AI is moving quickly into HR, but the most important question may not be how much work it can automate.

It may be what HR chooses to do with the capacity it creates.

In this episode of foHRsight, Mark Edgar speaks with Franco Girimonte about what the next phase of AI means for HR operating models, skills, workforce planning and the role HR needs to play in enterprise AI strategy.

Franco shares research from The Hackett Group estimating that by 2030, 43% to 49% of HR roles or activities could be automated. But rather than seeing that solely as a headcount story, many HR leaders see an opportunity to redirect capacity toward work that has historically been under-resourced: strategic workforce planning, deeper business partnership, better insights and helping employees and leaders adapt to AI.

The conversation also explores why HR and IT increasingly need to lead AI transformation together, why standardized processes matter before organizations can capture the benefits of automation, and how HR roles may shift from producing work to orchestrating work across people and AI agents.
For HR leaders feeling both excited and overwhelmed by AI, this episode offers a useful place to start: not with every possible tool, but with the work your organization needs HR to be capable of next.

About Our Guest

Franco Girimonte is a Principal at The Hackett Group, where he works within HR transformation and brings extensive experience across HR consulting, organization design, operating models, research and benchmarking. His perspective combines hands-on transformation work with a broad view of how organizations across North America and Europe are adapting their HR functions for the future.

Resources Referenced

• The Hackett Group — thehackettgroup.com
• 2026 HR Key Issues Study: Building the Agentic HR Organization — View the research
• AI World Class Human Resources — View the research
• Microsoft Copilot — copilot.microsoft.com

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