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The most interesting stories in HR & AI weekly

New Russell Reynolds data shows global CHRO turnover dipped slightly in Q1 2026, while organizations continued to rely heavily on external hires to fill top HR roles. Why it matters: For HRBPs, the good news is that lower turnover for CHROs generally reduces HRBP turnover. That said, changing requirements for HRBPs mean that HRBPs need to continue to uplevel to meet the moment. Reality check: Anecdotally, we’ve seen a lot of turnover among senior HR executives in our conversations in the last few weeks; don’t be surprised if the Q2 update shows increased turnover.

Companies that rushed to adopt AI under heavily subsidized pricing are now facing significantly higher costs as providers scale back discounts and infrastructure expenses surge, forcing leaders to reevaluate ROI and long-term workforce implications. Why it matters: HR and business leaders may soon face tougher decisions about which AI use cases genuinely drive productivity versus those that looked attractive only because costs were artificially low during the adoption phase. Reality Check: While AI spending remains a strategic priority, many organizations are still early in measuring real business impact, and rising costs could expose gaps between AI experimentation and sustainable value creation.

Box, a software company, has introduced new positions focused on training, overseeing, and optimizing how employees work alongside AI, offering an early example of how organizations may redesign jobs as AI adoption accelerates. Why it matters: Rather than simply eliminating roles, leading companies are beginning to create new job categories and skill requirements around AI-enabled work. Reality Check: Many of these jobs are still early signals rather than mature career ladders.

Avalara’s Chief People Officer says AI tools like Claude are becoming embedded across HR workflows, from goal setting to hiring, with the company redesigning its people function around AI-assisted work. Key insight: One of the biggest gains came from using AI to write clearer, more measurable performance goals, helping managers create stronger expectations and more consistent employee evaluations. Want to use AI to improve goals? Check out our prompt of the week below.

This prompt evaluates performance goals against best practices, identifies AI-related opportunities, rewrites weak objectives, and generates an HRBP dashboard summary. How to use this: Quickly assess the quality and AI readiness of employee goals before performance reviews. How not to use this: cutting and pasting output without validating recommendations.

Researchers analyzing more than 650 million hiring and job posting records across four countries found that work from home exposure is a stronger predictor of declining entry-level hiring than generative AI, arguing that remote environments make it harder to supervise, mentor, and develop junior talent. Why it matters: As organizations rethink workforce strategies, HR leaders may need to focus as much on redesigning early-career development and hybrid work models as they do on AI-driven job disruption. Reality Check: AI is still reshaping junior roles and automating routine work, but the data suggests it may be too early to conclude that AI is the primary driver of today’s entry-level hiring slowdown.

New Workday research found employees say AI is helping reduce burnout and boost confidence at work, but it may also be contributing to a growing “connection deficit” as workers rely less on colleagues and managers. Why it matters: The findings suggest companies may need to balance AI-driven productivity gains with intentional efforts to preserve collaboration, mentorship, and workplace relationships. Reality check: While AI can reduce repetitive work, the research also shows employees still place high value on human connection, especially as AI becomes more embedded in daily workflows.

New research from Stanford, NYU, and Princeton found people often overestimate AI’s productivity benefits, frequently using it for simple tasks where it saves little time, and sometimes even slows them down. Why it matters: HR is uniquely positioned to partner with business leaders to identify where AI genuinely improves speed, quality, capacity, or employee experience. Reality check: The study focused on short, simple tasks, not complex knowledge work where AI has shown much larger productivity gains.

A new PwC report says AI is accelerating “role convergence,” with employees acting more like AI-powered generalists than narrow specialists. Why it matters: As role boundaries blur, organizations may need to redesign career development around skills and outcomes rather than traditional functional career ladders. Reality check: While AI may enable more generalist work, organizations will still depend on specialists to manage risk, solve novel problems, and validate AI outputs, potentially making specialized expertise more valuable, not less.

Have a coffee on us. Take the 10-15 minute benchmarking survey from PotomacHarbor by June 30th and receive a Starbucks gift card. Participants will also receive a copy of results in the fall. (Disclosure: we run this benchmarking survey through PotomacHarbor; participation limited to HRBPs and senior HR leaders).

Google Cloud and Workday are expanding their partnership to embed AI agents directly into HR and finance workflows, allowing employees and managers to complete tasks like PTO requests, performance reviews, expense management, and policy inquiries through Gemini Enterprise and Workday’s Sana agent. Why it matters: The next phase of HR AI is shifting from chatbots that answer questions to agents that can take action across multiple systems. Reality Check: The value of AI agents depends heavily on system integration, and fragmented HR tech stacks presents a challenge at many organizations.

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Until next week,

Mike & Adam

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