Is your talent strategy designed for the ‘superworker’ era? Josh Bersin’s on what HR must do next

The year 2025 hasn’t been just another chapter in the evolution of work, but it has emerged as the dawn of what global HR analyst and CEO Josh Bersin calls the rise of the Superworker.

And no, this isn’t another buzzword destined to fade away. It’s a fundamental shift in how organizations think about productivity, talent, and the role of AI in shaping the future of work.

So what exactly is a Superworker? In Bersin’s words, it’s an employee empowered by AI, someone who uses intelligent tools and agents to amplify their value, creativity, and output. “In a world where AI agents support every employee, a Superworker can step up their value, productivity, and output by learning to optimize their use of AI systems,” Bersin’s latest research notes.

Bersin's new study, the ‘Rise of the Superworker’, outlines why companies must rethink everything, from job architecture and talent flow to leadership, HR operations, and culture. And the message is clear: AI is not here to cut costs or eliminate jobs; it’s here to redesign work itself.

Bersin is pushing back against the narrative that AI will hollow out workforces. Instead, he argues that human capital is gaining importance. “Human beings appreciate over time,” he said at a recent LinkedIn change management workshop. “Almost every other asset depreciates.”

Yet pressure is high. Companies are pouring money into AI, but only 5% say they’re getting positive returns. Employees are anxious. Engagement, according to Gallup, is lower than during the pandemic. People aren’t resisting technology—they’re uncertain about their place in the new system.

That’s where HR comes in.

“A lot of our role in HR transformation and AI transformation is bringing people along and getting them to be the super workers that we know they can become,” Bersin said. And the expectation on talent leaders has never been higher.

Bersin highlights four major shifts rewriting the talent playbook:

1. Growth won’t come from hiring, it will come from productivity. Companies will expand through AI-powered productivity and agent-driven automation, not headcount additions.
2. There is no one-size-fits-all AI strategy. Every company, industry, and employee will use AI differently. Copy-paste adoption models are already obsolete.
3. Mobility and reskilling will define competitive advantage. The ability to move, redeploy, reskill, and reorganise talent becomes the new engine of agility.
4. Job architecture must be re-engineered, repeatedly. From compensation and reward structures to titles, competencies, and learning systems, most organizations’ job frameworks will need rebuilding. And as AI evolves, they’ll need rebuilding again.

Bersin warns, this is one of the biggest blind spots for HR teams heading into the next decade.

Rather than panicking about the pace of change, Bersin lays out a practical roadmap for leaders trying to make sense of the transformation:

1. Invest in productivity projects: Focus on tools, workflows, and AI-enabled processes that increase output or impact per employee.
2. Use AI to drive growth, not hiring: Shift the mindset from “hire to grow” to “use AI and automation to scale smartly.”
3. Double down on customer experience: AI should elevate, not replace, the human touch, especially where customer trust and interaction matter most.
4. Build a data-driven workforce strategy: Use workforce analytics to understand skills, predict needs, and act quickly.

And then comes the part that HR often forgets: Reinventing itself. “The number one factor in a high-performing company is the capability of the HR team,” Bersin emphasised. “You are the super workers of your company.”

Bersin’s research lays out five must-do priorities for organizations trying to scale AI responsibly and effectively:

• Redesign work, jobs, and organizational models

• Build a dynamic talent framework to drive talent density

• Strengthen leadership, culture, and employer brand

• Accelerate the shift to Systemic HR

• Rebuild the HR tech stack with a new product and ops roadmap
  

These aren’t projects. They’re long-term transformation efforts, ones that require HR to act as architects, coaches, and strategic navigators.

Why this matters now? AI isn’t replacing the human-centric core of HR, if anything, it makes it even more essential. The Superworker era demands that organizations create environments where people can experiment, learn, adapt, and grow. This calls for bold talent strategy, a strong cultural backbone, and leaders who can guide employees through uncertainty with clarity and empathy.

Every company, every team, every employee, no matter how mature their AI stack is, can benefit from adopting the Superworker mindset, and HRs need to redesign their talent strategy starting now.