Chief human resources officers (CHROs) will need to deliver the growth and productivity chief executives expect while limiting organisational risk in 2027, according to Gartner.
“As leaders today push their organizations to achieve more, faster, and with less, CHROs must ensure that their workforces are capable of meeting these expectations while simultaneously minimizing risk,” said Mark Whittle, vice-president analyst in Gartner’s HR practice.
Gartner’s first priority is for HR functions to improve “speed to value” rather than simply becoming more efficient. Whittle said many HR teams are trying to keep pace with changing business needs by improving processes, but this makes execution faster without necessarily delivering value sooner. Leading organisations are instead applying product principles to accelerate the right kind of value.
AI accountability remains unclear
The second priority is human accountability for AI. Gartner said enterprise AI agents are not only removing work; they are also escalating ambiguity, judgement and recovery tasks to employees. Yet a July 2026 survey of 297 CHROs found that only 24% of leadership teams are aligned on who should be accountable for AI agents.
Gartner argues that humans must remain the gatekeepers of AI, enforcing organisational values, preserving trust and intervening when required.
The third priority is to concentrate on fewer, more differentiated skills. Gartner’s survey found that 67% of CHROs report rising expectations for employee productivity, even as organisations remove some middle-management layers and hire fewer entry-level employees.
Whittle described this as creating a more “load-bearing” workforce and higher performance risk. He recommended that leaders identify the capabilities that differentiate the business, then focus talent development on the skills that support them.
Organisations should also seek employees with “skills promise”—the willingness and ability to learn from a minimum viable skills foundation—rather than relying solely on existing proficiency.
Leaders must embrace disruption
Gartner’s final priority concerns leadership readiness. A May 2026 survey of 203 chief executives and senior business executives found that 63% are radically redesigning their operating models to accelerate financial returns from AI. However, senior leadership teams are struggling to meet these ambitions because of entrenched working practices, weak team performance and knowledge gaps.
Gartner said HR should help leaders develop “deliberate disruption” as a capability by continuously retiring legacy behaviours and replacing them with ways of working better suited to changing business needs.
