Christian Stegh, CTO and VP of Strategy at eGroup Enabling Technologies.
HR executives face several uncertainties when planning their organization’s future with AI.
The first and most apparent challenge is reskilling current employees. Organizations that use AI can be more effective—assuming their people can take on more (or more complex) work.
A second challenge arises from the first. As people upskill and AI automates entry-level work, how does HR develop the talent pool to fill experienced mid-career roles? A 2025 report from SHRM and The Burning Glass Institute highlighted such “expansions and reductions in force.”
AI Is Reshaping Hiring
Even in its initial stages, GenAI is enabling firms to do more with less. The CEO of a data processing firm we worked with said the team is saving 10% to 15% of time overall, while a global NGO we worked with noted that its employees were saving seven hours a month.
This has some leaders wondering whether AI can accomplish the task instead. Microsoft used actual AI system data to bolster what the SHRM report had predicted: Jobs in software, administrative support, sales and legal work are most susceptible to AI.
HR executives are wise to assume that some entry-level jobs will be combined and eventually eliminated. That assumption is crystallizing, with a 2025 Harvard University study finding that AI has been associated with a “sharp relative decline in junior employment.”
The Shrinking Base
Fewer entry-level jobs will require HR to fill voids so that organizations don’t lose the institutional knowledge that new associates would have otherwise developed over time. A mental image may help depict the gap.
Typical organizational structures resemble pyramids, with a wide base of entry-level workers gradually rising into a smaller number of mid-career and management roles, topped off by a small apex of senior leadership. Assuming AI reduces the number of entry-level workers, the outer and lower edges of the pyramid will be clipped. The resulting structure will look more like a crudely drawn house rather than a pyramid.
The Risk Of A Weak Center
HR executives are right to be concerned about a narrower base. Assuming attrition and turnover remain constant, the middle floors of the house will shrink—and potentially the apex as well. Organizations that don’t replenish their foundation may be left with fewer experienced mid-career people who know the business. Their house may start looking like an arrow.
Organizations without a well-staffed middle layer will have problems, just like a home with weak load-bearing walls. They’ll lack resources who know their customers, competition and processes. They’ll also lack a pool of executives in training.
Shoring Up The Middle
Savvy HR executives can reduce the vacuum in the middle. While they can’t expand the pyramid again, they can fortify the base of their organization in a new way—making the house taller by building another layer that lifts the house upward.
One way to do this is by expanding recruitment of undergraduate students in the form of co-ops and internships. Selective hiring of second- and third-year students can give the organization a temporary, AI-savvy workforce and a shortcut to offer top performers future full-time employment. This can replenish the overall available pool of resources that can fill the middle layer, albeit on a longer timeframe.
Firms that currently have college recruitment experience and university relations personnel have a head start. Today, such programs may simply be onboarding shortcuts, but as they mature, they can start to develop the skill sets and company culture that will qualify their bottom layer for mid-career and management roles. This can help to overcome the missing corners of the pyramid and avoid a knowledge gap in the middle.
Summary
While AI boosts efficiency by handling repeatable tasks, it also compresses the traditional organizational chart—reducing entry-level roles and affecting the pipeline for mid-level and future leadership positions. To avoid a hollowed-out middle, HR must proactively build new pathways—such as expanding co-op and internship programs—to preserve institutional knowledge and cultivate the next generation of experienced talent.
The benefits may only be realized over a longer period of time, but it’s one of the ways HR can ensure a strong, freestanding house and overcome a shrinking entry-level foundation.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
link
