AI, Human-Centred Design & the Future of Work: Why This Is Our Moment

Lee Smith

Minutes
26 June 2025
Employee Experience
Human-centred
Webinar
The robots aren’t coming—they’ve already arrived. And they’re here to stay. But rather than spell the end for people professionals, AI presents us with an extraordinary opportunity: to reimagine our roles, redefine our value, and reorient our careers around what matters most.

This week’s EX Space webinar wasn’t just a conversation, it was a call to action. As automation reshapes the workplace at speed, one thing is becoming clear: our future won’t be won by competing with machines, but by leaning into the very things they can’t replicate—our emotional intelligence, our empathy, our humanity.

AI Is the Tool. You Are the Difference.

Let’s be honest—AI is already rewriting policies, producing content, and speeding up everything from onboarding to feedback loops. But the more it generates—and the more deeply it’s embedded—the greater the need for people professionals who can bring meaning, coherence and connection.

This is our moment—not to resist the change, but to own it. Because when AI handles the technical aspects of what we do, when it is the undisputed expert in the room, we’re freed to focus on what matters most: creating employee experiences that feel personal, human, and real.

From Process Engineers to Experience Shapers

The old model positioned people professionals as service providers—efficient, reactive, and focused on delivering processes and programmes.

Today’s people-first approach demands something far deeper—for us to become facilitators of dialogue, listeners to lived experience, sense-makers in complexity, and bridge-builders across boundaries.

Rather than simply delivering frameworks or campaigns, we’re being asked to tune into what people really need—emotionally, culturally, and relationally—and to design the conditions in which trust, belonging and purpose can thrive.

This is no longer about supporting the business from the sidelines. It’s about shaping the experience of work from the inside out.

The Human Skills That Will Shape the Future

Recent insights from the World Economic Forum and Microsoft point to a powerful shift. In a tech-saturated world, the most valuable skills are also the most human:
  • Empathy – To connect with what people are really feeling.
  • Creativity – To design fresh, meaningful experiences.
  • Curiosity – To ask better questions, not just faster ones.
  • Emotional Intelligence – To navigate nuance and build relationships.
  • Resilience – To hold steady through disruption and change.
These aren’t optional extras. And they’re certainly not ‘soft’ skills. They’re the foundation of the people profession of the future.

At The EX Space, We’re Building That Future, Together

If this shift excites you—or even if it unsettles you—you’re not alone. At The EX Space, we’re creating a space for people professionals of all kinds—employee experience, HR, internal comms, L&D, OD, change—to connect, experiment and grow.

It’s where we stop talking about putting people first—and start doing it.
👉 Missed the live webinar?
👉 Want to go deeper? Download the white paper below to explore the skills, mindsets and design principles shaping people-first practice in the age of AI.
This isn’t just another phase—it’s a tectonic shift. And you’ve got a role to play.

👉 If you're not already a member, join us at The EX Space and be part of a movement to re-humanise work, rethink HR, and create a future where people—not process—come first.  

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