Building Your Digital-Ready Workforce: HR’s Next Imperative
I’ve talked about shifting your mindset when dealing with AI, and where AI works best. This week I want to spend some time on doing the real work:
Building the muscle to make it happen.
We’re no longer just talking about tools or pilot projects. We’re talking about redesigning the workforce, where AI is a teammate, not a tack-on. According to new research from Bain & Company, companies that scale generative AI successfully are putting HR at the center of the transformation. Why? Because AI success isn’t just about automation. It’s about people, process, and purpose.
Start with Infrastructure and Intentionality
As Gartner outlines, organizations face a choice: Build, Buy, or Partner when integrating AI.
Build: In-house AI development gives you control, but requires deep integration with HR and IT strategies.
Buy: Off-the-shelf tools (recruiting platforms, learning tech) deliver speed, but may lack flexibility.
Partner: Collaborating with IT to embed AI company-wide ensures scale, but requires deep alignment.
And as Bain’s research shows, infrastructure alone isn’t enough. Fewer than 40% of companies have successfully scaled AI, often because they treat it as a technology
initiative. In reality, scaling AI is a workforce challenge—one that HR is uniquely equipped to solve.
The People Side of AI
If AI is your newest co-worker, your team needs to know how to work with it. That means:
Upskilling for digital workflows
Employees must learn how to prompt, validate, and interpret AI outputs. This is an ongoing training to build a core skillset. Bain found that companies investing in AI training saw efficiency gains of 10–20%, with 30% of employees saving over 20% of their time within the first year.
Embedding ethical guardrails
AI doesn’t come with a built-in conscience. HR must help set governance standards and ensure AI is used responsibly.
Redesigning roles, not retrofitting them
Don’t just layer AI on top of old processes. Bain emphasizes the need to rethink workflows from the ground up, combining bold transformation ("big bets") with everyday productivity wins ("small wins"). Setting the bar low so you can get the quick win is imperative in the change management world.
HR’s Expanding Role: From Overlooked to Essential
Here’s Bain's real insight: adoption accelerates at companies where HR is fully integrated into the AI strategy. Where HR is absent, progress stalls.
So what are strategic HR leaders are doing that makes such a difference?
Architecting blended workforce models (human + digital)
Driving internal mobility with AI-powered talent insights
Shaping cultural adoption by making AI feel like an enabler, not a threat
Setting up AI Centers of Excellence to foster experimentation and governance
Leading change management and upskilling initiatives that turn strategy into action
The new frontier of HR is more than managing talent. We have to design the system where talent and AI thrive together...as co-workers! Or what I call the Third Workforce.
To Be Relevant, HR Must Be Ready To Lead Into The New Age of Work!
AI is already transforming how we work. The question isn’t, “Can you adopt AI?” It’s, “Can your workforce thrive with it?” The current body of research makes it clear.
The companies pulling ahead treat generative AI as a people-first transformation, with HR driving the change. This is HR’s moment to lead.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeff Lupinacci spent the last 25 years at some of the world's best-known companies, such as Intel Corporation and Kimberly-Clark. His career spans key executive roles such as Chief Learning Officer, Chief Talent Officer, and Chief Integration Officer. After a successful corporate career, Jeff turned his focus to his true passion—serving the overworked and under-resourced HR profession.
Beyond his corporate success, Jeff is a sought-after speaker and thought leader, with his insights featured in leading publications such as CFO Europe, Nikkei Business Magazine, and Baylor Business Review. In addition to his business leadership, Jeff is an adjunct professor at Baylor University, where he teaches Human Capital Management for the Executive MBA program and leads the HR Strategy and Analytics capstone for undergraduates.
Jeff is the best-selling author of The Talent Advantage: A CEO’s Journey to Discover the Value of Talent. He lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife and two doodles.