'The reality is: AI is already here. And the people implications and risk are huge'

As part of a 'new reality', Cheltenham-based HR People Support is helping Gloucestershire's HR teams and business leaders to implement the people side of AI safely, so their organisations can keep pace with change.

With a background spanning training, business management and human resources, SoGlos spoke to founder, Sarah Harris, to find out how to use AI in HR and why her team of eight CIPD qualified HR professionals are offering this service.

Sarah, why did you decide now is the right time to implement AI support services for your clients?

As a business, we’ve had a watching brief on AI for some time, just as we did when GDPR came in or when social media started impacting workplace policies and communications. Part of our role is to track emerging changes like this and work out what they really mean for our clients in practice.

We’ve spent the last year quietly reviewing our own position. Not just how we might use AI to improve processes or spot patterns in data, but what it means for us as a consultancy that supports people and culture.

At the same time, we were seeing that our clients were at very different stages. Some had already started exploring tools. Others weren’t sure what was already in use across their teams. A few, I think would admit that they were quietly hoping it might all go away! But the reality is: AI is already here. And the people implications and risk are huge.

We’re at a point now where there’s enough evidence, including plenty of data, to show that in many businesses, employees are using AI tools at work, often without managers realising. So now feels like exactly the right time for businesses to take control. Not in a restrictive way, but hopefully in a proactive one.

It’s about setting the tone. Being clear on what fits your business, your values and your culture, before someone else makes that decision on your behalf.

Can you explain the new services HR People Support offers and how this benefits clients?

What’s important to say is that our service hasn’t changed. We’re still doing what we’ve always done – giving businesses HR peace of mind.

What has changed is the technical world around us. Just as we’ve adapted to support new employment regulations, GDPR, the rise of social media, we’re now adapting to the reality of AI in the workplace.

Our role is to help clients stay informed, stay compliant and keep people at the centre of their business. So, while our offer remains the same, the expertise we bring now includes helping businesses understand and respond to the impact of AI, particularly where it affects people, culture, processes and compliance.

That includes:

• Helping clients shape their stance on AI
• Reviewing or introducing policies that reflect that stance
• Supporting training for line managers and teams, supporting change
• And offering support and assistance to think through the risks and opportunities before tech is rolled out

We’re having more focused conversations around AI tools and enablement right now, but this is part of a bigger picture. The landscape keeps changing. Our job is to stay ahead of it and support our clients to do the same.

What are the most common problems your clients want AI to solve?

At the simplest level, clients want to make work easier and more efficient. That might mean speeding up customer responses, cutting down admin, removing repetitive tasks or getting quicker access to data.

But once we start the conversation, it’s rarely just about saving time. It quickly becomes about visibility and control. Who’s checking the output? What data is being accessed? Could the tool be introducing risks we haven’t thought about yet?

We’ve found that many businesses are ambitious, but cautious. They want to use AI well not just because it’s new or exciting, but because they want to build stronger, smarter businesses without compromising on other areas.

Typically, AI conversations fall into one or more of three areas:

1. Process efficiency – improving internal operations, cutting out manual tasks or reducing reliance on junior admin.
2. Revenue generation – using AI to enhance services or products, free up capacity or deliver value to clients in new ways.
3. Leveraging data – getting more from the data they already hold, using it to guide decisions or explore new opportunities.

But interestingly, we also see businesses who are exploring AI simply because they feel like they should. In some cases, someone at board level has been tasked with 'doing something with AI', without a clear business case. 

That pressure to act, just to keep up, is very real. And it’s exactly why we’re helping businesses pause, think it through and make intentional plans for how to support the enablement.

Can you share any recent success stories?

We’re working closely at board level with a few clients who are actively reviewing their approach to AI, whether that’s tightening up on how data is used, putting the right boundaries in place or deciding what role AI should play in their business.

We're supporting clients to get clear on how they want to use AI, how to protect their data and people in the process and how to bring that thinking into line with their wider values and culture.

That said, one of the biggest successes we’ve seen so far has come from the open discussions we’ve facilitated through our roundtable series. At our first session, the biggest breakthroughs didn’t come from slides, they came from peers around the room saying, 'We tried this' or 'That’s where we got stuck.'

People are learning just as much from each other as they are from experts. The pace of change means traditional advice alone isn’t enough, it’s the real-world examples, tool comparisons and honest discussions that are helping businesses move forward.

And that’s exactly why we’re running these sessions, to engineer those conversations, create a bit of headspace and help businesses feel confident that they’re not the only ones figuring these things out.

How do you respond to ideas that AI could ‘dehumanise’ the workplace?

It’s an interesting question and one we hear a lot. There’s been some catastrophising around robots taking all our jobs. But when you take a step back and look at it from a people-first point of view, which is always how we approach things, the picture is a bit more balanced.

Yes, AI is developing fast. The capabilities are impressive and growing by the day. And yes, it will absolutely change workplaces, just as the internet did all those years ago. That change is already happening.

But will it dehumanise the workplace? No, not if it’s managed properly. Some roles may naturally disappear over time, as new tools automate tasks that were once manual. But at the same time, I suspect that new roles will emerge such as AI officers, just as they always have when technology evolves.

AI still lacks a huge amount of what makes humans human - judgement, emotional intelligence, ethical reasoning, creativity, context etc. Tools are powerful, but they’re not people. And they’re certainly not ready to replace people.

So no, I really don’t think we’re heading for a workplace with no human input. But we are heading for one where the human input becomes even more valuable, because people will be needed to guide, challenge and give meaning to what AI delivers.

Do you think AI will ever fully replace certain HR functions, or will it simply act in a supportive role?

I think AI will replace most repetitive tasks, but not the core of what HR does.

It can save time and improve consistency in areas that are often admin heavy such as recruitment processes, CV sifting, supporting workflows etc.

But HR isn’t just about tasks. It’s about human people, the difficult conversations, the culture-building, the moments where context and human empathy matters. Those things can’t be automated. Not now and probably not ever.

AI might support businesses and decision-making, but it won’t ever fully understand nuance, or what’s going on beneath the surface. That’s still where HR adds real value.

So, I think AI will sit alongside HR, as a tool. But it won’t take over from the human judgement, empathy and common sense that businesses rely on, especially when things get complex, we are all human after all!

For more information about how HR People Support can help businesses with AI, visit hrpeoplesupport.co.uk/ai-and-hr-the-new-reality.