Artificial intelligence (AI) looks certain to transform every knowledge-based employment role. HR and employee benefits staff will certainly not be an exception to this. To put it simply, AI is the industrial revolution for knowledge workers.
With firms perennially looking to improve efficiency, AI has enormous potential to bring huge cost savings. In its January 2025 Future of jobs report, the World Economic Forum ranked HR specialists at 90th out of 124 jobs in terms of demand by 2030. To put this in context, many other professional roles such as lawyers and accountants and a wide range of administrative staff were identified as being under a greater threat.
AI will lead to the mass personalisation of vast levels of services making it far easier to align benefits with individuals’ personal needs and preferences. For the next five years at least, AI is likely to enrich jobs for those who have them. Many people are frightened of saying AI will replace jobs, but I think we have to be candid about this and recognise that it will.
However, we should not lose sight of the fact that AI will also enable vastly more sophisticated services to deliver more refined experiences for both employers and employees. It represents an enormous opportunity for those who embrace it, but failing to do so is probably career ending.
The most valuable staff over the next five to 10 years will be those who are best able to engage productively with emerging technology. The best way for HR and benefits staff to ensure their own employability is to make sure they are the best people who know how the technology supporting their role works. Whatever field they work in, employers will never fire the person that best understands how to use the key technology that delivers more savings and efficiency.
Ian McKenna is founder of Benefitsguru.co.uk, and CEO and founder of the Financial Technology Research Centre (FTRC)
