Boards are overseeing AI mostly as a productivity question, and few organizations have a settled plan for what the technology does to their workforce. A Deloitte Global survey of 806 board members and C-suite executives in 53 countries, released November 10, found that only 16% say their organization has an established strategy addressing technology transformation’s impact on the workforce.
The rest of the findings show where that gap sits: in the board agenda, in the budget line and in the data directors receive about people. For HR leaders, each of those is a place where the function can supply something the board says it lacks.
What the Deloitte survey measured
The Deloitte Global Boardroom Program ran the survey in June and July 2026. Of the 806 respondents, 83% were board directors and 17% were C-suite executives. They were spread across the Americas (44%), Europe, the Middle East and Africa (37%) and Asia Pacific (19%). Deloitte added in-depth interviews with 15 board chairs and directors.
The headline split is close to even. Fifty-one percent of respondents say they are bringing human capital considerations into boardroom discussions about AI and other emerging technologies. The other 49% say those discussions do not happen consistently. Deloitte’s own reading is that many organizations still treat technology transformation and human capital as separate governance topics.
Productivity leads the agenda
Productivity is the workforce outcome boards discuss most often in connection with technology change, cited by 42% of respondents. Every other workforce outcome trails well behind: attracting and retaining employees (15%), maintaining decision quality and human judgment (10%), employee well-being (9%) and employee trust (6%).
The money shows the same pattern. Forty-nine percent of respondents report limited or no oversight of how technology-transformation investment is split between technology infrastructure and workforce enablement. Only 12% report full oversight with active monitoring and discussion.
The people data directors receive
Directors also doubt the information in front of them. Forty-six percent are concerned about the quality and sufficiency of the data and insights they receive on human capital strategy during technology-enabled transformation. Thirty-eight percent lack confidence that current structures and leadership models, including the HR and IT functions, are equipped for an AI-enabled workforce.
Asked which workforce risks offer the most room for stronger governance, respondents named skills gaps (54%), a lack of data integrity or misinformation (47%) and the loss of human judgment and critical thinking (40%). Nearly two-thirds (62%) said board knowledge and experience is the most important factor in strengthening oversight of these topics.
“The governance challenge extends beyond adding workforce metrics to technology updates,” said Prof. Dr. Arno Probst, leader of the Deloitte Global Boardroom Program. He added that boards should assess whether AI is building the capabilities, accountability and trust needed to sustain value as work is redesigned.
Two other releases from the same day
Deloitte’s numbers come from the boardroom. Two releases issued on November 10 describe the same distance from the employee’s side, using different populations and methods, so the figures should be read side by side and never added together.
Gallup, announcing a joint venture with Silent Partners, said its latest research finds that two in three U.S. employees in organizations that have implemented AI say it has improved their personal productivity, while just 14% strongly agree it has transformed how work gets done. Gallup also found that employees whose managers actively support their team’s use of AI are 8.7 times more likely to strongly agree it has transformed how work gets done.
Visier, releasing its 2027 workforce trends report, cited its earlier research: 48% of employees admit to exaggerating their AI usage or expertise, and 59% say their employer either lacks a clear plan for how AI will affect jobs or that they are unsure whether one exists. The report itself draws on more than 10 million live employee records.
In our reading, the three data sets describe one disconnect seen from two seats. Directors raise productivity far more often than any other workforce outcome, and many doubt the people data they receive. Employees report personal productivity gains, but few see the way work gets done changing, and most cannot point to a plan. Deloitte’s 16% figure for an established workforce strategy and Visier’s 59% figure for employees who see no clear plan are measuring different things, yet they point the same way.
What it means for the HR leader
Deloitte’s report sets out three actions for boards. The first is to embed workforce strategy in AI transformation and challenge management to connect technology plans with changes to roles, skills, operating models and culture. The second is to make culture a regular agenda item and hold management accountable for measures of employee engagement, turnover and trust alongside productivity and efficiency. The third is continuous learning for directors through training, expert input and hands-on experience with the technology.
Each of those lands on HR’s desk, because management will turn to the people function for the role maps, the engagement and turnover figures and the skills data. Lara Abrash, Chair of Deloitte US, put the question boards should be asking in plain terms: “Alongside their oversight of technology, boards should be asking management if employees understand how their work is changing, have a voice in shaping change, and are supported by a culture that helps them evolve and grow.”
Three things an HR leader can prepare before the next board cycle follow directly from the survey:
- A role and skills map for each AI program. For every approved AI initiative, list the roles whose tasks change, the skills those roles will need and the timeline. This is the connection Deloitte’s first recommendation asks management to show, and it builds on the planning work HR already ranks highly, as covered in our look at why workforce planning tops HR’s list.
- Workforce measures next to the productivity figure. Engagement, voluntary turnover and a trust measure, reported on the same page as the productivity numbers for AI-affected teams. Only 6% of respondents said trust comes up in board discussions of technology change, so a single line on it would already be new information for most boards.
- The enablement share of the AI budget. Break out training, manager time and change support from infrastructure and licences, so directors can see the allocation that 49% of respondents say they cannot oversee today.
The Gallup figure on manager support gives HR a reason to put managers at the front of that enablement line. We argued earlier that HR is analyzing AI’s workforce impact without replanning around it. Deloitte’s survey suggests the board will start asking for the replan. HR teams that can hand over the role map, the workforce measures and the enablement split at that point will be answering the question directors say they cannot yet get answered.
Source: Deloitte, PR Newswire. Also drawn from Gallup and Silent Partners and Visier.
