Artificial intelligence and HR: only 29% of companies are ready for the transition

AI is recognized across the board as a strategic priority, yet the distance between declared intentions and concrete execution remains significant. Only 29% of companies consider themselves ready to face the transition towards work models enabled by artificial intelligence, and just 8% have introduced KPIs capable of reliably measuring the economic return. In HR functions that have a budget dedicated to AI, the average share stands at around 15% of overall resources: a sign that the technology is still treated as an experimental project rather than as a structural transformative lever.

This is what emerges from new research by Chaberton Partners, a European executive search company, entitled: “The Orchestrator of the Adaptive Organization”. The study is based on over one hundred qualitative interviews with HR managers of medium-large companies active in six European countries - Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland - with 93% of the headquarters located in Europe.

The research identifies three main directions that are redefining the role and responsibilities of the HR function: the gap between ambition and reality in the adoption of artificial intelligence; the growing need to build resilient organizations, capable of dealing with continuous shocks; and the strengthening of corporate culture as a strategic lever in a context of multigenerational coexistence.

It is from these data that the conversation that Chaberton Partners and Luiss Guido Carli will promote on Tuesday 29 September, from 6.30 pm in the Sala delle Colonne of Luiss will start. We will start from the results of the research: they will be at the center of a round table with five business leaders - Stefano Barrese (Head of Banca dei Territori of Intesa Sanpaolo), Stefania Boschetti (CEO EY Italy), Paolo Chiriotti (CHRO TIM), Paolo Gallo (CEO Italgas) and Antonio Liotti (CHRO Leonardo) - moderated by Davide Cefis, Senior Partner of Chaberton Partners.

The crux of the fragmentation of responsibilities

What is blocking AI's leap in scale is not financial resources, but the fragmentation of responsibilities - often disputed between HR and IT - and the scarcity of internal skills. The HR processes most affected by technology are recruiting and selection, planning and predictive analysis of the workforce, and personalized training. At the same time, CHROs or Chiefs of Staff point to inconsistent data quality, reliance on legacy systems and cultural resistance to change as primary obstacles.