{"id":661216,"date":"2026-10-21T08:12:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T08:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/661216\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T08:12:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T08:12:18","slug":"hr-bosses-predict-ai-will-not-cause-significant-reduction-in-employee-numbers-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/661216\/","title":{"rendered":"HR bosses predict AI will not cause \u2018significant reduction\u2019 in employee numbers \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The supposed impact of artificial intelligence<\/a> (AI) on employment practices and headcount figures is yet to be noticed by Irish human resources (HR) bosses, with only 4 per cent expecting a \u201csignificant reduction\u201d in employee numbers within the next three years, research reveals.<\/p>\n

A quarter of HR professionals in Ireland indicated that AI should have \u201cminimal impact\u201d on their workplace structures, according to a national survey by business group Ibec<\/a>. One in three foresaw little to no change in employee headcount, albeit with a \u201csignificant redesign of existing roles and responsibilities\u201d. <\/p>\n

Only 3 per cent of respondents expect an increase in employee numbers due to the integration of AI-specialised roles within their organisation. <\/p>\n

Aside from AI\u2019s impact on those already employed, the survey of 325 HR leaders provided insight on the recruitment process itself: 30 per cent of respondents said AI integration was \u201cnot at all\u201d driving a shift from an experience-based competency assessment to a skills-based talent strategy.<\/p>\n

A further 34 per cent pointed to only \u201cminor changes or experimentation\u201d with its hiring process as a result of AI, while 17 per cent named \u201cmoderate changes\u201d such as individualised departmental approach.<\/p>\n

HR leaders listed a number of barriers to full adoption of AI services, with 55 per cent of respondents naming \u201cdata privacy and security\u201d as their primary concern. This was a seven percentage point decrease from last year\u2019s finding.<\/p>\n

The survey recorded a 13 percentage point drop in the proportion of respondents who pointed to a \u201clack of internal knowledge or skills\u201d as a factor preventing them from fully embracing the new technology, down from 65 per cent in 2025 to 52 per cent this year.<\/p>\n

\"\"Microsoft president Brad Smith: Ireland is \u201cwell-positioned for future of AI\u201d<\/p>\n

Maeve McElwee, Ibec\u2019s executive director for employer relations, said: \u201cUnsurprisingly, AI and workforce transition remain front and centre of HR operations, given the scale of organisational change under way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, there is genuine confidence that while some roles may change, the narrative of job displacement does not currently reflect what HR leaders are seeing. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are seeing from the feedback is that the challenge for businesses lies in gaining a better understanding of how they capture and measure the productivity benefits of AI across their business operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly one in five (19 per cent) of survey respondents said they \u201cdo not anticipate AI driving significant value\u201d in their HR departments within the 18 months. Three-fifths said it would improve \u201cHR operations efficiency\u201d such as automating administrative workflows, managing contracts and taking meeting minutes. <\/p>\n

More than a third of respondents (36 per cent) expected AI practices to improve operational efficiency for \u201ctalent acquisition\u201d such as reducing the amount of time it takes to recruit a new employee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The supposed impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on employment practices and headcount figures is yet to be noticed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[220,218,219,4105,61,60,80,1962],"class_list":["post-661216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ibec","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}