Managing the New Blend of Human and Virtual “Co-Workers”

HR leaders adapt to support work in the human-machine era

With the picture of an immediate future workplace including humans working alongside non-human “colleagues,” the human resources profession is having to quickly prepare by revising the traditional rulebooks and protocols to make way for a “new workplace.”

Gartner, Inc. has revealed the top “future of work” trends that chief human resource officers (CHROs) will need to address in 2026 and beyond to ensure their organization achieves its desired talent and business outcomes.

“These research-driven predictions address significant workplace forces CHROs must navigate in 2026: HR’s changing – and expanding – mandate, the AI-enabled workforce, mounting pressure for growth and the shifting employment deal,” said Emily Rose McRae, senior director analyst in the Gartner HR practice.

Gartner’s top “future of work” trends for HR leaders to prepare for include:

Reductions in Force (RIFs) Before Reality

Some CEOs, optimistic about the potential of AI investments to increase productivity and innovation, have reduced headcount. Yet, current workforce reductions are not due to better-performing AI – only 1% of layoffs in 2025 were the result of AI increasing employees’ productivity. This places business leaders in an impossible position – being asked to make cuts to their teams on the basis of AI returns that have not yet been realized, and may never be. In some cases, organizations will end up needing to rehire for roles they’ve cut.

In 2026, CHROs must deliver any layoffs in a human-centric way that does not harm the organization’s employment brand. Longer term, CHROs must lead “talent remix” efforts to ensure the size and structure of the current workforce can effectively and sustainably support their organization’s strategic goals.

AI’s Biggest Hidden Cost: Employees’ Mental Fitness

Preserving the resilience and safety of the workforce in the AI era is a core HR responsibility in 2026. CHROs must ensure that managers and leaders are equipped to spot symptoms of disordered AI use or negative psychological, behavioral or emotional impacts of pervasive AI at work. CHROs must also ensure their teams act now to prevent erosion of key skills. The most successful CHROs will also proactively work with legal and IT to have a plan for preventing and responding to AI-related psychological injury.

AI Workslop Becomes Organizations’ Top Productivity Drain

An overwhelming focus on AI adoption and improving individual employee productivity has led to “workslop” – an abundance of fast but poor-quality work produced by or with AI. Today’s employees are being pressured to adopt AI for as many potential use cases as possible, with no time or autonomy to discern if the output is high-quality or fit for purpose.

“In 2026, the best CHROs will focus on saving employees’ effort, not just time, by aiming AI at the most arduous, friction-filled moments in employee work, rather than quick wins,” said McRae. “Effort, rather than spend time, is the most reliable indicator CHROs should use to understand where AI should reshape work and provide value.”

Employers Reverse the Candidate Fraud Arms Race

AI has made hiring an arms race. Candidates use AI for easier application and to stand out, while organizations use AI to sift through a higher volume of candidates and to detect genuine, qualified matches and avoid malicious actors.

This leaves organizations faced with an overburdened and fraud-ridden process at the very moment recruiting headcount is under increased scrutiny. CHROs in 2026 will increase the value of the human in recruiting workflows by combining “high touch” approaches (in-person interviews, experiential skills assessment) with emerging AI tools.

Corporate Espionage Moves from the Pages of Fiction to Our Payrolls

The AI arms race and economic nationalism have drastically increased the risk of insider threats, specifically in the form of corporate espionage. Employers are also facing regulatory and reputational pressure to address technological sovereignty and to reduce dependency on technology from companies based in other countries.

HR must increase its role in protecting organizational security in 2026. In addition to organizations’ more intensive cybersecurity efforts, CHROs will need to invest heavily in the behavioral and motivational side of addressing and identifying sources of insider threats.

Tech-to-Trades Career Paths Blossom

As AI continues to proliferate, workers in some fields, such as software development, finance and professional services, will look to pivot to more “AI-proof” careers – such as the high-demand, hands-on, skilled trade work that is less likely to be fully automated in the near- to medium-term.

This year, retraining and apprenticeship programs will emerge to help digital workers transition into skilled trade professions. CHROs must be proactive both in planning to retain their key digital talent, offering reskilling support where appropriate and building new pipelines for skilled trade roles, potentially in collaboration with industry partners.

Process Pros, Not Tech Prodigies, Unlock AI Value

Organizations are scrambling to hire talent with the latest AI skills and to upskill their existing talent to use existing AI tools effectively. However, success with one AI tool will not automatically result in quality output from another, and optimizing individual use of AI-based productivity tools on its own does not lead to growth or cost reduction.

The most successful organizations in 2026 will prioritize finding work process experts, employees whose creativity and systems thinking allow them to redesign entire processes, not just optimize individual tasks. CHROs should update their recruiting processes to prioritize AI judgment and critical thinking over technical skills. They should also tap leaders to establish an employee working group to identify processes, not just tasks, that can be redesigned using AI.

Employees Get Paid for Training Their Digital Doppelgängers

Last year, AI programs trained on real human artists to mimic their style, tone and behavior in original works. In 2026, this trend will come to the broader workforce. Digital twins or AI avatars are already being developed to replicate high-performing employees and even CEOs.

Digitally replicating employees – specifically the knowledge, habits and individual behaviors that make them successful – opens uncharted territory in terms of compensation. Employees will demand to be paid, not just for training AI tools, but for the ongoing use of their digital likeness long after they’ve left the organization. The best organizations will update their AI governance to protect and reward employees’ likeness as AI is increasingly shaped in their image.