By Linda Duffy, President, Ethos Human Capital Solutions
As AI reshapes HR, the question isn’t whether to use it, but where. A new book on AI agents helped me put words to something I see with clients every week.
I’ve been a Tony Robbins follower for years. You probably know him from his old infomercials, or think of him as the big guy with a long face. I see him as a brilliant peak-performance strategist who understands people better than anyone I’ve ever met.
I completed his Mastery University in 2000 and attended his Leadership Academy in 2005. For the past 21 years, I’ve been on the other side of it, supporting other attendees as they progress through the events. Last month I did this at Business Mastery as a Senior Leader.
Tony brings in expert speakers on a variety of business topics, so it’s no surprise AI was on the agenda, and that Tony has jumped into the AI universe with both feet. When I got my hands on an advance copy of his upcoming book with Lior Weinstein, The Agent Advantage, I dove in with enthusiasm.
One question stopped me in my tracks.
Where Are We Paying Humans to Do Robot Work?
I read that and immediately thought of every client who’s told me their best person is drowning. They aren’t drowning in the hard problems. They’re drowning in busywork nobody thought to hand off.
Think about your best employee. How much of her week is spent actually doing the work you hired her for: solving problems, talking to customers, coaching someone through a rough patch, or making a judgment call no one else could make? Now think about how much of it goes to retyping the same numbers into two systems, chasing a signature, or formatting a report no one reads carefully.
That second pile of work probably does need to get done. It just doesn’t need to be done by her. This is where AI tools for HR and general business automation earn their keep.
Not Everything Should Be Automated: HR “No-Go Zones”
Here’s where the book earns its keep, and where I’d push it even further, working in human resources the way I do.
Robbins and Weinstein describe “No-Go Zones”: work that must remain human because it runs on judgment, empathy, trust, or plain presence. I’d argue that most of HR lives right at that waterline. The mechanical part is what’s visible above the surface. The part that actually matters is underneath, and you don’t feel the difference until you’re in over your head.
We see this play out with clients all the time. Recently, one came to us worried they had miscalculated overtime for a year and terrified of what it meant. Running the numbers and fixing the calculation was the easy, mechanical part of that wage-and-hour compliance problem. Any tool can do the math. The harder part was sitting across from a scared business owner who thought this made her a bad boss, and telling her it didn’t. That conversation is the real job.
AI can draft a termination letter or find the right words for a condolence note to someone who just lost a parent. But it shouldn’t be in the room for either. Just because something can be automated doesn’t mean it should be, and HR deals with people’s emotions more than almost any other business function. These moments require The Magic of Human Connection®.
How to Decide What to Automate: A 4-Step Process Map
You don’t need a consultant to start. You need one process and a little honesty.
- Pick one recurring process. Choose something your team does weekly or monthly, like onboarding a new hire, running payroll, or processing time-off requests.
- Map every step. Write down every handoff, spreadsheet, approval, and email, from start to finish.
- Ask two questions about each step. First: does this require a human? Second: even if it doesn’t, would anything important be lost if humans disappeared?
- Sort each step into one of three piles.
Here’s how the three piles tend to look in HR:
- Automate: work technology can handle. Payroll calculations, scheduling, data entry between systems, and report formatting.
- Assist: work where AI helps a person. Drafting job descriptions, summarizing policy changes, preparing a first draft of an employee handbook update, or flagging possible overtime errors for a person to review.
- Keep human: work that should remain unapologetically human. Terminations, sensitive conversations, conflict resolution, and anything where someone needs to feel heard.
Most people are surprised by how much lands in the first two piles, and by how clear the third one becomes once they’ve done the exercise.
Better People, Not Fewer: The Future of AI in HR
The goal was never to have fewer people. It’s about freeing people to do the work that actually needs them.
I think the businesses that win in the next few years won’t be the ones using the most AI. They’ll be the ones who know exactly where to use it, where not to, and where a person still has to show up and make all the difference.
Frequently Asked Questions About AI in HR
Can AI replace HR?
No. AI can handle calculations, scheduling, and first drafts, but HR runs on judgment, empathy, and trust. Those are the parts of the job that matter most, and they need a person.
What HR tasks can be automated?
Mechanical, rules-based work is the best candidate: payroll math, scheduling, document formatting, and moving data between systems.
What HR tasks should stay human?
Terminations, sensitive conversations, conflict resolution, and any moment where someone is scared, grieving, or upset. AI can help you prepare, but a person should be in the room.
How do I decide what to automate in my business?
Start with the four-step process map above. Pick one process, map it, ask whether it requires a human, and sort each step into automate, assist, or keep human.
Find Where the Line Sits in Your Business
At Ethos Human Capital Solutions, we’re The People Problem Solver®. That’s most of what we do: helping people figure out that line, with no judgment about wherever they’re starting from. If you’re wrestling with where AI belongs in your HR, schedule a consultation with our HR team.
Related reading: HR compliance support for small businesses | Payroll and wage and hour services