AI is impacting 95% of HR leaders

Published in December 2025, Fosway Group’s HR Realities research analyses all the critical trends and opportunities for HR leaders in the next 12 months. Here, Fosway analysts dig into the fact that AI is impacting 95% of HR leaders.

graph of AI impact

The momentum behind AI continues to grow in HR teams and it has reached a significant tipping point this year. Just over half of HR professionals believe the claims for AI in HR are NOT OVER-HYPED. That’s a dramatic shift over the past three years, and the nay-sayers for AI’s potential has fallen from one in three in 2023 to one in five in 2025. Even though the adoption of HR is still a niche part of the employee experience and HR processes, expectations for AI’s impact on HR are growing rapidly.

95% are experiencing some impact from AI on their HR function today

Almost two-thirds have experienced at least a moderate amount of impact from AI on their HR team. Over the last three years there has been an acceleration in the adoption of AI-powered HR features and functionality, with those reporting ‘quite a lot’ of impact tripling since 2023. Those experiencing no or limited impact continues to decline. Everything points to growing momentum for AI in HR – although the value is still evolving and its impact varies across processes.

bar chart of AI impact over time

Enabling greater operational efficiency becomes an increasingly dominant driver for adopting AI in HR

At 90%, enabling greater operational efficiency has become the runaway driver of AI in HR, up from 75% in 2023. This is well ahead of the next drivers of speeding up processes (63%), improving the employee experience (61%) and the support for more intelligence-led decision making (52%). In another significant development, reducing costs also appeared in the top five drivers for the first time this year. As HR tech providers begin to provide clearer efficiencies and gains from AI, this momentum is likely to build. But there is a sting in the tail for providers – with costs being so important to HR’s thinking – 37% of HR teams don’t want to pay extra for those AI features. Vendors will need to create clearer business cases for HR if they want HR to pay more for their AI investments.

This is an excerpt from HR Realities 2025. Get the full insight and discover all the latest insight for corporate learning leaders by reading the whole report here.

What should you do next?

  • Build your evidence-based AI strategy with Europe’s most experienced HR industry analysts. Sign up here

Other recommended reading

  • The full research into EMEA’s HR leaders is here for you to benchmark you and your team’s experience: HR Realities 2025.
  • The 2025 Fosway 9-GridTM for Cloud HR – full report. Released in September 2025, it’s the latest market and solution trends in Cloud HCM.

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