HR professionals are no strangers to change, and the rise of AI has caused a drastic shift in the way that HR teams manage day-to-day work, hiring processes, and employee experience. While these shifts can bring positive opportunities for the ways that teams work, recent insights from HR professionals reveal that AI transformation isn’t without challenges.
Recent data from an Equifax survey of over 350 HR professionals at the SHRM26 Annual Conference gives insights into a workforce landscape shaped by AI adoption, rising candidate misrepresentation, and constantly evolving compliance mandates. While AI and automation can offer new levels of efficiency, they sometimes also make hiring more complicated. Here are three key insights from HR professionals on the front lines, as well as strategies for people leaders to adapt their strategy to better protect organizational integrity and prioritize employee experience.
1. AI is a Double-edged Sword.
As HR teams move beyond experimentation and begin to realize operational benefits from AI, many are seeing the benefits of using technology to help streamline repetitive tasks and improve productivity, with nearly 8 in 10 (78%) of survey respondents reporting that AI is improving hiring and onboarding efficiency. However, over a third (36%) say AI-generated candidate content reduces their confidence in hiring decisions, demonstrating that HR teams are challenged to manage both the efficiency gains of AI and the continued need for human oversight.
To balance these two priorities, HR teams can consider incorporating more reliable, verified data into their hiring processes. Automating verification of a candidate’s previous employment or education can help confirm that a candidate has the experience their resume states and can help eliminate friction in the hiring process for both candidates and hiring teams. This may also free up bandwidth to focus on culture fit and long-term employee engagement.
2. Confidence in Detecting Fabricated Information is Growing.
Although HR teams are seeing efficiency gains from AI, many report that candidate misrepresentation remains a threat. The Equifax survey found that 73% of HR professionals encounter misleading candidate information, with 50% of respondents citing employment history as the most common area of concern. More than one-third (34%) of respondents reported encountering fabricated or misleading information related to credentials, licenses, or education.
As AI-powered tools enable job seekers to more easily update their resumes to match open roles, talent acquisition teams may find it more difficult to discern genuine experience versus fabricated candidate information. However, 69% of HR professionals surveyed expressed confidence in their organization’s ability to detect candidate misrepresentation, up from 63% last year. A closer look at the results reveals a substantial confidence gap, though, as only 24% describe themselves as “very confident.” Compounding the issue, the complexity of hiring fraud is increasing, with Gartner predicting that 1 in 4 candidate profiles worldwide could be fake by 2028.
To increase confidence in their hiring processes, employers can raise the bar on what they’re doing to validate candidate information. Hiring teams can adopt a “trust but verify” operational model to confirm that candidates have the skills and experience needed for the role. In addition to using verified data about education and previous employment, HR teams can better assess competency by probing the context behind resume claims. For example, asking a product manager to walk through how they navigated a specific supply chain delay during a launch allows them to demonstrate how their reported credentials align with their hands-on capabilities.
3. Compliance has become an Always-on Priority for HR Professionals.
A third insight surrounds the challenge of maintaining compliance with ever-changing laws and regulations. The share of HR professionals surveyed who cited maintaining compliance with laws and regulations as a top workforce management challenge rose from 23% to 27% year over year, suggesting that compliance remains a daily imperative.
As organizations continue to use AI and other technology to help streamline repetitive tasks and improve productivity, HR leaders are increasingly focused on ensuring innovation and efficiency is grounded in governance, controls, and data integrity. In addition to overseeing how AI tools are used, HR teams face constant mandates across already existing everyday compliance tasks, such as workforce eligibility and health coverage reporting. To navigate this high-stakes landscape, leaders can consider automating routine compliance tasks, helping free up their teams to focus on more strategic AI governance and employee experience.
Aligning innovation, insights, and integrity
The survey findings highlight an important balance for HR practitioners: although AI can accelerate HR operations, trust and data integrity remain essential. AI and automated verification can be used to help enable human judgment and empower teams to make more informed decisions. Reinvesting the time saved from manual vetting helps HR professionals focus on other higher-impact work, including improving the employee experience and fostering retention.
By pairing modern AI tools with authoritative data verification and continuous governance, HR leaders can better navigate the rest of the year with greater confidence while building workforce strategies that are both more efficient and resilient.
Chris Johnson is Senior Vice President and General Manager of Employer Services at Equifax Workforce Solutions where he leads a business unit focused on providing HR professionals people-driven, data-powered solutions that help make HR compliance easier for employers and help employers focus more on what matters most: their people. A seasoned executive with more than 20 years of experience, Chris has grown innovative businesses in the B2B financial services, technology, and media industries.