The Future of HR: Five Human Advantages AI Can’t Replace

As the host of the Tomorrowist podcast from SHRM, I engage in thoughtful and insightful conversations with today’s leaders shaping the future of work. Attending SHRM25 in San Diego gave me the unique opportunity to not only have these conversations in person for the podcast, but also sit in the audience and walk the hallways learning alongside HR professionals building that future together.

Yes, artificial intelligence was the focus of conversations both on stage and off. But what struck me most was how many leaders are looking beyond these tools to ask how we protect and center what makes us human — including connection, trust, and belonging — in the age of automation.

Here are five highlights from SHRM25 that showcase how business leaders can gain a real competitive advantage by rethinking how HR can drive meaningful impact, led by strategies that are rooted in the human elements of the future of work that technology alone cannot address.

Belonging as Infrastructure

Keynote Speaker Joey Avilés’ session “Beyond Belonging: How to Find, Build, and Create Your Place in the World” clarified a critical business challenge for me. People are turning to ChatGPT for meaning, therapy, and companionship, which shows a need for connection. What do HR leaders need to do to ensure workers feel seen and heard? 

The data he shared reinforced the urgency. Harvard Business Review research showed that the need for emotional connection is behind many of the leading use cases for generative AI, while a global Workday study across 22 countries identified empathy, emotional intelligence, and cultural adaptability as the most irreplaceable human skills in the age of automation. 

Avilés challenged leaders to stop treating belonging as a checkbox and begin to activate it as strategic infrastructure. Organizations that shift how they treat belonging from merely an initiative to infrastructure will create the kind of environment in which people can be at their best.

Conference: SHRM BLUEPRINT

The ROI of Friendship 

Speaker and Author Shasta Nelson challenged her audience to rethink how they view workplace friendships from distractions to drivers of culture and performance. In her session “Relational Intelligence: Accelerating High-Trust, Resilient, and Rewarding Relationships,” she reminded attendees that they are communal beings, noting how we encourage children in schools to make friends while learning yet somehow abandon this approach in professional settings.

She explained that encouraging friendships at work can have a significant return on investment (ROI). Employees with meaningful work friendships are seven times more likely to be engaged in their work, take fewer sick days, and stay longer, yet 60% of workers feel lonely, representing massive untapped potential in every organization. Connection directly drives performance, rather than competes with it, she said. 

Nelson said the future belongs to leaders who design workplaces as communities of connection — those who create daily moments that build trust and friendship rather than those who rely on occasional team events. These organizations see measurable improvements in collaboration, retention, and innovation. In turn, these intangible benefits lead to measurable business outcomes that benefit the bottom line.

Rituals as an Operating System

In the session “Building Resilient Teams to Combat the ‘Great Gloom,’ ” Keynote Speaker, Coach, and Author Alain Hunkins shared that resilient and high-performing teams don’t just communicate better, they systematize rituals that drive results. 

Hunkins broke down effective workplace rituals into three measurable components: shared meaning, repetition, and emotion. His example of canopy and sign manufacturer TentCraft’s seven-minute daily huddle demonstrated how simple, consistent practices strengthen psychological safety and clarity, leading to faster decision-making and reduced turnover. 

The insight that resonated with me the most was his assertion that future leaders won’t succeed through charisma alone, but by curating shared experiences that create genuine belonging and safety. These experiences, when rooted in meaningful rituals, will result in tangible advantages in speed, trust, and execution. Done consistently over time, these rituals become a fundamental core of the operating system that drives performance and culture.

Supporting Hidden Talent

Sarah Rauzin, director of Meterorite’s Health Action Alliance, led a presentation on chronic conditions titled “Suffering in Silence: The Hidden Costs of Migraine and Chronic Conditions at Work and Tools to Take Action,” revealing a massive opportunity hiding in plain sight. She shared a Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and de Beaumont Foundation study that showed that while 58% of workers have at least one chronic condition, 60% don’t disclose those conditions to their employers due to stigma and fear, creating an environment in which it’s harder for workers to perform at their best.

Her hierarchy of accommodations (from basic self-management tools to universal flexibility) wasn’t focused on simply managing compliance costs but about unlocking human potential. Organizations that create cultures in which people feel safe to disclose health needs benefit from talent, creativity, and loyalty that competitors miss entirely, and they reduce absenteeism and health care costs, too.

During an onsite recording of Tomorrowist at SHRM25, Rauzin shared that there can also be additional long-term benefits, including helping organizations be better prepared to react to and navigate the next pandemic, something she said employers should think of as a “when,” not an “if.” Building a culture of care — not only within the organization but also beyond through workers’ families, local communities, and third places — carries significant benefits for both employees and organizations.

Toolkit: Accommodating Employees’ Disabilities

Growth Requires Friction

During “Easier Isn’t Always Better: How AI Is Reshaping Our Brains and Leadership Potential,” Leadership Strategist and Author Elaine Chung addressed a critical leadership pipeline challenge: As AI eliminates routine tasks, organizations risk weakening the problem-solving skills and personal resilience that exceptional leaders need. She argued that this trend is potentially creating a capability gap just when adaptive leadership is most valuable.

Her framework of the three P’s (plasticity, practice, and playmates) offered a blueprint for using technology to amplify human development rather than replace it. Companies should help people “play to the edge” where personal growth is most likely to occur in order to develop leaders capable of navigating uncertainty and driving innovation, she said.

This strategy is particularly important in organizations that are figuring out how to work with AI, she said. While some organizations will use AI to eliminate all friction, tomorrow-oriented companies will use it to create space for meaningful growth experiences that build the authentic leadership capabilities that technology can’t replicate. Embracing challenges turns human development into a strategic differentiator, she said.

The conversations and lessons from SHRM25 reinforced something I have been exploring through my time hosting Tomorrowist: The future of work will not be defined by technology alone. It will be shaped by how leaders choose to combine human connection with innovation to unlock potential we have never seen before. Those who see HR not just as a support function but as the architects of competitive advantage will define what is possible.

If these ideas resonate with you, I invite you to join in on the conversation and subscribe to Tomorrowist wherever you get your podcasts. The future is being written by those willing to reimagine what work can become when we keep humanity at the center of innovation.

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