BOSTON—Human resources has firmly entered the strategic spotlight with 65% of senior leaders now viewing HR as a key business enabler, driving transformation and value creation. Organizations with stronger HR capabilities report lower turnover and cut the time to fill critical roles by roughly 17-18 days on average compared to peers. Leading CHROs are partnering directly with CEOs to steer enterprise strategy and support business leaders in execution to create outsized returns.

Yet the function faces a critical execution challenge. More than half of leaders (51%) cite administrative workload as the primary barrier preventing HR from contributing more strategically, and while AI adoption is widespread, measurable impact remains uneven.

These are among the findings from Creating People Advantage 2026: Four Power Moves for the CHRO , published today by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA). The latest in a series spanning two decades, the report draws on survey responses from more than 7,000 HR and business leaders across 115 markets globally with data from 25 different industries. The report assesses 28 people-management topics by future importance and current capability to identify the biggest priorities for CHROs and their teams.

AI Adoption Is High—But Impact Lags

Nearly 70% of respondents report using generative AI in some capacity, primarily in reporting, learning, and recruiting. However, only 38% of respondents indicate high or strong relevance of generative AI (GenAI) for their organization today, and half (50%) of companies expect agentic AI to have high or transformational impact on their organizations in the future. The challenges of scaling AI remain significant, with 51% of respondents citing data privacy and compliance concerns as the greatest barriers to the introduction of GenAI, more than any other factor. However, 32% say their organization has limited or no processes in place to measure the risk of GenAI use.

The report asserts that shifting from exploration to at-scale implementation depends less on deploying AI (including agentic AI) into current work and more on reshaping processes and workstreams to generate greater value from the technology. Building the required data infrastructure to connect HR and business systems end to end to embed technology across the full employee lifecycle is also a key priority for CHROs, as is ensuring that teams within the HR function and across the entire enterprise have the skills and capabilities they need to succeed with AI.

Digital Ambition Is Rising Faster Than Capability

Among the 28 topics assessed, digital solutions (such as HR process automation) made the biggest jump in terms of future importance among respondents—improving 13 ranks to 12th—but the authors warn that they should be ranked even higher. Current capabilities in this area are among the lowest overall, underscoring the need for CHROs to act. HR leaders increasingly experience pressure to utilize digital to automate, deliver analytical insights, and offer a seamless employee experience. Rather than being an objective themselves, digital and AI are a means to an end for HR, streamlining workflows and helping teams support the business more efficiently and effectively.

“HR needs to move faster in terms of implementing digital technology, both within the HR function and driving the people elements of digital transformation across the business,” said Philipp Kolo, a BCG partner and director and a coauthor of the report. “Moving from GenAI pilots to unlocking real and transformative value on the business side depends on focusing on areas including upskilling, adoption, and designing new ways of working. HR can make or break business performance in the AI era. CHROs must meet the moment to embrace what could—and should—be a golden era for HR.”

The survey results also reveal a widening gap between digital ambition and execution in terms of company size. Large organizations place greater emphasis on, and demonstrate stronger capabilities in, data- and technology-driven topics such as people analytics and the deployment of GenAI, while small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lag in these areas. By contrast, SMEs attach relatively higher importance to culture, rewards, and skills-related topics, reflecting different levers for creating a people advantage at a smaller scale.

The Skills Transformation Remains in Early Stages

When it comes to workforce renewal, companies have pushed over the last several years to revamp talent management around skills rather than roles. But progress is uneven, and many organizations face a persistent gap in execution. Only about half (54%) use skills-based matching (matching an individual to a future role based on the individual’s skill profiles and the requirements of the new position), and just 48% run structured reskilling programs. Overall, only 11% of the companies surveyed have fully embedded skills taxonomy across the enterprise.

Investments in skills and workforce development are tied to measurable outcomes such as retention, speed to mastery, and progress on strategic priorities. To best achieve these outcomes, the authors advise that HR must take a more active role in orchestrating capability development at scale and embrace the four power moves for the CHRO of the future:

Regional Differences and Case Studies

The survey highlights regional differences in emphasis. While strategic workforce planning and people and HR strategy serve as universal anchors, priorities diverge across geographies, underscoring the need for globally aligned but locally tailored people agendas.

The report also includes examples of companies putting the priorities outlined in the report into action. The case studies illustrate that with the right approach, CHROs and their teams can evolve from a support function to a driver of transformation and outsized business value.

“Ultimately, companies measure the success of the HR function by the value it creates for the business, not the volume of activity it delivers,” said Peck Kem Low, WFPMA President and a coauthor of the report. “The results of our survey make clear that HR’s remit has expanded. CHROs and their teams are expected to be at the forefront to lead the workforce transformation and help leaders achieve their ambitious agendas, through fit-for-purpose people strategies and matching HR capabilities.”

Download the publication here.

Media Contacts:
Eric Gregoire - gregoire.eric@bcg.com
Angela Attah - WFPMAsecretariat@cipd.co.uk

About the WFPMA

The WFPMA is a global network of professionals in people management,  founded in 1976 to aid the development and improve the effectiveness of professional people management all over the world. Its members are predominantly the regional federations which are made up of more than 90 national human resource associations representing over 550,000 people management professionals.

The World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA) is an organization representing more than 550,000 people management professionals in over 90 national personnel associations around the world.

ボストン コンサルティング グループ(BCG)

BCGは、ビジネスや社会のリーダーとともに戦略課題の解決や成長機会の実現に取り組んでいます。BCGは1963年に戦略コンサルティングのパイオニアとして創設されました。今日私たちは、クライアントとの緊密な協働を通じてすべてのステークホルダーに利益をもたらすことをめざす変革アプローチにより、組織力の向上、持続的な競争優位性構築、社会への貢献を後押ししています。

BCGのグローバルで多様性に富むチームは、産業や経営トピックに関する深い専門知識と、現状を問い直し企業変革を促進するためのさまざまな洞察を基にクライアントを支援しています。最先端のマネジメントコンサルティング、テクノロジーとデザイン、デジタルベンチャーなどの機能によりソリューションを提供します。経営トップから現場に至るまで、BCGならではの協働を通じ、組織に大きなインパクトを生み出すとともにより良き社会をつくるお手伝いをしています。

日本では、1966年に世界第2の拠点として東京に、2003年に名古屋、2020年に大阪、京都、2022年には福岡にオフィスを設立しました。