83% of Organizations Demonstrate Low AI and Automation Maturity in Human Resources, According to New Benchmarks Data Report by Phenom

30% of HR Professionals Have Limited Knowledge of How to Apply AI in Talent Acquisition and Management, According to Survey

Phenom, the applied AI company dedicated to human resources, published its inaugural State of AI & Automation for HR: 2026 Benchmarks Report, which analyzes AI (intelligence) and automation maturity in human resources across 12+ industries. The data reveals a gap between aspiration and using AI effectively: while most organizations adopted some level of AI and automation, significant opportunity remains to advance from experimentation to impact throughout hiring, development and retention.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251216927019/en/

Phenom published its inaugural State of AI & Automation for HR: 2026 Benchmarks Report, which analyzes AI (intelligence) and automation maturity in human resources across 12+ industries. The data reveals a gap between aspiration and using AI effectively: while most organizations adopted some level of AI and automation, significant opportunity remains to advance from experimentation to impact throughout hiring, development and retention.

The report evaluates nearly 500 organizations using Phenom’s proprietary AI & Automation Maturity Model framework, which measures adoption and assigns a score from Level 0 to Level 5 across two dimensions: Intelligence, ranging from “No Intelligence” (Level 0) to “Fully Integrated” Intelligence (Level 5) and Automation, ranging from “No Automation” (Level 0) to “Fully Integrated Automation” (Level 5). Focusing on organizations solving real business problems, the report provides HR leaders with clarity on where they stand today, how deeply AI and automation are embedded in their operations, and what it takes to move forward.

Key Findings: AI & Automation Maturity

• Less than 1% reached High Intelligence (Level 4)
• Only 5% of organizations reached High Automation (Level 4)
• 86% of organizations scored within the Assisted Intelligence and Semi-automated Intelligence range (Levels 1.5-2.5)
• 83% of organizations scored within the Task-Level Automation and Partial Process Automation range (Levels 1.5-2.5)

Key Findings: AI & Automation Adoption

• 90% of healthcare organizations used automated candidate campaigns and nurturing (highest industry adoption)
• 88% of retail organizations lacked advanced automated screening (lowest adoption among high-volume frontline hiring industries)
• 68% of financial services organizations used AI for candidate matching and fit (highest industry adoption)
• 59% of transportation organizations used automated interview scheduling (highest industry adoption)

The Critical Need for AI & Automation in HR

Between skills shortages, high-volume hiring demands, and competitive labor markets, organizations face a widening gap between the pace of business change and HR's ability to keep up. To reduce operational costs and increase efficiency, every enterprise is trying to move beyond traditional processes built on manual tasks and disconnected systems. AI and automation are essential to augment human work, eliminating tedious and repetitive tasks to accelerate hiring, strengthen employee development, and improve retention. However the opportunity requires organizations to assess their current usage and identify next steps.

Complementing the benchmark data, a survey of 100+ HR professionals across recruiting, HR leadership, HRIT, and talent management functions revealed:

• 76% say “automating manual tasks” and “increasing recruiter productivity” are the top reasons to adopt AI
• 66% say their organization has low to no adoption of AI in talent management
• 53% prioritize AI efforts for candidate engagement and matching
• 30% say they have limited knowledge of how to apply AI in human resources

Learning from AI & Automation in Action

Organizations that are already using AI and automation are turning talent challenges into competitive hiring and retention advantages. The report highlights how industry leaders are approaching progression strategically by aligning specific technology use cases with business priorities. Their experiences offer a practical view of what’s possible, and where to focus for maximum impact. Examples of successful adoption across each industry include:

“In the past four years, we have seen a surge in the use of recruitment technologies over and above our traditional systems,” said Ellen Page, Director, Talent Acquisition, Franciscan Health. “We needed AI-driven tools for an enhanced career site, our application screening processes and a chatbot for 24/7 initial candidate interactions. These innovations help streamline the hiring process, improve our efficiency and enhance our experiences.”

“We hire roughly 17,000 home health aides across 50 branches nationwide, and our staffing demands can shift dramatically from state to state based on market conditions at any given moment," said Anne Strickroot, VP Talent Acquisition at Elara Caring. “The results of our AI voice agent speak for themselves: candidates interviewed by AI accepted their first assignment faster and logged an average of three hours more per week than those interviewed by human recruiters — demonstrating they were more committed from the start. We’ve also removed about 1.3 days from our time-to-hire. This test-and-learn approach allows us to adapt quickly and expand into different states as opportunities arise.”

How HR Can Apply AI & Automation To Enhance Outcomes

With a focus on moving to measurable results, the report includes a framework for organizations to identify their current state and establish relevant next steps. Key opportunities include:

1. Automating hiring workflows to cut time-to-hire: Replace manual screening and routing with automation to shrink cycle times, reduce recruiter workload and move qualified talent to decision stages faster.
2. Deploying automated interview scheduling to boost candidate conversion: Eliminate scheduling delays with instant, self-serve booking that increases show-up rates and removes one of the biggest bottlenecks in the hiring process.
3. Leveraging AI matching to improve quality-of-hire: Surface the strongest candidates early with AI-driven matching that raises hiring accuracy, reduces bias and increases long-term retention.
4. Applying real-time intelligence to increase interview effectiveness: Equip teams with AI-powered insights before and during interviews for better preparation, more relevant questions for skills validation, and flags for potential fraud.
5. Embracing an AI infrastructure for HR that can address unique industry and business needs: Implement responsible AI for human resources that harmonizes data, orchestrates workflows, and deploys agents that work alongside teams, delivering hyper-personalized experiences, enhancing productivity, and addressing hiring and retention challenges.

“The question every CHRO should be asking their team is: How fast can they get AI to work for their business?” said Mahe Bayireddi, CEO and Co-founder of Phenom. “Phenom is providing a roadmap of what maturity looks like. We’re taking a proactive role in helping organizations close the gap between where they are and where they need to be. HR’s greatest moments are upon us.”

To read the full 2026 report and data across more than 12 industries including: healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, transportation, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods & services, restaurants, hotels & travel, professional services, energy & utilities, government (federal, state & local), and organizations across other diverse industries, download here.

Organizations can evaluate their AI and automation maturity, and get a practical framework to guide their strategy. Request an AI & Automation Conversation.

With Phenom, candidates find and choose the right job faster, employees develop their skills and evolve, recruiters become wildly productive, talent marketers engage with extreme efficiency, talent leaders optimize hiring and onboarding processes, managers build stronger-performing teams, HR aligns employee development with company goals, and HRIT easily integrates existing HR tech to create a holistic infrastructure.

About Phenom

Phenom is an applied AI company that helps organizations hire faster, develop better and retain longer. By uniquely combining proprietary industry-specific AI, agentic AI, automation and personalized experiences, its Intelligent Talent Experience platform helps companies fundamentally reshape their HR processes and strategies for scalable and sustainable transformation. Driven by a purpose to help a billion people find the right work, Phenom takes a holistic approach that unifies the entire talent journey, augmenting human capabilities and creating a symbiotic relationship between technology and talent.

Phenom has earned accolades including: Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing companies (6 consecutive years), Deloitte Technology's Fast 500 (5 years), 11 Brandon Hall ‘Excellence in Technology’ awards including Gold for ‘Best Advance in Generative AI for Business Impact,’ Business Intelligence Group’s Artificial Intelligence Excellence Awards (3 consecutive years), The Cloud Awards 2025/2024, The A.I. Awards 2024, and a regional Timmy Award for launching and optimizing HelpOneBillion.com (2020).

Headquartered in Greater Philadelphia, Phenom also has offices in India, Israel, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.

For more information, please visit www.phenom.com. Connect with Phenom on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251216927019/en/

“The question every CHRO should be asking their team is: How fast can they get AI to work for their business?” said Mahe Bayireddi, CEO and Co-founder of Phenom. “Phenom is providing a roadmap of what maturity looks like.”