemented agentic AI. Interestingly, three out of four employees are still unaware of the potential impact of AI agents on their daily tasks and roles. This result highlights a crucial need for managers to craft the transformation narrative. Our primary focus should be on the cognitive upgrade of our human employees, empowering them to work alongside AI, rather than viewing AI as a mere cognitive download or a replacement for our existing talent. Also: Why neglecting AI ethics is such risky business - and how to do AI right We stand at a unique juncture as the last generation of business leaders to manage a purely human workforce. The future of work is undeniably hybrid and increasingly autonomous, where human expertise and AI capabilities converge. People and AI agents will function as trusted partners, forming a combined human and digital labor force that will revolutionize nearly every facet of business. However, amidst this technological evolution, one fundamental aspect of the human experience will remain constant: the innate desire to belong and feel valued, to pursue career growth, and to experience trust, respect, and care within the workplace. This moment presents an unprecedented opportunity for CHROs and HR (or Talent Resources) leaders to actively shape the future of work in a meaningful way that fosters a positive and engaging environment for our people. This effort isn't simply about HR gaining a seat at the boardroom table. Rather, if approached thoughtfully and strategically, HR will host this crucial discussion, with all other business leaders recognizing the imperative of earning a place at this HR-led table.

CHROs - all in on agentic transformation? Just don't forget the 'human intelligence' elements of the AI

With the announcement of Agentforce for HR Service coming this week, Salesforce has released some timely research into the impact of agent tech on the HR function, polling 200 Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) and Chief People Officers (CPO) from 500+ strong organizations around the world about their hopes and fears. The survey base was chosen, according to Lucas Puente, VP of research at Slack, which carried out the study: This is a really critical audience, because they are on the front lines of this agentic transformation. They are the ones setting their tone for their businesses, around how we should re -skill, how we should re-deploy, how we should think about hiring moving forward, all of these really critical questions. Now at this point, given Salesforce's pivot around Agentforce and the wider push on the concept of Digital Labor, the more cynical among you might be confidently expecting that HR is all in on the new tech revolution. Reader, you will not be disappointed. The survey results suggest that HR leaders buy into the idea that Digital Labor is indeed the future, with a hefty 86% saying that integrating AI is a critical part of their job. Peunte comments: CHROs are not just thinking about how this technology is going to change their workforce, but how there's going to change their own ways of working. It's not just that they're thinking about how this is going to change things for the rest of the company, it's changing things for themselves as well But it's still early days, notes Puente: Right now, about 15% of businesses say they've already deployed AI, which is actually pretty high, but that's going to just really multiply in the coming years. Within two years, these CHROs are expecting to see a 327% increase in agentic adoption, more than 4x increase. So we're going to see a huge hockey stick growth. Respondents said they're looking to a significant uptick in employee productivity - 30% on average. Across an average five day working week, that would account for an extra day-and-a-half of productivity gains. To achieve this there would need to be some big changes. Over three-quarters (77%) of respondents reckon their organizational structure will evolve in "a meaningful way" over the next two years. That might set some alarm bills ringing in the ears of those who believe AI is coming to steal their jobs and certainly things are going to change for some, but not necessarily as many as might be believed or in ways that might be expected. Puente explains: Twenty-three percent [of those polled] on average expect to re-deploy a portion of their workforce, shifting from certain jobs to other jobs that are more in demand as agents come into the business world and change the way that we are working and getting things done. There's still going to be a lot of continuity - 61% are going to stay in their roles - and it's going to be more of about a task-related change. Those roles are going to delegate certain tasks to agents in AI and keep the rest of their tasks. Re-skilling is a huge part of this change - 81% of CHROs told us they plan to re-skill their employees. They know that this change is going to be really quite meaningful, and the way that we worked in the past is not setting themselves up for success, to stay in that old mentality of working. All these CHROs know that they have to re-skill their workers, to set them up to be really optimized for all of this new technology that's coming into the workforce. It's notable that in terms of recruitment the top two teams expected to grow headcount in the coming years are IT and R&D, so expect an uptick in demand for tech skills as organizations look to introduce agentic tech in a safe and orderly fashion. But this will be followed by a second stage of seeking out and developing so-called soft skills, the 'human intelligence' capabilities to complement the artificial variety. Puente argues: AI and agents are going to be really exceptionally well-suited to rote work-type tasks, routine-type tasks, basic, more automatable things. All of those things are going to be automated or delegated to agents and AI. What does that leave for humans? What things are they uniquely well-suited to do? That's, of course, soft skills, so things like collaboration, things like adaptability, things like creativity, things that humans are uniquely well-suited to do. It's really about what can AI agents do uniquely well? Let's delegate that type of task and that type of work and then let's focus on what the humans are really good at. AI literacy is going to be really paramount moving forward as well. You need to understand, as an individual worker, what is actually quite good to delegate to technology, and what should that technology not be asked to do? That really comes down to AI literacy. So that's going to be a huge skill moving forward as well. All of this is hugely interesting. So much of the agentic conversation to date has been couched as an IT initiative when in fact it's a massive HR challenge/opportunity - and not only organizationally, but professionally. For the past 35 years I've been hearing the same complaints from HR executives - that they deserve a better seat at the boardroom table and should be given a chance to make a more strategic contribution to the overall organizational direction than they have been to date. The agentic revolution may well be a cast-iron case of 'be careful what you wish for' as here is a tech transformation that is going to be dependent on HR skills and expertise in action if its true potential is to be realised. I was struck by a comment from Nathalie Scardino, Chief People Officer at Salesforce, when she argued: I think there's never been more of an exciting time to be a head of HR, because you're bringing together all of the future of work into the employee experience at a pace that we haven't seen before. Over to you, HR!