Employment Law

The New Role of HR in the Age of AI

As soon as artificial intelligence takes over administration, nothing will remain of the traditional HR department—except for the opportunity to become strategically rele­vant together with the legal department.

HR is at a historic turning point: For the first time, artificial intelligence (AI) is automating the core business of the HR function. This is not a wave of digitalization but a shift in the existing currents. Those who can understand these currents can reach new strategic depths. For CHROs, this is not an option but an existential necessity.

Many HR departments remain trapped in operational waters. They administer contracts, answer routine questions, and manage processes.

Currently, they are dealing, for example, with the requirements of the Pay Transparency Act, just as they previously dealt with modifications to the Verification Act under the keyword “written form” of employment contracts or recent jurisprudence by the Federal Labor Court on individual contract clauses.

This operational burden is not only inefficient but also blocks strategic capability. Over 70% of administrative HR tasks shall be expected to be automated by 2028. This means that an HR function that continues to see itself as process management will lose its raison d'être. The central question is no longer: "How can we automate faster?" but "What is HR when routine tasks are eliminated?"

By Sebastian Gemeinhardt and Dr. Nicole Elert