The Download: HR Technology Trends, May 2026
Key HR technology shifts influencing productivity, culture, and training.
SHRM editors sourced the web for the top HR technology news items, and these are what caught our attention. Give these finds a read, so you can incorporate them into your HR strategy.
1. AI Is Making the Workplace More Productive — and Less Social
The Download: As employees turn to AI assistants for quick answers, day-to-day reliance on colleagues is dropping, cutting routine interactions that once built trust and alignment.
Reporting from Business Insider details how heavy individual AI use can lead to lower team cohesion, weaker coordination, and greater burnout risk.
The Upload: Has overreliance on AI led to less social interaction in your organization? HR should consider how an organization’s approach to AI can reinforce human touchpoints that sustain both performance and company culture.
2. Technology Usually Creates Jobs for Young, Skilled Workers. Will AI Do the Same?
The Download: History has shown that when technology creates new lines of work, the opportunities to fill those new jobs skew toward college-educated workers under 30. With AI, that pattern may change.
New research from an MIT labor economist dives deep into how tech creates new jobs, who gets them, and how well they might pay as AI continues to dominate.
The Upload: Does your organization have clear pathways for emerging and high-skilled talent in the age of AI? HR has a major role to play in developing skills pathways, apprenticeships, and internal mobility so emerging roles become accessible across the workforce.
3. AI Beyond Silicon Valley: 37% of Hourly Workers Already See AI on the Job
The Download: About 60 million hourly workers — accounting for roughly 15% of U.S. GDP — report new AI or automation on the job, yet most say they have not received adequate training to make the most of it.
According to new research from PYMNTS Intelligence, confidence among hourly workers when it comes to AI is low, signaling a readiness gap on the front lines.
The Upload: How does your organization approach AI skill development for employees? Whether employees are salaried or hourly, it’s important that HR pairs AI deployment with thorough training, so organizations can reduce anxiety and improve adoption as automation scales.
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