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At InteracTech Asia 2026, Coty’s VP of Global Talent & Development discussed why HR leaders must rethink work redesign, capability building, and decision-making in an AI-driven workplace.
As organisations continue accelerating AI adoption, HR leaders are facing growing pressure to reskill workforces, redesign jobs, and rethink how HR itself operates with leaner teams and tighter budgets.
Speaking at InteracTech Asia 2026, Ramya Balakrishnan, VP Global Talent & Development, Coty delved into what this means for HR professionals and why the future of HR will depend less on tools and more on building judgement, maintaining human oversight, and ensuring long-term learning.
Umairah Nasir distils three quick learnings from her session.
HR leaders are being asked to do more, while questioning HR’s relevance in the AI era
Early in the session, Ramya reflected on the growing demands being placed on HR teams as AI adoption accelerates across organisations.
She asked attendees how many had already started reskilling their workforce for AI, and how many had begun redesigning work based on new AI tools and technologies entering the organisation – the response was mixed.
At the same time, she noted, many HR functions are being expected to reinvent themselves while operating with fewer resources, smaller teams, and tighter budgets.
According to her, behind these pressures sits a quieter concern many HR professionals are thinking about but rarely say out loud: whether HR will continue to remain relevant in an AI-driven workplace. As she observed, many organisations instinctively respond to this pressure by looking for more tools, experimenting with platforms, piloting AI agents, or rolling out organisation-wide upskilling programmes.
However, she challenged the audience to rethink that approach: rather than seeing AI transformation as a tool problem, she argued that the bigger issue is how HR leaders make decisions about work, people, and the future direction of the organisation.
“If anyone here is telling you that they have figured out everything in AI and they know how to do it, trust me, they are lying.”
The future of HR depends on building stronger judgement
A major focus of the session centred around what Ramya described as the “judgement muscle”.
“Judgement is like a muscle which needs to be trained.”
According to her, while AI can automate tasks and generate insights, decisions around what should remain human-led and where organisations should head in the next decade will still depend on people.
She explained that HR leaders need to strengthen their ability to make sense of AI and translate it into language different stakeholders can understand.
For CEOs, conversations may focus on transformation and business impact. For CFOs, discussions may revolve around productivity and economics. For line managers, the emphasis may be on making work simpler and more efficient.
She also stressed that work redesign should begin with the problem employees are facing, rather than the technology itself.
“You don't really employ and deploy a tool because there's a tool available; it's about really looking at what is the problem you're trying to solve.”
In that vein, instead of deploying AI because a tool exists, she urged HR leaders to first identify the friction points they are trying to solve. From there, they can ask three critical questions when evaluating AI adoption.
The first was whether AI genuinely makes a task easier. If the answer is yes, she said, organisations should stop holding onto outdated rituals and processes simply because they are familiar.
The second question focused on whether AI creates “dangerous dependence”. She warned that if a technology or model fails and employees can no longer perform the task themselves, organisations may be creating a single point of failure disguised as productivity.
In these situations, she stressed the importance of maintaining human oversight and ensuring employees continue building core capabilities.
The final question centred around learning. According to Ramya, HR leaders must consider whether automation is reducing opportunities for employees to develop skills through experience. While AI may improve productivity today, she cautioned that organisations may only see the long-term impact years later if employees no longer build the capabilities needed for future leadership roles.
Case study: Coty’s focus on practical AI experimentation, not just training
Drawing from Coty’s own AI capability-building journey, Ramya shared how the company approached AI adoption within HR.
The initiative began after Coty’s CHRO explored ways to build grassroots AI capabilities across approximately 150 HR employees.
Initially, the company considered more traditional approaches such as transformation programmes and external training partnerships. However, the team eventually realised employees needed hands-on experience rather than more presentations or discussions about AI.
As part of the initiative, the company introduced a simple value proposition for employees.
Over the next nine to 12 months, every HR employee would aim to gain the equivalent of 0.5 additional headcount through AI support.
The idea was to position AI as a practical digital sidekick capable of handling repetitive and less enjoyable tasks so employees could focus on higher-value work.
"Literally your digital sidekick, taking away all the not-fun tasks from your life and getting it to do it for you.”
To support this, Coty launched hands-on AI training sessions across the HR function, encouraging employees to actively test and integrate AI tools into their daily workflows.
In Ramya’s view, confidence with AI only develops when employees start using it themselves and experience how it can simplify work and improve efficiency.
Balancing AI adoption with human judgement
Closing the session, she encouraged attendees to identify at least one HR process or manual task that AI has already made obsolete and rethink whether it still needs to be done manually.
Ultimately, the session reinforced that HR’s role in the AI era is not simply to keep pace with technology, but to shape how organisations use it responsibly and sustainably.
From redesigning work and preserving human oversight to protecting long-term learning and capability building, Ramya positioned HR leaders as the bridge between technology and people, responsible for ensuring that AI improves work without losing the human judgement that organisations will continue to rely on in the years ahead.
ALSO READ: From AI anxiety to AI advantage: 9 big learnings for HR leaders on the future of work in Thailand
Lead image / Ramya Balakrishnan's LinkedIn
In-article images / HRO
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