Although 86% of organizations plan to increase their investment in artificial intelligence, only 18% are managing to fully leverage the technology and only a third have a talent strategy aligned with AI goals, new report Accenture Talent Reinventors: Delivering value with and for people. Furthermore, only 431TPTP3T of companies invest in employee skills development, highlighting a major gap in the value generated by AI.
Based on a global survey of more than 1,320 C-level executives and 4,560 employees across 20 industries and 12 markets, the report identifies a select group of organizations, the „Talent Reinventors” (18%), that are moving beyond experimentation and achieving measurable impact from AI. These companies are seven times more likely to report improvements in culture, six times more likely to report improvements in employee experience and four times more likely to report improvements in workforce adaptability, while also experiencing revenue growth of 1.8% and profit growth of 1.4% by 2025.
The report highlights several critical challenges that limit the value of AI:
- Talent strategy gap: nearly 701TPTP3T of organizations rely on external or ad-hoc recruitment, only 71TPTP3T use internal AI-driven mobility platforms, and 761TPTP3T of employees say they lack clarity on career path;
- Insufficient training for AI: only 251TPTP3T of executives say learning is integrated into their workflow, 361TPTP3T of employees receive real-time AI recommendations and only 191TPTP3T believe they have the skills to work with AI;
- Burnout risks: 55% of employees experience cognitive overload and 49% are worried about job loss.
In contrast, Talent Reinventors organizations are 7.2 times more likely to prioritize AI-driven internal mobility and 16.5 times more likely to use dynamic skills data, facilitating the transition of employees into relevant roles for the future.
„If AI remains just an investment in technology, without a real investment in people, the value realized will be far below its potential. The difference is companies that help their employees understand and use these tools in their day-to-day work. We are already seeing that organizations that put people at the center of this transformation are the ones that grow faster and remain competitive”, said Raluca Burghelea - Country Managing Director of Accenture Romania.
The report defines six key characteristics of these organizations: strategic clarity, AI-assisted smart teams, talent mobility, human-AI co-learning, adaptive leadership, and personalized employee experiences.
„The 181TPTP3T of the companies we have identified as Talent Reinventors are succeeding in generating greater value from AI by redefining how work is done and how people develop their skills alongside technology. This change requires an evolution of leadership and the integration of continuous learning throughout the organization. When investments in technology are matched by investments in people, organizations build more engaged teams, develop competencies faster and gain the confidence needed to navigate the changes driven by AI,” added Karalee Close - Global Lead, Talent & Organization, Accenture.