Reconstructing the Enterprise Workforce Is Not a Headcount Exercise
When KPMG says Gen AI requires a complete workforce rethink, they mean organizations need to redesign work itself. Most are just reorganizing boxes on an org chart.
Three Takeaways
- 1
Workforce reconstruction starts with deconstructing work. Not reorganizing people.
- 2
Job titles are a proxy for work. Gen AI makes the proxy obsolete.
- 3
The organizations that do this right will not look like their competitors in five years.
KPMG identifies workforce reconstruction as the second key area where HR creates Gen AI value. By reconstruction, they mean deconstructing work processes and rebuilding them through the lens of Gen AI.
This is precise language. Most organizations are not reading it precisely.
What Deconstruction Actually Requires
Deconstructing a work process means taking apart the tasks, decisions, and accountability structures that make up a job and asking: Which of these can a Gen AI model do? Which require human judgment? Which disappear entirely?
This is not a job description exercise. Job descriptions describe what we want people to do. They do not describe what people actually do.
The Proxy Problem
Job titles and job descriptions are organizational proxies. They give structure to something complex. They are useful for managing headcount. They are not useful for redesigning work.
When you deconstruct a process through the Gen AI lens, you often find the actual work looks nothing like the job description suggests. Tasks have been inherited from previous systems. Decisions are made by the wrong people. Workflows exist because of legacy constraints that no longer apply.
Reconstruction Is a Design Problem
After deconstruction comes reconstruction. This is the design question: Given what Gen AI can now do, what should this work look like?
This is an operating model question. It requires people who understand both the work and the system within which it lives.
Most organizations have one without the other.
The Workforce That Emerges
The enterprise workforce that Gen AI enables will not be smaller in every case. But it will be different. Roles will be redefined. Accountability will shift. New capabilities will be required.
Organizations that approach this as a headcount reduction will miss the value. Organizations that approach it as a work redesign problem will capture it.
Source: KPMG, "HR holds the keys to creating value from generative AI," 2024
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About the Author
Amrita Sandhu brings 22 years of experience in organizational transformation, talent strategy, and enterprise architecture. She has held senior leadership roles at JPMorgan Chase, Nomura, and McKinsey & Company, leading transformations across 100,000+ employees and delivering significant organizational impact through structured change management and governance frameworks.
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