AI in HR Tech: a cautionary tale

The year is 2017. Feels like yesterday but is fast approaching a decade ago. A bubble is being formed in the HR tech space, a bubble that has well and truly burst 8 years later…the #wellbeing tech bubble.

In 2018, I was presenting my concerns at a reward and benefit conference. My concern: that we were about to flood the market with a wellbeing app for this, for that and everything in between and that the result would be employee apathy. I dedicated the next 5 years to a message on engagement, about streamlining the entry points and making the employee experience at the heart of this boom. However, in that time, a worldwide pandemic ensured that the bubble grew at an unsustainable rate.

Employers needed quick fixes that showed their employees that they ‘cared’ and a relatively cheap mental health app…then a physical health app, then a financial app…

The result: apathy, low engagement and certainly none of the promised return on investment of a healthy, happier workforce. In fact the data tells us that health and happiness at work has deteriorated further.

In 2025, the next great bubble has started to form with similar promises of a more productive workforce, a healthier workforce and an engaged workforce. Everyone has an AI product or AI feature(s). Agentic AI in particular, promises smooth experiences and support for your people with new virtual assistants inspired by the meteoric rise of ChatGPT.

So I find myself having a moment of déjà vu. I am back in 2018 looking at blank faces in a crowd as I try to warn again. As #HR professionals, you are going to be inundated with ‘AI’ offerings and the reality is, your infrastructure and already clogged up HR tech stack is already creaking.

However this time I hope it will be different. Having spoken to leading FTSE organisations over the past month, here are some reasons I am hopeful:

· HR technology buyers have become much more sophisticated with the experience of purchasing various systems in the past decade. HR technology is a mature market

· IT security inside organisations have much more power in today’s risk climate. To make any purchase, there are robust processes and in particular, AI seems to be getting clearer governance as we improve understanding. There are challenges for HR wishing to move swiftly, but working closely with the good vendors shouldn’t prevent progress.

· Integrating technologies is an easier task today. However, this may not be in the best interest of the vendor of the new shiny tool. More on that to come.

The message here is relatively simple. In a world of opportunity, don’t get sucked into unintentionally creating a poor employee experience.

I’ll be talking more about this in the coming months and presenting more thoughts at the CityHR Annual Conference in November.

Follow me for updated insight as we continue to learn about this new era in the employee experience.