Bolt backlash: why demonstrating HR value matters more than ever in the AI era

Bolt backlash: why demonstrating HR value matters more than ever in the AI era in summary…

• As AI and automation reshape the workplace, HR teams are under growing pressure to prove their commercial value. This article explores why HR is still misunderstood in some organisations, what the recent Bolt controversy reveals about perceptions of HR, and how modern people teams can better demonstrate measurable business impact through strategy, data, technology, and employee experience.

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Bolt may not be a household name over here in the UK, but they’re certainly making the headlines… and not necessarily for the right reasons.

The CEO of the fast-growing mobility business claimed he’d fired its entire HR team because they were “creating problems that didn’t exist”. Unsurprisingly, the reaction online was swift, divided, and just a tad bit furious.

Some in the press praised the move as a bold efficiency play. Other commentators saw it as another example of HR being misunderstood, undervalued, or dismissed as unnecessary overhead.

And then there was LinkedIn: a sea of enraged HR professionals, startup founders declaring “HR is dead!”, and endless opinions about whether people teams are strategic business partners, or just expensive bureaucracy with a wellness budget.

Now, whatever side of the debate you sit on, the story certainly highlights a bigger issue that’s been simmering beneath the surface for years: many organisations still struggle to fully understand the strategic value HR brings to the business (it’s something we looked at in detail in our report It’s All HR’s Fault – which you can pick up here).

And, in an era increasingly shaped by AI, automation, tighter budgets, and pressure to “do more with less”, that perception challenge certainly isn’t going away anytime soon.

The reality is, HR teams today are expected to balance far more than just policies and paperwork. They’re helping organisations attract talent in difficult markets, manage organisational change, support employee wellbeing, reduce compliance risks, improve retention, and create workplaces where people can genuinely thrive. When done well, the impact can be enormous.

The problem? Much of that value often goes unnoticed… until something goes wrong.

Why HR still has an image problem

For years, HR professionals have battled outdated stereotypes. Depending on who you ask, HR is either the department that organises training and updates policies, or the team that steps in when there’s a problem. Neither view reflects the reality of modern HR.

Today’s HR leaders are expected to think commercially, use workforce data strategically, support long-term business growth, and help leadership teams navigate everything from skills shortages to restructuring and rapid technological change. Increasingly, they’re also expected to use modern HR technology to reduce admin, improve visibility, and turn people data into meaningful business insight.

Yet despite that evolution, many HR teams still find themselves struggling to demonstrate their value or communicate their impact in ways senior leadership immediately understands.

Part of the problem is that great HR work is often invisible. If payroll runs smoothly, employee relations issues are handled well, onboarding feels seamless, and managers are supported effectively, people rarely stop to think about the systems and expertise making that happen behind the scenes.

But when those foundations are weak? Businesses feel it quickly through higher turnover, poor engagement, recruitment struggles, compliance risks, burnout, and lost productivity. And guess what? Those problems will be levelled squarely in HR’s direction.

The AI era is changing expectations of every business function

The rise of AI in business is only intensifying the pressure on teams to prove their value. Across nearly every department, leaders are asking difficult questions about efficiency, automation, productivity, and operational costs. HR is indeed no exception.

Some business leaders still mistakenly see HR as an administrative function that technology can simply replace. But in practice, AI is far more likely to reshape HR roles than remove the need for them altogether. In fact, the more organisations automate repetitive processes, the more important the human side of work becomes.

Technology can help streamline workflows, improve reporting, automate repetitive admin tasks, and surface workforce insights faster than ever before. But AI can’t build trust during organisational change. It can’t coach struggling managers, navigate sensitive employee relations issues, shape company culture, or make nuanced decisions around people and performance.

What it can do is free HR teams from manual processes so they can focus more energy on strategic, high-value work.

That shift creates both an opportunity and a challenge for HR professionals. The opportunity is to become even more commercially influential. The challenge is ensuring leadership teams actually recognise that contribution.

The problem with treating HR as just another “overhead”

In periods of economic uncertainty, support functions often come under scrutiny first. It’s understandable. Businesses want leaner operations, clearer ROI, and measurable outcomes.

But reducing HR to just another cost centre can be short-sighted.

Poor hiring decisions, weak onboarding, disengaged employees, high attrition, unresolved workplace conflict, inconsistent management practices, and compliance failures all carry significant operational and financial costs. In many cases, those costs far outweigh the investment required to build a strong people function in the first place!

The organisations performing best in today’s market increasingly understand that people strategy and business strategy are deeply connected. Retaining skilled employees, building leadership capability, improving employee experience, and supporting organisational agility all contribute directly to long-term business performance.

The challenge for HR is making those connections more visible. So, if you’re interested in learning about how you can better support your business in periods of uncertainty, download our guide: HR Priorities During a Financial Downturn.

How HR can demonstrate value more effectively

Demonstrating value starts with moving beyond key workforce metrics alone. Reporting on the number of training sessions delivered or policies updated only tells part of the story. Business leaders are far more likely to engage when HR outcomes are tied to commercial impact.

For example:

• Has onboarding improved employee retention?
• Has manager training reduced absence or employee turnover?
• Has automating HR admin saved time across the business?
• Has improved workforce planning reduced recruitment costs?
• Has better employee engagement improved productivity or retention?

These are the conversations that elevate HR from operational support function to strategic business partner.

Data also plays an increasingly important role here. Modern HR software systems give organisations greater visibility over workforce trends, employee engagement, absence patterns, turnover risks, and operational inefficiencies. Used well, that data helps HR teams make stronger recommendations, identify problems earlier, and demonstrate measurable business impact more clearly.

Communication matters too. Many HR teams do valuable work quietly in the background, but visibility matters in modern organisations. Sharing successes internally, highlighting measurable outcomes, and positioning HR initiatives within wider business goals can all help reshape perceptions over time.

Why demonstrating HR value matters more than ever

The Bolt story may fade from headlines in a few weeks, but the wider debate around HR’s value isn’t disappearing anytime soon.

As businesses continue adapting to AI, automation, economic pressure, and changing employee expectations, HR teams will face growing scrutiny around their impact and contribution. But they’ll also have greater opportunities than ever to shape organisational success and improve their image in the process.

The organisations that thrive in the years ahead are unlikely to be the ones that simply reduce headcount or automate processes the fastest. More often, they’ll be the businesses that combine smart HR technology with strong leadership, clear people strategies, and workplaces where employees feel supported, engaged, and be able to do their best work.

And that’s exactly where modern HR teams can make the biggest difference.