As AI becomes increasingly central to business, HR leaders in Canada are considering again how to build and retain strong teams. According to a McKinsey Global Institute study, 375 million workers worldwide may need to change jobs because of automation and AI by 2030.
In the specific case of Canada, productivity is slowing as labor shortages persist. Urgent adaptation to new technologies is highly essential.
The reality goes beyond reports. It is lived in the everyday worker who, after years or even decades of excellent performance, suddenly finds their core tasks automated.
In a context of high turnover, disengagement, and skill gaps, Canadian HR teams are under considerable pressure, as they face a clear challenge: keeping up with the pace in the workplace at a rate of change they do not control. How can they live up to the challenge?
Moving beyond credentials to capability will be essential to HR teams over the next year. Traditionally, the predominant criteria for recruitment were based on degrees. However, the quick pace of technology is changing the panorama. In fact, it is expected that by 2027, almost 44% of workers’ skills will be out of date, according to the World Economic Forum.
Shifting strategy from traditional degrees to verifiable, job-ready skills is not only important but necessary. For this purpose, HR teams can focus on implementing a skills taxonomy framework – a structured classification system that organizes a company’s skills into categories and subcategories.
More than a static list, a skills taxonomy can be a living system that reflects the organization’s skills, allowing for the creation of a common language for competencies, from broad areas to specific abilities and task-level analysis.
There is a direct impact on day-to-day operations by standardizing the language for accurate job descriptions, guiding the creation of more targeted L&D based on defined success criteria, and implementing more objective performance management.
Given the growing integration of AI into the workplace, deconstructing jobs is essential at this stage. As a report by Dr. Leslie Thomas from Kryterion, an all-in-one SaaS platform for developing, managing, and delivering high-stakes assessment programs, explains it:
“To effectively integrate AI, businesses will need to deconstruct traditional job roles into their component tasks and associated skills in order to clearly identify opportunities for automation and augmentation for today and in the future.”
Through the deconstruction process, companies can define which tasks are to be performed by humans only, augmented (human + AI), or automated (AI-only). As an alternative to completely and constantly restructuring job roles, this process helps to adapt more efficiently and flexibly.
A notorious example emerged along with the company Prezent, an AI-powered presentation productivity platform. Guided by democratizing excellent business communication, Prezent allows teams to create brand-compliant presentations in a fraction of the time that it usually takes.
Through the augmentation of an otherwise human-only task, companies can direct human effort to higher-value, more complex activities. In the long run, tools like these allow organizations to align more efficiently with rapidly changing business demands.
Having expectation-exceeding workers has long been an HR goal in organizations. However, the definition of high performance seems to be evolving amid the era of AI and changing technology.
A study of publicly listed companies with the most engaged employees found a shared pattern: teams consistently reported higher levels of effective collaboration. In other words, the definition of high-performing teams is increasingly requiring collaborative team dynamics.
According to an updated framework by Microsoft, three main pillars are found in organizations with outperforming employees: productive teams, engaged employees, and resilient businesses.
This is a significant sign for HR teams to look beyond individuals with high potential for creating output. Recruiting should be looking to understand a candidate’s fit in the organization, to measure their capabilities to contribute, and test their adaptability skills.
To achieve a more holistic understanding of candidates, the importance of assessment-driven hiring becomes clear. For instance, psychometric tests are valuable tools that provide valuable insight into how candidates behave, collaborate, and adapt.
Canadian companies like AtmanCo, specialists in ensuring employee fit with organizations through psychometric systems, have reported numerous cases showing how these tests can improve the quality of hires. As Director of Business Development at the company, Nanor Manoukian explains, these can aid in the decision-making process on whether the candidate is a fit for the company and team compatibility: “During the modern hiring process, [psychometric tests] should be used to ask specific questions about the profile, to see if the candidate is the right fit not only for the position, but for the organization, for the team, and even instead of refusing certain candidates to see their potential and keep that in mind for another position.”
By understanding personality, behavior, and intrinsic motivation through this tool, HR teams can boost engagement and team alignment from the hiring process.
When employee turnover costs approximately 140% of salary, when there is little mental health recognition mixed with high-pressure tasks and low boundaries, disengagement is only predictable.
HR teams can reduce the underlying turnover risk if they focus on empowering employees with tangible growth opportunities. Without managing the conditions for a better workplace environment, high turnover is a given outcome.
Upskilling has never been more relevant for workers. While it used to be seen as a perk, it is becoming a necessity for workers, as there are widespread concerns about missing skills and being replaced by AI. As a report from McKinsey explains, companies play a substantial role in their workers’ upskilling path:“Companies may be well situated to work creatively with their employees’ schedules and to offset costs—particularly when the companies themselves stand to benefit from more-skilled workers.”
HR teams have a strategic opportunity to convert learning access into long-term loyalty, reducing anxiety and concerns by recognizing the upskilling motivation as an important career goal.
The report states that certifications, college degrees, licenses, and training are the most common ways to upskill. However, these options are difficult to scale due to their expensive nature, time away from work, and complexity to manage.
For this reason, companies with more scalable options are emerging, such as Alison, which offers courses on new AI tools. This creates a win-win scenario for organizations, where upskilling advances their employees’ careers but also the learning culture of the company.
Nonetheless, in a workplace where AI and mental health issues are prevalent, employees are valuing keeping humans at the center more than ever before.
The growing risk of burnout can be easily masked by a seemingly high-performing employee, which is why HR must shift from reactive support to early detection and prevention.
This is where preventive tools like Kintsugi’s Kay AI voice-powered agent for mental health monitoring or Tenvos AI agent for impairment and fatigue management can reduce the number of incidents.
Solutions like those are essential for supporting HR teams’ role in recognizing mental health conditions, mitigating the risk of invisible burnout, and building ethical support.
AI is changing not just how work is done, but how people create value.
Moving from credentials to skills, from solo work to teamwork, and from reacting to problems to building growth-focused cultures shows a significant shift. HR leaders are leading this change by helping organizations adapt.
However, this change does not mean choosing between efficiency and people. The same technologies that are changing work can also help by making learning more accessible, improving hiring, and identifying risks to engagement and well-being before they lead to turnover or burnout.
In today’s skills-based economy, organizations that learn faster than the world changes will have the edge. HR teams that focus on proven skills, ongoing learning, and people-first systems will keep talent and build strong, prepared teams for the future.
Featured image: Campaign Creators via Unsplash+
Disclosure: This article mentions clients of an Espacio portfolio company.
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