January 30, 2026
ADP Considers the Role of AI for HR and the Employee Experience
Artificial intelligence is inevitable for all areas of the business or office, from supply chains to all-remote tech firms, and any business with HR will need to adapt. A new report from payroll and human capital giant ADP shows where AI will fit in across the HR department.
The HR Trends and Priorities Guidebook for 2026 makes it clear that “A new era is upon us, one that’s intelligent, interconnected and human-centric. This reality is being driven by advances in AI that transform how work gets done. At the same time, people continue to expect organizations to prioritize well-being, fairness and trust.”
From quiet quitting to new trends like lily padding, employees are responding to multiple threats and challenges in their office and personal lives that HR should consider to maintain productivity and office harmony. From glossy schemes like Rolls-Royce’s new employer brand Infinite Potential, to some humanity around mass layoffs, there’s plenty to learn as AI plays a greater role.
The Rise of AI
The 30-page report covers HR trends from ADP’s surveys along with from a smattering of statistics, noting that “Excitement toward AI increases respective to company size, with 66% of large organizations saying they’re extremely excited about the opportunities AI presents, compared to 47% of midsized organizations and 33% of small organizations.”
While two-thirds of midsized and large organizations face obstacles and challenges in providing skills development opportunities for employees.
“We’re still in the early days of understanding AI’s full impact and potential. Expecting immediate, massive productivity gains simply because employees have access to AI tools
risks creating unrealistic pressures on both the technology and, more importantly, your people.” states Jason Delserro, Division Vice President, Human Resources, ADP
Nailing the Integration of HR and IT
As for practical, steps, stated priorities from the report include:
- Establish shared strategic goals and alignment between HR and IT, as well as joint governance for data, AI and security decisions.
- Standardize integrations across HR, payroll and enterprise systems.
- Build shared accountability for the employee experience and digital tools.
- Use platforms with APIs and analytics that integrate HR and IT priorities.
- Upskill people and systems by building AI literacy and knowledge to maintain and evolve existing infrastructure.
HR teams will likely take a pragmatic approach to AI, as it filters into talent platforms, engagement and incentive tools, and workforce management applications.
According to 2025 research, HR teams were perceived as slow to adopt new tech. But now, HR is leading the charge in innovation. In the “AI at Work Report and the Evolution of HR” report, 74% of U.S.-based HR leaders believe they’re adopting AI more quickly than other departments.
Into 2026 and beyond that pace should pick up as operators find more AI tools within their software feature sets, and adoption feels less risky, with AI pretty much everywhere.
