How will the role of the IR professional change as AI becomes embedded in workforce planning, employee relations, productivity management and decision-making? What capabilities will the next generation of IR leaders need?
PM I don’t think that AI will make the IR professionals less relevant; rather, it will make the role more strategic. Traditionally, IR used to be only about settlements, resolving disputes, ensuring compliance and maintaining workplace stability. As AI becomes embedded in workforce planning, productivity management and decision-making, the IR professionals will increasingly become the bridge between technology, business objectives and the human workforce.
I have seen this transition even in collective bargaining. In earlier negotiations on a union’s Charter of Demands, management and unions would discuss only wage increasesand gradually, negotiations evolved towards productivity-linked wage increases and then towards cost neutralization-where management agreed to an increase on the condition that it did...
