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As our team gears up for the HR Technology Conference in Las Vegas this October, we’ve been busy talking with some of the innovative providers of platforms and systems in the industry. Across our research, Awards programs, regular briefing schedule, and more, we talk with nearly 300 companies a year across the HR tech space. But there’s always a gravity in the fall when we attend this event and speak with 50+ in just a few days onsite.

I once watched a leader walk into a team meeting after a particularly difficult quarter. The numbers were not where they needed to be, the team was tired, and frustration had begun to affect the way people were working together. Everyone in the room expected the conversation to begin with the missed goals, the performance gaps, and what needed to change. Instead, the leader started with the people.

The results are in. After multiple real-world experiments, we’ve seen that the future of work is a human one. Companies are going all-in on AI and are losing millions of dollars because they do it the wrong way. Here are some real examples from Ford, Klarna, and IBM. Company Workers Replaced The Problem / Result The Outcome Klarna ~700 customer service agents Pushed too aggressively for cost savings over quality.