I just read Kyndryl‘s People Readiness Report 2025, a well designed survey and methodology that investigated company AI adoption.
Some interesting findings and thoughts to ponder:
AI Is Ubiquitous but Workforce Readiness Is Lagging. While 95% of organizations are using AI, 71% of leaders say their workforce is not ready to leverage it. AI adoption might be high – via “executive fiat” but workforce capabilities and culture inculcation lag behind, creating major obstacles to success.
Workforce Resistance to AI Is Significant. 45% of CEOs report that employees are resistant or hostile to AI. Cultural adoption of AI is a major challenge requiring more progressive change management strategies. But at a significant cost.
Misalignment Between CEOs and Tech Leaders. 73% of CTOs/CIOs believe employees are embracing AI but only 45% of CEOs agree. If not aligned, differing perspectives within leadership teams can stall progress. Read into this as you wish.
Only a Small Group of “AI Pacesetters” Have Fully Integrated AI. Just 14% of organizations (Pacesetters) have fully aligned their workforce, technology, and growth goals for AI. Few organizations have a holistic approach to AI and workforce integration – the obvious key for success. Wait – what do you think “fully aligned” means in human speak?
Skills Gaps and Uncertainty Are Major Challenges. 68% of CEOs vs. 45% of CTOs/CIOs see a lack of skilled talent as a significant barrier. Upskilling and reskilling are essential, but organizations are still unclear on how to address these gaps – while still retaining any semblance of “the human touch.”
AI Pacesetters Are Transforming Talent Management. 74% of AI pacesetters report having fully transformed their talent management processes (vs. only 25% of others). Emphasizing talent transformation is a differentiator for top performers. Of course, moving from “presentation mode” to actual “performance mode” at the organizational level is the challenge.
Trust Building and Change Management Are Critical. Only 42% of leaders are actively working to build trust in AI among employees. Lack of trust can stall adoption; organizations must involve employees, set clear ethical guidelines, and be transparent as to how performance will be measured to succeed.
If you’re in TA, TM, or HR, what might be the implications?
AI Readiness Lag. Companies that fail to upskill and enable their workforce for AI might struggle to attract top-shelf people who expect modern, AI-integrated workflows.
⚠️ Retention Risk: Employees will seek out employers who invest in their skills and keep them relevant in a fast-changing environment.
Workforce Resistance to AI. Perceived hostility towards or skepticism about AI within the workforce can tarnish a company’s employer brand.
⚠️ Retention Risk: Resistance can lead to frustration or disengagement, causing top talent to seek more forward-thinking, innovative environments.
Leadership Misalignment. The people you covet might perceive leadership dissonance as instability that can erode confidence in the company’s vision and create hesitance to join.
⚠️ Retention Risk: If employees sense mixed messages about AI, it can breed confusion and churn.
Small Number of AI Pacesetters. Companies not among the 14% of “Pacesetters” risk lagging in competitiveness both for AI-savvy talent and in business results.
⚠️ Retention Risk: Ambitious employees will migrate to organizations that prioritize and deliver on AI transformation.
Skills Gaps & Uncertainty. People are already wary of companies that can’t articulate how they’re bridging skills gaps and how these are tied to career development and total rewards. They’ll favor those with clear, transparent development paths.
⚠️ Retention Risk: Without continuous upskilling and clarity on AI’s impact, existing employees may leave for more future-ready workplaces.
Talent Management Transformation Among Pacesetters. Companies that aren’t transforming talent management risk being overshadowed by those who do especially since 74% of Pacesetters are already there. Of course, there’s a slippery slope here: An over-emphasis on “AI all the time.”
⚠️ Retention Risk: A static approach to talent management can erode engagement and career growth, pushing people out the door.
Lack of Trust-Building. With only 42% of leaders working on AI trust-building, most organizations are vulnerable to talent skepticism. Those being targeted as potential employees today ethical AI and transparency.
⚠️ Retention Risk: Employees who don’t trust the company’s AI use or feel it’s used against them will disengage and may exit quickly.
Well, what does this mean to us in the people business?
We need to move into full-on advisory and advocacy mode.
AI ignorance isn’t a strategy for success – but being a true People Advisor in the AI Era means you must be more educated about the SWOTs of the technology and how these are viewed by those you have in your organization and those you want. Take a course. Follow the leaders. Demand answers from vendors.
Don’t see a plan that includes how AI technologies will impact both internally-facing and externally-facing HR, TA, or TM in both the short and longer term?
Create one. Poll employees, job seekers, and customers and incorporate their POVs into it. Take a look at Edelman‘s fantastic Trust Barometer work and work these findings into your plan. Listen to both people’s excitement and trepidation and address these in all you people activities.
Advisory and Advocacy aren’t easy – they can potentially put you at odds with company executives who might have, at best, a cursory sense of how strategies impact people. Blustering aside, for most this isn’t one of their strengths…
But if not you then who?
WaPo’s analysis showed that on 9/11/2015, 25.8% of the country was six years of age and younger (8%), or not yet born (17.8%). With approximately 4 million people being born each year and approximately 2.6 million dying each year, the percentage of people being born after 9/11 will rise every year, memories of others will change or fade, and the life stories of specific people will likely be blended together into an amorphous mass that is transformed into “an event in United States history.”
9/11 was also Dave’s 8th wedding anniversary (I’ll do some math – today would have been his and Marian’s 23rd anniversary); they were to have celebrated their anniversary at the Central Park Boathouse and at the Whitney Museum. Some time around 9AM, he called his wife as he was finishing his 24 at Squad 1 and told her, 
Billy, the Captain of 21 Engine, was in the North Tower with his crew as the South Tower fell. His crew kept calling, 
We see it coming back, rearing its ugly head in the professional world, and to say it’s a shock to the system is an understatement. And it’s marked deviation from the drama back in the day.
“Those who kept silent yesterday will remain silent tomorrow.” ― Elie Wiesel, Night
Recruiting industry analyst 
Let me put this another way: Remember the post-mortem analysis of meteorologists who had tried to predict the path of Hurricane Sandy? The picture below details all the models of possible paths based on a tremendous amount of data collected over decades. These models were created using a variety of simulations running on some of the most brutish computers on the planet. Yet we remember what happened, and the cost? Simulations and predictions are just that.
To recruiters who have never substantively sourced for people (sorry, but sending out InMauls one at a time or in quantities so large that a Bill of Lading is required, is not sourcing) – and to the hiring managers these recruiters support, Sourcing is not a spigot.
The Recruiting Inferno 