What does it truly mean for HR to lead in an AI-powered world? As intelligent agents begin to influence everything from hiring to employee experience design, what is the role of HR? How can agentic AI support not just individual productivity, but business growth?

 In a recent expert session hosted by People Matters in partnership with Service Now as part of the Future of People & Work week, industry leaders came together to explore how AI agents are enabling HR teams to drive real business impact, foster people-first leadership, and lead organisational growth from the front.

The session titled ‘HR at the Helm: Leading Business Growth with AI Agents,’  brought together Robert Menezes, Head Leader at Standard Chartered Bank, and Shelly Maipi, Head of Performance Management and Employee Engagement at ServiceNow, for a compelling conversation on the evolving synergy between intelligent systems and human capital strategies, moderated by Mint Kang, Senior Editor, People Matters.

Reimagining business growth with AI Agents

AI agents are fast becoming key drivers of business performance, not just operational efficiency. As organisations evolve to meet the demands of a digital-first world, agentic AI is offering HR leaders a strategic edge, accelerating decisions, breaking down silos, and enabling more human-centric leadership at scale.

Recent estimates suggest that generative AI could contribute between $2.4 to $4.4 trillion to the global economy. Organisations are projecting productivity gains of up to 40–60%, underscoring the transformative potential of intelligent systems when fully integrated into core business functions.

“AI and GenAI aren’t just tools anymore, they’re strategic actors in our business ecosystems,” noted Robert Menezes, Head of HR at Standard Chartered Bank. “Leaders who embrace this shift, technologically and culturally, will unlock a new level of agility and decision-making.”

AI also enables HR to deliver hyper-personalised experiences: from onboarding to learning pathways, based on an employee’s role, location, or function. “Whether it’s onboarding or engagement, agentic AI helps tailor workflows to each employee’s context,” added Shelly Maipi from ServiceNow. “That’s the kind of personalisation that drives retention and productivity.”

In a hybrid workforce model where AI agents are part of the headcount, HR’s role is shifting from gatekeeping to orchestration, designing systems that empower both humans and machines to collaborate meaningfully. And this shift demands a new mindset, one that’s not only data-driven but also deeply human.

By embedding intelligent agents into the flow of work, HR isn’t just improving how things get done; it’s actively shaping how businesses grow.

AI and decision-making

As AI systems become more autonomous and embedded into workflows, their ability to guide and even make decisions raises critical questions, not just about efficiency, but about responsibility.

As AI tools grow smarter and more integrated, the temptation to delegate critical judgment grows stronger. “And while that opens new possibilities, it also means we need firm guardrails,” Mint noted.

Shelly Maipi emphasised the need for balance: “Generative AI should free us from mundane work, but it must never replace human judgment. Especially in HR, where decisions impact lives, AI must support, not supplant.”

“What AI does best is process more data than we ever could and surface insights that move HR from reactive to proactive. But the human still decides.”

The future of decision-making isn’t about replacing people, it’s about augmenting leadership with intelligence, speed, and context. But with that comes the need for intent, empathy, and strong ethical guardrails.

Culture, capability, and the confidence to lead with AI

While AI agents are poised to reshape decision-making and service delivery, one truth remains: technology alone doesn’t transform organisations, it’s the people who do. For AI to deliver real value, HR and business leaders must first build the fluency and confidence to understand how it works.

“It's hard to lead what you don’t understand,” noted Robert Menezes, highlighting a key challenge. “Without a working knowledge of how data models are designed, how decisions are tested and validated, leaders will struggle to engage meaningfully with AI. Building that ‘knowledge muscle’ in data, analytics, and agentic systems is foundational.”

This knowledge gap often ties back to culture. Do organisations empower leaders to experiment, take risks, and adopt new tools proactively? Or do they wait until disruption is no longer optional?

According to Shelly Maipi, overcoming resistance starts with action: “Attitudes follow behaviour. The best way to manage change is to get people to start using AI tools even if imperfectly. That’s how you break the barrier.”

The conversation also explored how agentic AI changes the very structure of decision-making in organisations. Unlike traditional tools, these systems don’t just respond, they prompt, recommend, and connect disparate processes. That means breaking through silos isn’t just possible, it’s inevitable.

“Today, there are still humans acting as bridges between systems,” said Shelly. “Agentic AI removes that burden. It enables seamless integration between functions, so HR professionals can shift from being task executors to strategic enablers.”

But as Robert added, system transformation won’t work without cultural readiness: “AI is powerful, but it needs integration across learning, performance, talent, and feedback systems. That’s where organisations need to scale their data journeys, and align the employee experience with the client experience.”

Ultimately, the shift to an AI-powered HR isn’t just about tools; it’s about trust, literacy, and the willingness to lead from the front.

From ROI to Responsible AI: HR’s Strategic Mandate

As AI capabilities grow more embedded across the employee lifecycle, HR leaders are increasingly tasked with answering one foundational question: What’s the return on investment? In a world where AI blurs lines between departments, processes, and decision-makers, traditional ROI models don’t always apply.

“It's not just about reducing headcount,” explained Robert Menezes. “It’s about improving execution quality, accelerating time to market, and driving cost-optimised scalability. With generative AI handling micro-tasks and backend decisions, organisations can grow revenue while avoiding the linear increase in costs.”

Productivity gains of 40–60%, as estimated in industry benchmarks, are becoming the new north star. But Robert emphasised that ROI should also account for more nuanced metrics: speed to market, quality of outcomes, and deepened customer or employee engagement. “AI helps you prototype faster, test hypotheses quicker, and scale experiences that were once only possible at great cost.”

Yet as adoption scales, so does the responsibility to build trust. With AI becoming the first point of contact in many HR interactions, be it recruitment, onboarding, or feedback, the need for ethical frameworks is no longer optional.

“Trust is the currency of culture,” Robert reflected. “AI may scale decisions, but only responsible, explainable, and human-centred AI can scale trust.”

He laid out the foundational principles HR must embed:

• Human-centred design to keep people at the core of system architecture
• AI as decision support, not decision maker
• Bias mitigation through diverse datasets and transparent training methods
• Clear accountability for all AI-assisted outcomes
• Explainability of decisions, with room for human override
• Disclosure and consent in data use
• Employee voice in reviewing and contesting AI-driven decisions

As organisations move forward, these principles aren’t just safeguards; they are strategic enablers. Shelly Maipi summarised it well: “When building a business case, don’t just chase efficiency. Ask: What does value mean to your leadership team? Then align AI to that.”

In the end, AI adoption isn’t just about smarter systems; it’s about braver leadership, building the culture, capabilities, and clarity to use those systems wisely.

In closing, both leaders agreed: the future of HR will not be built on tasks but on trust, design, and intelligent systems that put people first. The opportunity is not just to optimise HR, but to elevate it as a strategic, culture-shaping force in the AI-powered workplace.

Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organisation