AI and HR: what’s really changing in the workplace

1. Could you please introduce yourself and tell us about your role at IDRH?

My name is Igaël Derrida, founder of IDRH. After around fifteen years in human resources, I set up this organisation to support companies and HR professionals through their transformations. I work mainly in French-speaking Switzerland on topics such as recruitment, employer branding, skills development, digitalisation and, increasingly, artificial intelligence applied to HR. What interests me most is what actually works in practice. An organisation doesn’t always need a new tool or a major transformation project. Sometimes, all it takes is to review a process, better equip a team or restore simplicity where it has been lost. AI now plays a major role in my work, but I see it as just one tool amongst many. The starting point is always the need itself.

2. In your opinion, what mistakes should companies avoid in their current HR strategy?

The first would be to chase trends. We’ve seen this with employer branding, digitalisation and now with AI. As soon as a topic becomes unavoidable, there is a risk of wanting to act quickly without always knowing why. A good HR strategy does not start with a solution. It starts with a simple question: what problem are we actually trying to solve? We must also avoid treating issues in isolation. Recruitment challenges, staff retention, skills, management and technology are often different facets of the same problem. Finally, a strategy devised out of touch with the reality on the ground is unlikely to produce lasting results. If staff and managers do not understand how things are changing for them, the project will remain just that – a project.

3. How is artificial intelligence transforming HR practices, and where should one actually start?

The use of AI in HR is evolving very rapidly. Until recently, it was mainly used to draft a job advert, rephrase an email or summarise a document. Today, it can be integrated into a much broader workflow and take charge of part of a process. We are gradually moving from one-off tasks to end-to-end processes. That said, I would advise against starting with the technology itself. Start with an irritant. This could be, for example, drafting an initial outline for an employment reference or creating a guideline to structure a recruitment interview. These are very practical, recurring tasks where it is easy to compare the ‘before’ and ‘after’. See how long the task takes you today, try out a new way of working using AI, then measure the difference. If you save time without compromising on quality, you’ve probably identified a good use case. The benefits then become very tangible for the HR team.

4. As the end of the year approaches, what priorities should HR professionals be planning for now?

The end of the year is a good time to focus less on trends and more on what is already changing within one’s own organisation. Which roles are becoming difficult to recruit for? Which skills are starting to be in short supply? Which processes consume a lot of energy whilst delivering little value? And how are staff already using AI in their day-to-day work? This last point is often underestimated. In some organisations, adoption is outpacing policy. Staff are already using ChatGPT, Copilot or other tools without the organisation always knowing how, or with what data. This is what is known as the Shadow AI. The aim is not to ban these practices, but to make them visible so that an appropriate framework can be established. We also need to look at skill sets. Jobs will not necessarily disappear, but their nature is already changing. Some tasks will be simplified, others automated, and new responsibilities will emerge.

5. What HR developments and trends do you foresee for 2027?

I believe that 2027 will be less spectacular than we imagine, but probably more far-reaching. AI will gradually move beyond the chat window and become integrated into work processes. We’ll see more agents and automated systems capable of carrying out part of a task without the user having to oversee every step. This will inevitably raise a new question for HR. How should work be organised when some tasks can be carried out by a machine, others in collaboration with it, and still others must remain fundamentally human? This is also why skills will become central. Discernment, the ability to verify information, to make a decision, to communicate or to understand a complex situation will become increasingly valuable. And I believe that HR will also have to evolve. Its role will be less about keeping up with these changes and more about helping the organisation to manage them. The more technology becomes part of our working lives, the clearer we will need to be about the role we want humans to play.