Why HR must address the disconnect: we’re overwhelmed but it’s not delivering results

HR leaders are grappling with a new reality: despite the flood of new initiatives, technologies and skills strategies, business results aren’t keeping up. Organisations are overwhelmed with tools, approaches and plans, yet they’re underwhelmed by the impact. The question HR needs to confront is: why isn’t this delivering business value?

This isn’t just about adding more tools or offering more training. We’re seeing a fundamental mismatch between the strategies we’re adopting and the outcomes they’re supposed to produce. According to management consultant Gartner network performance has dropped nearly 20% over the past two years, despite a rise in workplace connections. Even as teams adopt new ways of working they aren’t collaborating more effectively and it’s showing in the bottom line.

We’ve reached a critical point where more isn’t more. More tools, more connections, more learning – it’s all adding up to less productivity, less readiness and less innovation. HR must take a step back and reconsider the approaches currently being used because they’re not delivering the value businesses expect.

The disconnect between overload and results

The data is clear: organisations are overwhelmed. At its ReimagingHR conference in London, UK last week Gartner revealed that its research finds that 79% of CEOs will have new business strategies ready by the end of 2024. The demand for HR to support these strategies is enormous but many HR leaders are responding by piling on more initiatives without truly reassessing whether these efforts are aligned with real outcomes.

Take technology. More than a third (34%) of HR leaders say that emerging technologies, like AI, are not saving enough time to increase productivity. And 20% of employees report that new tools have actually made their jobs harder. There’s more technology than ever yet employees are struggling to get meaningful work done. This flood of tools isn’t delivering on its promises and HR is often left managing the fallout – burnt-out employees and underperforming teams.

What about skills? Well 81% of board members rank skills shortages as a top risk to business growth but, despite this urgency, only 36% of HR leaders believe their organisations are prepared for the changes coming in the next two years. More learning is taking place yet it’s not translating into higher readiness. Indeed 51% of employees don’t feel equipped to respond to unexpected challenges, a startling gap in an era where agility is key.

HR leaders are finding themselves managing a growing web of tools, systems and initiatives that promise transformation but deliver diminishing returns. The challenge is clear: we’re overwhelmed by the inputs and we’re underwhelmed by the outputs.

Network performance: more connections, less teamwork

One of the most concerning areas of decline is network performance – how an employee improves another’s performance. Despite more tools to connect employees teamwork is deteriorating. Gartner data shows that although 60% of employees report knowing more people at work only 50% feel their teammates are truly committed to the team’s success and just 43% believe their colleagues understand their experiences.

This is where HR needs to take a hard look at what’s driving performance. More connections aren’t translating into more effective collaboration. The problem isn’t that employees aren’t talking to each other – it’s that the quality of those interactions is lacking.

Airbnb tackled this by introducing co-reliant duos, where employees support each other on a personal and professional level. This kind of mutual accountability encourages deeper, more meaningful teamwork, unlike many tools that simply facilitate superficial interactions. Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs has taken a different path, incentivising ‘undaunted’ teams by recognising efforts even if the teams haven’t fully achieved their goals yet.

These initiatives highlight a key shift HR needs to lead: focus on shared experiences, not just on connecting people. Real teamwork comes from belonging and commitment not from an increase in touchpoints. In organisations that prioritise shared experiences Gartner found that network performance jumps by 29 percentage points and innovation increases by 43 percentage points. These numbers show that it’s not about having more connections, it’s about making those connections count.

Skills: why more learning isn’t making us ready

One of the biggest areas where HR is overwhelmed is skills. The push for re-skilling and upskilling is constant but it’s not translating into the readiness businesses need. Despite the increase in learning opportunities only 36% of HR leaders believe their organisations are prepared for the changes ahead and a mere 51% of employees feel ready for unexpected work challenges.

So why is more learning leading to less readiness? The answer lies in how we’re training people, not just how much training they’re receiving. Organisations are still focused on individual learning initiatives but what’s needed now is a shift to collective intelligence – the ability to tap into and amplify the knowledge that already exists within teams.

Genpact addressed this by scraping internal data to identify the hidden expertise within their organisation. The information technology company didn’t need more skills, it needed better access to the skills it already had. By turning that knowledge into easily digestible, bite-sized content and rolling it out through AI-driven tools like chatbots it has ensured that employees can quickly access the right information when it matters.

The goal is not to create more learning but to build systems that help teams work smarter with the expertise already available. According to Gartner collective intelligence can increase employees’ readiness to tackle work changes by 26%. It’s not about volume, it’s about targeting the right learning and ensuring it’s accessible across the organisation.

AI: overwhelming expectations, underwhelming results

AI has been touted as the solution to productivity challenges but the results have fallen short. CEOs expect a 17% boost in productivity from AI but only 34% of HR leaders believe that AI is saving enough time to make a real impact. Even worse, 20% of employees say that AI and other emerging technologies have actually made their jobs harder.

This underperformance is not due to AI’s capabilities but rather how it’s being implemented. Many organisations are adopting a tech-first approach, focusing on the tool itself rather than how it fits into the way people work. The result? Tools that look good on paper but fail to deliver meaningful benefits.

The answer lies in a human-first AI approach. AI should be deployed in a way that enhances the employee experience, not complicates it. Vizient, a healthcare company, used AI to create empathy maps, ensuring that the tools were designed to actually help employees do their jobs better rather than just adding another layer of complexity.

Gartner’s research shows that when AI is implemented with a focus on the human experience employees are 1.5 times more likely to be high performers and 2.3 times more likely to be highly engaged. AI must be deployed thoughtfully, with the needs of employees front and centre, if it’s going to deliver on its productivity promises.

Rethinking HR’s role: from overload to impact

The problem isn’t that businesses aren’t trying to adapt. It’s that the approaches we’re taking – more connections, more tools, more training – are creating an overwhelming environment that isn’t delivering value.

This is why HR must step up and lead the shift from being overwhelmed by inputs to focusing on delivering meaningful outputs. We are in a work reset, not just a work change, says Gartner director, future of work advisory, Russ McCall. This means redesigning the systems that drive collaboration, learning and productivity in ways that actually deliver business value.

Here’s how HR can make that happen:

1. Focus on shared experiences: don’t just add more tools to connect employees. Build structures that reinforce deep, meaningful teamwork through shared experiences that foster belonging and commitment.
2. Shift to collective intelligence: stop creating more individual training programs and start amplifying the knowledge that already exists in your organisation. Make it accessible, targeted and scalable.
3. Adopt human-first AI: AI should support employees, not overwhelm them. Focus on how technology can enhance human capabilities, not replace them. Involve employees in the process to ensure AI delivers real value.

There’s a disconnect between what we’re doing and what we’re achieving. It’s time for HR to stop managing the overload and start driving results that truly matter.