HR is at a crossroads. We’ve survived a global pandemic, the Great Resignation, and now we’re staring down the AI revolution. And yet, for all this talk of change, HR is still operating within the same tired systems—just with shinier tech and more engagement surveys.
Here’s the problem:
We’re optimising a system that was never fit for purpose in the first place.
Instead of asking, “How can HR be better?” we should be asking, “Does HR even make sense anymore?”
We have two choices:
1️⃣ We keep tweaking, optimising, and rebranding the same old processes.
2️⃣ We rip up the rulebook and design something that actually works for people and businesses.
If we’re serious about the future of work, it’s time to stop managing employees and start designing experiences people actually want.
HR isn’t changing, it’s being optimised out of existence
AI isn’t coming for HR’s job—it’s coming for all the repetitive, admin-heavy, low-value work that HR has been saddled with for years.
And that’s a good thing.
“Now, the real problem there though, there’s gonna be lots of time and space. You all of a sudden have, once artificial intelligence and automation has taken that work from you.”
The real opportunity here isn’t in automating HR—it’s in asking what HR should be when all the admin is gone.
And if the answer is “compliance, policies, and processes,” then HR is dead.
But if the answer is product design, experience building, and people enablement, then HR is about to become more powerful than ever.
The problem? Most HR teams are still thinking inside the same old box.
Stop tweaking HR—start designing employee experiences
HR has spent the last decade talking about employee experience.
But let’s be honest: most of what’s branded as “employee experience” is just HR with better fonts.
🔹 Rebranding performance management as “career development” doesn’t make it more human.
🔹 Adding more engagement surveys doesn’t mean you’re actually listening.
🔹 Flexible working doesn’t automatically make work better.
The issue isn’t that we need to optimise HR. It’s that we need to rethink it entirely.
“As long as you get the right people and you get the right platform, social learning will happen.”
So instead of looking at HR teams, let’s look at the functions that are already creating amazing experiences:
👀 Marketing – They don’t just build a product and expect people to show up. They create demand, tell a compelling story, and keep customers engaged. Why isn’t HR doing the same for employees?
🎯 Product Design – They don’t just improve what exists; they create things people love. What if HR started designing actual employee experiences instead of just tweaking policies?
💡 Customer Success – They don’t leave customers to figure things out alone. They proactively help people get the best experience possible. What if HR worked like a customer success team for employees?
It’s not about fixing HR. It’s about building something better.
Stop trying to “retain” employees—let them go
Here’s an uncomfortable truth:
Employees will leave your company, no matter what you do.
Engagement strategies, career pathing, retention bonuses—it doesn’t matter. People don’t stay in jobs forever anymore.
And that’s not a problem—it’s a fact.
“They are a hundred percent going to leave. Don’t try and fight attrition. It’s impossible.”
So instead of obsessing over how to make people stay, HR should be asking:
✅ How do we make people’s time with us as valuable as possible?
✅ How do we ensure they leave as advocates, customers, or even future employees?
✅ How do we design an experience that makes people want to stay longer—without forcing them?
This is what I call Mutual Lifetime Value—the idea that a company’s relationship with an employee doesn’t end on their last day.
If we build this right, people will:
🔄 Come back later as boomerang hires
🗣️ Refer great talent
💰 Become customers, partners, or advocates
That’s the real ROI of HR.
HR is broken—so what comes next?
HR, as it exists today, isn’t fit for purpose.
The future of HR isn’t HR at all—it’s something completely different:
🔹 Product design – Creating services and systems that employees actually want to engage with.
🔹 Marketing – Treating employee experience like a brand, with storytelling and engagement at the core.
🔹 Sales (Recruitment) – Building networks of future talent, not just posting job ads.
🔹 Customer success – Helping employees get the best possible experience and outcomes from their time with us.
📢 “HR, as the great man said himself, roads where we are going, we don’t need roads. HR, where we going? We really don’t need HR.”
HR isn’t dying—it’s evolving.
The only question is: are we going to be the ones to shape it, or will we let someone else do it for us?
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