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Dr. Lauren Park, Senior HR Research Scientist, SAP SuccessFactors

Shaping the future of HR with AI

Driving value, elevating people, proving impact

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The Future of Work Research Lab is exploring how AI can unlock new value for HR and the workforce. Our programs focus on helping organizations adopt AI effectively, ensuring HR leads with its uniquely human strengths, and proving the real business impact of AI on people and performance.

The artificial intelligence (AI) landscape is experiencing a fundamental shift. To date, generative AI’s impact on productivity has dominated headlines. But a new form of AI is poised to revolutionize how work gets done: AI agents. Agents are AI applications that support business users with decision support and task automation that require non-deterministic workflows. The latest insights from the Future of Work Research Lab offers a deeper examination on formulating an agentic AI strategy, from the following three lenses:

Fast facts

Agents and the employee: A complex push-pull dynamic

55

%

of employees think AI agents will deliver 2-5x greater value than other forms of AI

52

%

fear that agents will make their jobs unnecessary entirely

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We have tools, but people don’t know how to work with them.
HR Manager at a food and beverage organization with 10,000+ employees Employee perspectives

Agents within teams: Redefining collaboration

40

%

of employees already turn to AI for emotional support about work issues

>50

%

of employees feel more supported by AI than by their human coworkers

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I see them as virtual people... if it can think, communicate, and do tasks critical to my function, it’s like a direct report.
HRIS Director of a utilities organization with 5,000-10,000 employees

Agents and managers: Augmentation over replacement

80

%

of employees believe AI agents should assist their work rather than oversee it

58

%

of employees say they would hold positive perceptions of their manager if they were to be augmented by agents

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HR leaders agree on two primary areas where agents can enhance managerial effectiveness: Agents can support infrequent but essential management tasks and handle repetitive, low-value administrative tasks.

Dive into the research

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INFOGRAPHIC

Agentic AI: Research findings

SAP surveyed 4,019 employees globally and conducted 15 semi-structured interviews with HR leaders to explore how autonomous AI agents are redefining human-AI dynamics at work.

View the infographic

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Explore the full research

Register for the full report – and learn how to navigate the agentic revolution.

Download now

Keeping the human in human resources: The future of HR in the age of AI

As AI reshapes the future of work, HR must lean into its human strengths—ethics, empathy, leadership, and culture. This report outlines emerging HR archetypes and capabilities needed to thrive alongside AI, urging HR to evolve, upskill, and lead the transformation. The future of HR is more human, not less.

Dive into the research

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Article

Rethinking HR's purpose alongside AI

A group of 14 global HR executives examined the many changes (and opportunities) brought on by AI for HR

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Video

Hear what SAP SuccessFactors customers have to say

Discover which archetype visitors to SAP Connect feel resonates most with them.

Watch the video

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Explore the full research report

Register for the full report—and prepare for and ultimately thrive in this rapidly evolving technological landscape.

Dig into the results

Investigating the business impact of AI for HR

Organizations need to see tangible value from implementing AI for HR. To this end, the Future of Work Research Lab is partnering with customers to conduct business impact studies and evaluate the measurable impact of AI for HR use cases on employee and organizational outcomes as they are implemented across the suite.

Fast facts

After using Joule:

44

%

of users report they understand how AI can help them at work

57

%

of users report it makes them feel like their company wants to make their work life easier

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Joule made it much easier to complete a task or make an update.
Individual contributor at a software company

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ARTICLE

Measuring what matters: What we learned from studying real-world AI impact

AI is transforming work faster than we can keep up. The only way to keep pace is to measure what's really happening—and adjust accordingly.

Read the insights

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AI in action: Research findings for HCM

SAP SuccessFactors AI Business Impact Research Studies reveal that AI tools like Joule help employees save time, improve efficiency, and enhance creativity.

Download the document

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Explore the full research

Access the full research—and learn how AI can have a positive impact and add tangible value at your organization.

Check out the results

HR’s guide to enterprise AI adoption: Strategies for AI governance and workforce engagement

How can HR leaders harness the power of AI to drive meaningful change? This paper delivers practical recommendations to establish AI strategy governance, boost adoption, and ensure ethical deployment—backed by insights from the Future of Work Research Lab.

Fast facts

The current state of governance for AI in HR:

67

%

of organizations we interviewed do not have any AI governance model at all

27

%

of organizations we interviewed have a governance model for AI, but not for AI specifically in HR

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The number of ideas for AI is endless. But we don't know how to decide which ideas to really invest in, or whether we have resources to keep them up and running.
A Global Head of HR Technologies at a Mill Products & Mining organization

Dive into the research

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Article

Overcoming HR obstacles to enterprise AI adoption

Dr. Lauren Park shares strategies for AI governance and workforce management.

Read the takeaways

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Explore the full research report

Register for the full report—and learn how to improve AI adoption at your organization.

Download the research paper

HR’s guide to improving AI literacy and AI readiness across the business

Are you ready to lead your workforce into an AI-enabled future? In this paper, the Future of Work Research Lab delves into the importance of AI literacy for AI adoption and provide persona-specific strategies based on employees’, managers’, and HR leaders’ unique needs and perceptions of the value of AI.

Fast fact

When it comes to using AI at work, compared to people with high AI literacy, those with low AI literacy were:

6.3

x

more likely to feel apprehensive

7.0

x

more likely to feel afraid

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How do we encourage people to disrupt their own jobs? It’s difficult. Granted, these are bigger, faster changes, but change has happened before: think about the days of math teachers protesting calculators. We need to help people positively embrace it.
A VP of Global People Strategy & Development at a Consumer Products organization

Dive into the research

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Infographic

SAP research shows mixed attitudes around AI at work

SAP surveyed over 4,000 managers and employees globally about how AI is reshaping workplace dynamics and HR practices, and the results paint a complicated picture.

Explore the results

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Article

The importance of AI literacy to AI adoption

Dr. Autumn Krauss shares how gaining AI skills takes training and experience. Workers know that success—theirs and their companies’—depend on it.

Read the insights

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Explore the full research report

Register for the full report—and learn how to improve AI literacy and AI readiness at your organization.

Download the report

Future of Work Research Lab

Discover additional research on emerging trends in the future of work and HR.

Explore now