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People teams are stretched thinner than ever. The remit keeps expanding, but the resources don’t. For HR and Reward leaders, the challenge isn’t just doing more – it’s doing it smarter. That’s where AI steps in.

The pressure is mounting

AI isn’t just the key to meeting rising employee expectations. It’s also the only way HR and Reward teams can keep pace with everything landing on their desks.

In the last year alone, more than half (55%) of HR and Reward professionals have taken on extra responsibilities. Two-thirds are now managing additional countries.

The workload keeps expanding – but budgets aren’t. And with outdated tech and patchy data still slowing things down, the pressure is relentless.

AI is how People teams can clear blockers and cover ground that would otherwise be impossible.

What AI makes possible

AI is already helping teams to analyze and improve benefits take-up, automate mundane admin work, and even act as an advisor for HR and Reward teams.

It handles tasks People teams never had time for: multilingual content creation at scale, consistent communications, taking care of compliance and data management in the background – freeing teams to focus on strategy, not spreadsheets. It can even dive into unstructured data that’s been gathering dust and turn it into actionable insights, with minimal human intervention.

Think of AI as the ultimate benefits consultant: always-on, learning and improving constantly, ready to answer any question you might have. Want real-time spend and engagement metrics for a particular benefit across multiple countries? AI delivers it in seconds. Need to know the most popular benefits for dock workers in Djibouti? AI will provide you with benchmarked data and flag specific provisions for retirement and pensions.

The ‘benefits brain’ is closer than you think

And this is just the beginning. As early as next year, we’ll see HR and Reward teams being supported by a ‘benefits brain’ – an AI engine that understands your goals and analyzes massive data sets (internal and external), and doesn’t just give you information but makes recommendations.

The ‘benefits brain’ will be able to tell you where to cut costs without impacting quality. Built on agentic AI orchestrating multiple systems and agents to surface the right information at the right time, this type of brain will be genuinely game-changing. And the more organizations, benefits, and countries that go live, the smarter it will become.

The moment to act is now

The organizations leading this change aren’t waiting for perfect conditions or the most advanced technology. They’re acting now – freeing up their teams, gaining efficiency, and creating space for meaningful, strategic work.

Every month of delay is another month your people spend buried in spreadsheets instead of shaping what’s next. The ‘benefits brain’ is already taking shape. The question is whether your organization will lead the way – or play catch up later.

Our research shows 79% of HR and Reward professionals feel more positive about AI. They’re ready. The technology works. The ROI is clear.

With AI handling the admin, compliance, and data wrangling, your People teams can finally focus on what they were hired to do – designing experiences that attract, engage, and retain talent.

Download Benifex’s report, ‘How People teams are using AI to cover more ground and deliver better benefits experiences’ to explore how AI is transforming HR and Reward, and what’s coming next for People teams.