HR Technology Statistics 2026

In the sample of 1,908 HR professionals, 39% currently have AI adopted in their HR functions and 7% intend to launch AI in their functions this year.

Another 23% have AI launched elsewhere in their organizations, so that a total of 62% are currently using AI somewhere in their organizations.

Across the sample, almost a third of respondents (31%) are in organizations without plans to launch AI initiatives.

HR professionals reported that AI tools and technologies in HR are most common in the practice areas of recruiting (27%), HR technology (21%), learning and development (17%), and employee experience (14%).

Most extra-large organizations (60%) have implemented AI tools and technologies in their HR functions, while only 33% of small and 35% of midsize organizations indicated that they have.

About half of organizations that currently use or are about to pilot AI (49%) have policies to regulate AI use among their workforces.

However, 54% reported that their policies are too restrictive and specific to currently available AI tools and technologies and 23% reported that their organizations’ policies are too broad.

HR professionals at organizations where AI has been deployed reported that AI implementation has led to slight job displacement (cited by 7%), some new jobs or roles (24%), shifts in workers’ job responsibilities (39%), and frequent upskilling or reskilling opportunities for employees (57%).

In 2025, 17% of small enterprises, 30.36% of medium enterprises and 55.03% of large enterprises used AI.

In 2025, 19.95% of EU enterprises used AI technologies.

More than half are exploring how to use AI to help compensation planning, design, and/or management, but only 16% are currently using it.

With 65% of businesses already utilizing AI, the technology is quickly becoming a staple in core functions like customer support (64%), finance and accounting (42%), and HR (50%).

Anticipated acceleration of AI investment in people operations and functions: 72% of small businesses plan to invest at least $1,000 in AI in the next year, with 53% directing funds toward HR – the top investment area.

Data security & privacy remain a common concern: 54% of businesses cite data privacy and security as a primary challenge to AI adoption, with 45% of those respondents citing concerns about how technology companies use their data, and 17% stating they do not trust technology companies with their data.

Of the survey respondents using AI today, 66% report increased productivity , and many cite cost savings (44%), revenue growth (40%), improved recruiting (35%), higher employee satisfaction (34%), and improved customer acquisition (34%) as key benefits.

AI is only as good as its data: Nearly one in five (18%) of respondents using AI today said they have faced difficulties due to poor data quality. Moreover, 53% state that accurate data would enhance their trust in AI tools, emphasizing the strong relationship between data integrity and AI adoption.

Adoption is accelerating: 24% of leaders say their companies have already deployed AI organization-wide, while just 12% remain in pilot mode.

The Gartner survey found 79% of HR leaders believe HR should focus on enabling and motivating employees to leverage technology in ways that promote organizational growth.

Only 14% of organizations reported providing support to managers on how to integrate generative AI (GenAI) into their daily tasks, according to an August 2025 Gartner survey of 114 HR Leaders.

The share of employers expecting AI-related policy changes to impact their businesses in the year ahead has doubled from 2025 (42%) to 2026 (84%).

The same survey found that 62% of employees say AI has saved them time, with those in AI-relevant roles saving an average of 1.5 hours per day.

Only 7% of organizations provide guidelines to employees on how to use time saved by AI, according to a Gartner July 2025 survey of 114 HR leaders.

A July 2025 Gartner survey of 2,986 employees found that 77% take AI training when it’s offered, and 65% say they are excited to use AI for work.

Yet, technology replacement of work tasks has increased inefficiencies – 38% of employees reported that they’ve had to create new processes due to technology and 41% reported they have to work around formal processes.

Key findings include: Nearly 40% of AI time savings are lost to rework, including correcting errors, rewriting content, and verifying outputs from one-size-fits-all AI tools.

While 85% of employees report saving one to seven hours per week using AI, much of that time is offset by rework on low‑quality AI‑generated content – creating a false sense of productivity and ROI.

Only 14% of employees consistently get clear, positive net outcomes from AI.

Jobs haven't kept up with AI: In most organizations (89%), fewer than half of roles have been updated to reflect AI capabilities.

In May 2026, 65% of employees working in organizations that have implemented AI said it has had a positive effect on their productivity and efficiency .

Only 10% indicate that AI has decreased hiring in the last 12 months due to automation; 11% said they’ve increased hiring due to new technology roles

employees who reported using AI at work at least a few times a year increased from 40% to 45% between the second and third quarters of 2025.

Frequent use (a few times a week or more) grew from 19% to 23%, while daily use moved less, ticking up from 8% to 10% during the same period.

In Q3 2025, 37% of employees said their organization has implemented AI technology to improve productivity, efficiency and quality. Forty percent said their organization had not, and 23% said they did not know.

As of Q2 2026, Gallup data show that 51% of leaders use AI frequently, up from 17% in 2023, compared with an increase from 15% to 36% among managers and from 9% to 26% among individual contributors.

Yet in 2026, only 36% of employees in AI-integrating organizations strongly agree that their manager actively supports their team’s use of AI.

Among people who use AI tools every day, 30 percent were fully engaged at work. But for workers who never use AI, engagement was less than half that, at 14 percent.

Only 11 percent of daily AI users were overloaded, compared to 23 percent of non-adopters.

According to a Gartner survey of 2,986 employees in July 2025, 37% of employees do not use AI even though they can because their co-workers are not using it.

38% of employed adults report using chatbots for tasks at work.

Mobile tools are important to 70%, but only 53% are satisfied with what they have access to.

Control over work schedule is important to 72% of employees (or respondents), but only 51% are satisfied with the level of control they receive.

Retention : More than three-quarters (77%) of frontline workers say access to on-demand pay sways their decision between two competitive job offers.

In a September 2026 survey of 6,000 full-time employees, 79% of workers said they know what skills they need to succeed, but only 66% said their employer actually helps them develop those skills — a 13-point gap between what employees know they need and the support they're getting.

It’s no surprise that nearly half of employees (48% )—and more than half of leaders (52% )—say their work feels chaotic and fragmented.

Fiscal 2027 Second Quarter Results Total revenues were $2.649 billion, an increase of 12.8% from the second quarter of fiscal 2026.

Subscription revenues were $2.471 billion, an increase of 13.9% from the same period last year.

We had a strong Q2, with AI driving more than 25% of our new ACV and more than 5,500 customers now using at least one of our organic agents," said Aneel Bhusri, co-founder, CEO, and chair, Workday.

1 12-month subscription revenue backlog was $9.034 billion, up 14.2% from the same period last year.

Total Revenues of $531.2 million represented a 9.8% increase compared to total revenues of $483.6 million in the same period last year.

Recurring and other revenues of $505.2 million increased 11.0% from the comparable prior year period and constituted 95.1% of total revenues.

The median annual wage for human resources specialists was $75,940 in May 2025.

About 73,700 openings for human resources specialists are projected each year, on average, over the decade.

The median annual wage for human resources managers was $149,280 in May 2025.

Employment of human resources managers is projected to grow 6 percent from 2025 to 2035, faster than the average for all occupations.