“I think the biggest challenges we were facing, and I suspect this is across most businesses, was just the relentless pace of change. And it really felt at times like the old analogy about trying to change the wheels on a racing car whilst it's still on the track... it felt like we were trying to replace the wheels, the engine, the driver, . move it to a different track and do it at half the cost and still win.”
Senior HR leader
The level and speed of technological advancement over the past decade has required organisations to become increasingly agile in their approach to implementing new systems and ways of working. Technological change not only impacts how employees fulfil their work but also the organisational norms that underpin the daily working environment.
The increasing pace of change across organisations over the last 10 years has been widely reported. 86% of employers surveyed for the Future of Jobs report (developed by the World Economic Forum) identified “AI and information processing technologies” as likely to drive business transformation in the next five years. The CIPD’s own research also highlights that advancing technology as a key driver of change across all regions (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Top three drivers of change

SOURCE: People Profession 2023: UK and Ireland survey report, CIPD
How has the advanced pace of change influenced the people profession?
The pace of transformation within organisations, particularly when it comes to organisational design, was cited repeatedly when we asked senior people professionals how the expectations and role of HR has evolved. Similarly, leaders referenced how technology has made a significant difference to how they work as HR professionals, with increasing access to high volumes of people data and metrics that can be used to drive business decisions.
Widescale transformation within organisations can create employee uncertainty. The increasing pace of change across organisations has required the expertise of people professionals to facilitate the change required for businesses to operate and compete effectively. Robust change management and access to L&D is important to ensure adoption is successful. The profession’s role in transformation is expansive and can include providing ongoing and comprehensive support to employees going through this change on an emotional and practical level, eg encouraging adoption, reskilling, managing uncertainty, and maintaining retention through the transition.
For HR specifically, technological improvements have enabled the automation of more basic, process driven HR work, eg basic recruitment and onboarding processes, as well as simpler access to a greater depth of workforce reporting.
“I don't think tech is going to take over our jobs, I don't think it possibly can. But in my team, we've introduced tech that takes away the three people looking at someone's pre-employment check. Now we stick it in a screening tool and that's that done.”
HR professional
Research from the CIPD’s People Profession 2023 international survey shows how digital change has impacted the people profession globally (see Figure 3).
Figure 3: How digital change has impacted the people profession

Base: APAC (n=812); MENA (n=525); UK and Ireland (n=1,620).
SOURCE: People Profession 2023: International survey report, CIPD
The increase in access to employee data on performance and preferences has meant that the skillset of HR has evolved to include an understanding and engagement with people analytics. While access to data is key to taking an evidence-led approach, HR leaders highlighted that analysis needed to be focussed achieving a specific business need or goal; this is particularly important when considering the volume of data that is now available to people teams.
Recent developments in generative AI have only increased the pace of change and increased the levels of uncertainty within organisations, as people worry about what widescale implementation of AI could mean for their roles. As with other technological advances, it is the role of the people profession to alleviate fears and encourage adoption that allow businesses to make the most of AI and provide employees with the skills they need for their future careers.
The people profession will continue to be key in ensuring the benefits of any new technology are realised. As the pace of change continues, people professionals are best placed to ensure organisations have the right transformation, L&D and recruitment strategies in place to support effective and widespread adoption of AI. People professionals also have a key role to play in the regulation of AI within organisations. You can find out more about the role of AI within the people profession in our ‘Focus on AI’ series.