CHARTING THE COURSE FOR CHANGE: AI, NEW STRATEGIES AND SKILLS FOR THE FUTURE OF WORK
April 16, 2025
ALVERIA SETS SAIL AT THE FORUM SAILING CUP 2025: THE EVENT COMBINING SAILING, TRAINING AND NETWORKING
June 6, 2025
FROM GREAT RESIGNATION TO GREAT DETACHMENT: MORE 'DISILLUSIONED' AT WORK
May 19, 2025
Alveriapress
FROM GREAT RESIGNATION TO GREAT DETACHMENT: MORE 'DISILLUSIONED' AT WORK
- The malaise remains strong: only 10% of workers are comfortable in the organisational context. Quitters increase by 2 percentage points, share of those who actually do interviews drops by 6 percentage points
- 60% of organisations have invested in AI for productivity. But in 85% of cases, workers use personal or free AI tools found online
- 78% of organisations struggle to recruit. In the skill-based ones, engaged and motivated workers rise from 17% to 42%
- Generali, Webuild, SACE and A2A win the HR Innovation Award 2025, AGSM AIM the HR Innovation IMPACT Award
Milan, 13 May 2025 - In 2025, widespread malaise is confirmed among Italian workers; only 17% are fully employed and barely 10% 'feel good' in the three dimensions of work: physical, relational and mental. A large proportion of employees have changed jobs in the last year (11%) or plan to do so within the next 18 months (30%). But rising inflation, fears of a recession and economic instability now make it more risky to change jobs, often making people feel 'stuck' and mentally disconnected. And so, after the phenomena of Great Resignation and Great Regret (the boom in voluntary resignations and related regrets), the Great Detachment: Workers resigned to dissatisfaction, who give up looking for a better condition and switch off their energy. The number of quiet quitterwho stay in their jobs by doing the bare minimum without being emotionally involved: they are now 14% of the total, as many as one in seven. Among those who want to change jobs, the share of those who are actually interviewing rises from 58% to 52%. The share of those who regretted changing jobs fell (from 56% to 20%), although most of those who changed jobs continue to be dissatisfied.
At the same time, there is a growing search for protection and economic stability. In the choice of a new job, after wellbeing - which remains the main motivation for changing - more 'traditional' criteria such as contractual protection, salary and benefits come to the fore. Confirming this trend, the most popular wellbeing services are health care and meal vouchers.
Against this backdrop, Artificial Intelligence, which in the HR sphere can increase productivity, engagement and well-being, is spreading. 45% of companies have already invested in AI to support processes and 60% to support individual productivity, but HR managements still struggle to drive this transformation and understand how these tools are used internally. Indeed, in the past year, one third of workers (32%) have used AI in their activities, but mostly using personal or free solutions found online, not those provided by their company. And only one in seven companies analyses the impact that AI systems can have on their work activities.
On average, those who use AI tools at work do so for 20% of their activities, saving 26% of time, equivalent to about 30 minutes per day (rising to 50 minutes for those who use them daily). The time 'gained' is mainly used to perform the same activities with greater productivity (60%) or activities with greater added value (53%), but also extra-work activities, personal and family commitments (44%).
These are some of the results of research by theHR Innovation Practice Observatory of the Milan Polytechnic*, presented today during the conference: "Charting the course for change: AI, new strategies and skills for the future of work". One of more than 50 different research strands of the Digital Innovation Observatories of the POLIMI School of Management (www.osservatori.net) addressing all the key issues of Digital Innovation in business and Public Administration.
"There is a growing frustration among Italian workers, attributable to the perceived instability of the labour market, accentuated by global conflicts and crises, and by wages that are often inadequate to the cost of living," states Mariano Corso, Scientific Head of the HR Innovation Practice Observatory -. Thus, alongside well-being and balance, which continue to be people's priorities, there is a growing search for security and protection. In this context, the main challenge for HR Directorates in 2025 is to work on the meaning and significance of work, trying to overcome the growing sense of precariousness. In an era of great transformation, between generational change and the technological revolution, the HR must chart the course of change for organisations, which today passes through AI, new strategies and new competencies".
"Italian companies are investing in AI, but HR departments still struggle to govern this transformation," explains Martina Mauri, Director of the HR Innovation Practice Observatory -, starting with a lack of understanding of how workers are already using it in their activities, with the risk of witnessing the spread of new tools and behaviours without a clear strategy and without the ability to guide their impacts. Artificial intelligence, from being a simple tool to improve efficiency and quality of work for individuals, must be conceived as a strategic tool to redesign work, automating activities, creating efficiency, rethinking roles, skills and models to free up time and energy, with lower workloads and more attractive and sustainable tasks'.
AI in HR
Italian companies are investing in artificial intelligence in the workplace, but there is a lack of a systemic approach to adoption, from risk analysis to policy, training, monitoring, and impact analysis. And so, 85% of those using AI at work adopt personal or free tools available online, even though the company provides AI tools in 2 out of 3 cases: an unregulated adoption with legal, ethical and security risks, which prevents monitoring the evolution and fully understanding the impacts. Only 14% of companies carry out an analysis to understand the impact of AI systems on work activities.
Use by workers is growing: 32% have used AI solutions in the last year (+23%), a percentage that rises to 43% for white collar workers and 54% for GenZ. But often people still do not grasp the full potential of technology, limiting themselves to using it as a simple search engine: the main activity today is searching for information.
The majority of workers who use AI note improvements in performance and productivity (91%), 86% improvements in the quality of work, and again 86% improvements in the ability to learn, while among the risks noted is the fear of weakening interpersonal relationships (81%). 32% of workers are concerned about the impact on their jobs in the next three to five years, fears mainly related to increased precariousness and the impact on skills. To a lesser extent, there are those who see the intention to limit recruitment, reduce the workforce or intensify control over employees.
45% of organisations claim to have invested in AI solutions in the last year to support HR processes. The area in which these tools are most widespread is Talent Attraction. Among the most adopted solutions in this process, software to optimise communication to potential candidates and/or in the writing of advertisements stands out in terms of presence, followed by tools to analyse the CVs received and classify them according to the open position.
The talent shortage
One in two companies expects to grow their workforce in 2025, but as many as 78% of organisations struggle to hire new staff, and in about half of the cases, the difficulty has been growing over the past year. The most critical aspect is the difficulty in finding candidates with the right technical skills. About 1 in 4 new positions concern digital professions: the most sought-after profiles are those specialised in AI, Big Data Management & Data Analytics and Cybersecurity & Data Protection. Acquisition through internal development has increased in all three at the expense of external market research.
Talent Shortage makes the organisation's ability to develop new skills even more central. Already today 10% of workers need to be retrained because the skills to do their job are not adequate or are at risk of obsolescence within 3-5 years. And 32% of workers are concerned that their skills will become obsolete in the near future or that they will have difficulty re-training. But more than 1 in 2 also believe that they have skills that could be useful in other roles, for which they are not currently considered. Today, one in three organisations not only does not yet carry out an analysis to identify skills needed in the short to medium term (3-5 years), but also does not carry out an assessment of current skills.
The Skill-based Organisation
In Skill-based Organisations, growth choices, allocation of responsibilities and work organisation are based on people's competencies, rather than on traditional factors such as hierarchical position, functional affiliation or seniority. This approach is based on 'job de-construction', in which employees' skills are dynamically matched to specific tasks or projects rather than fixed roles, and on a strategic analysis of the skills present in the organisation, with a more horizontal structure based on self-managed teams. In these organisations, in addition to a better valorisation of skills, the percentage of employees who 'fit in' rises from 10% to 18% and intenders and resigners from 41% in the sample to 36%. But the real surprising figure is the percentage of fully involved and motivated workers, which jumps from 17% to 42%.
GenZ
Attracting and retaining new generations is a priority for the 82% of Italian organisations. Understanding and integrating their emerging needs is a strategic necessity. The youngest embody in an emblematic way the transformations taking place in the labour market. The most relevant issues for GenZ are well-being and the ongoing search for work-life balance. Work is only one of the possible sources of self-fulfilment and personal satisfaction, a component of life that, although important, cannot be all-encompassing. Moreover, wages are no longer regarded as a goal or even as a means to achieve status, but as a necessary resource. Welfare and welfare services provided by the company, on the other hand, are perceived as essential to make up for the shortcomings of a state that is perceived as less present and able to guarantee security and protection.
DEI policies
The US administration has launched an unprecedented campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The demand is clear: companies that supply products or services to the US government should adapt to the change, even if they are based in Europe. To date, there does not yet seem to be any effect in Italy: only 3% of companies state that they have reduced their investments on DEI issues, compared to 34% who plan to work on it in 2025 in continuity with last year, and 23% who want to expand their initiatives to address the issue as comprehensively as possible.
The HR Innovation Awards
The Observatory has awarded the HR Innovation Awards 2025 to organisations that have distinguished themselves by innovating and improving their human resources management and development processes. The winners are Generali in the category "Potential of AI in HR", Webuild in the category "Digitisation of HR processes", SACE in "Competencies at the heart of new organisational models" and A2A in "Welfare solutions to support well-being".
In the category 'Potential of AI in HR', Generali won the prize for its project to introduce tools enabled by Generative Artificial Intelligence to support performance management, which made it possible to enrich qualitative assessments and support users in the process stages thanks to a dedicated chatbot. The other finalists are Campari Group, with the project "Shake your career: Become a Camparista!", and Carrefour Italia for the adoption of a digital tool to assess soft skills during the selection process.
In the category 'Digitisation of HR processes', Webuild won the award thanks to its project to centralise applications from external agencies in a single touchpoint, which simplified the exchange of information and improved the visibility of the selection process. The other finalists were Poste Italiane, with its project to digitise administrative practices through web applications integrated with the HCM platform, and KOS Group, with its adoption of a digital platform to support the recruiting process, which enabled it to implement a new fully digital authorisation process.
In the category 'Skills at the heart of new organisational models', SACE won with the project 'A Journey towards a truly Agile Organisation', which enabled the transformation towards a new organisational model with AI tools that made it possible to orient strategic choices on the basis of people's skills, freeing up time to devote to activities with greater added value, training, volunteering and welfare. Also finalists were Arcese for the "Skill-based Digital Transformation in Arcese - Road to @-platform" project, which lays the foundations for "skill-based" approaches starting from a pilot project in the IT Department, and Swegon Operations, thanks to the training courses aimed at potential candidates with the objective of developing the necessary skills.In the "Welfare solutions in support of wellbeing" A2A was the winner with the "A2A Life Caring" project, which offers tools to support parenthood through economic contributions, raising awareness among the corporate population and extra leave for new parents. The finalists are also Lagardère Travel Retail Italia, with the 'AnticiPaga' project, which allows people to request an advance on their salary through a totally digitalised process, and Reale Group, with the 'Reale Wellbeing' project, which has introduced a portal to make use of the welfare offer with a personalised browsing experience and targeted communication.
The HR Innovation IMPACT Award went to AGSM AIM for the 'On-Volt' project, which innovated the onboarding process by favouring the creation of a shared corporate identity and the transmission of corporate values to new hires.
* The 2024-25 edition of the HR Innovation Practice Observatory of the POLIMI School of Management was realised in cooperation with Alveria, Assolobarda, Babbel for Business, Cornerstone, Indeed, Joinrs, Jointly, nCore HR, Oracle, Quint, Rai, ServiceNow, Skillvue, Speexx, Studio Toffoletto De Luca Tamajo, Talentia Software, TeamSystem, Top Employers Institute, Up2you, Zucchetti; Frog Learning, Inaz, Innovation4HR, K-Rev, SAP, SEAC, Strada, Synergie, Talentware, W Executive; under the patronage of: Anitec-Assinform, Assintel.
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CONSULTANCY, TRAINING, HR DIGITALIZATION AND CORPORATE SOLUTIONS, DISCOVER THE ALVERIA METHOD. GET READY FOR CHANGE.
- The malaise remains strong: only 10% of workers are comfortable in the organisational context. Quitters increase by 2 percentage points, share of those who actually do interviews drops by 6 percentage points
- 60% of organisations have invested in AI for productivity. But in 85% of cases, workers use personal or free AI tools found online
- 78% of organisations struggle to recruit. In the skill-based ones, engaged and motivated workers rise from 17% to 42%
- Generali, Webuild, SACE and A2A win the HR Innovation Award 2025, AGSM AIM the HR Innovation IMPACT Award
Milan, 13 May 2025 - In 2025, widespread malaise is confirmed among Italian workers; only 17% are fully employed and barely 10% 'feel good' in the three dimensions of work: physical, relational and mental. A large proportion of employees have changed jobs in the last year (11%) or plan to do so within the next 18 months (30%). But rising inflation, fears of a recession and economic instability now make it more risky to change jobs, often making people feel 'stuck' and mentally disconnected. And so, after the phenomena of Great Resignation and Great Regret (the boom in voluntary resignations and related regrets), the Great Detachment: Workers resigned to dissatisfaction, who give up looking for a better condition and switch off their energy. The number of quiet quitterwho stay in their jobs by doing the bare minimum without being emotionally involved: they are now 14% of the total, as many as one in seven. Among those who want to change jobs, the share of those who are actually interviewing rises from 58% to 52%. The share of those who regretted changing jobs fell (from 56% to 20%), although most of those who changed jobs continue to be dissatisfied.
At the same time, there is a growing search for protection and economic stability. In the choice of a new job, after wellbeing - which remains the main motivation for changing - more 'traditional' criteria such as contractual protection, salary and benefits come to the fore. Confirming this trend, the most popular wellbeing services are health care and meal vouchers.
Against this backdrop, Artificial Intelligence, which in the HR sphere can increase productivity, engagement and well-being, is spreading. 45% of companies have already invested in AI to support processes and 60% to support individual productivity, but HR managements still struggle to drive this transformation and understand how these tools are used internally. Indeed, in the past year, one third of workers (32%) have used AI in their activities, but mostly using personal or free solutions found online, not those provided by their company. And only one in seven companies analyses the impact that AI systems can have on their work activities.
On average, those who use AI tools at work do so for 20% of their activities, saving 26% of time, equivalent to about 30 minutes per day (rising to 50 minutes for those who use them daily). The time 'gained' is mainly used to perform the same activities with greater productivity (60%) or activities with greater added value (53%), but also extra-work activities, personal and family commitments (44%).
These are some of the results of research by theHR Innovation Practice Observatory of the Milan Polytechnic*, presented today during the conference: "Charting the course for change: AI, new strategies and skills for the future of work". One of more than 50 different research strands of the Digital Innovation Observatories of the POLIMI School of Management (www.osservatori.net) addressing all the key issues of Digital Innovation in business and Public Administration.
"There is a growing frustration among Italian workers, attributable to the perceived instability of the labour market, accentuated by global conflicts and crises, and by wages that are often inadequate to the cost of living," states Mariano Corso, Scientific Head of the HR Innovation Practice Observatory -. Thus, alongside well-being and balance, which continue to be people's priorities, there is a growing search for security and protection. In this context, the main challenge for HR Directorates in 2025 is to work on the meaning and significance of work, trying to overcome the growing sense of precariousness. In an era of great transformation, between generational change and the technological revolution, the HR must chart the course of change for organisations, which today passes through AI, new strategies and new competencies".
"Italian companies are investing in AI, but HR departments still struggle to govern this transformation," explains Martina Mauri, Director of the HR Innovation Practice Observatory -, starting with a lack of understanding of how workers are already using it in their activities, with the risk of witnessing the spread of new tools and behaviours without a clear strategy and without the ability to guide their impacts. Artificial intelligence, from being a simple tool to improve efficiency and quality of work for individuals, must be conceived as a strategic tool to redesign work, automating activities, creating efficiency, rethinking roles, skills and models to free up time and energy, with lower workloads and more attractive and sustainable tasks'.
AI in HR
Italian companies are investing in artificial intelligence in the workplace, but there is a lack of a systemic approach to adoption, from risk analysis to policy, training, monitoring, and impact analysis. And so, 85% of those using AI at work adopt personal or free tools available online, even though the company provides AI tools in 2 out of 3 cases: an unregulated adoption with legal, ethical and security risks, which prevents monitoring the evolution and fully understanding the impacts. Only 14% of companies carry out an analysis to understand the impact of AI systems on work activities.
Use by workers is growing: 32% have used AI solutions in the last year (+23%), a percentage that rises to 43% for white collar workers and 54% for GenZ. But often people still do not grasp the full potential of technology, limiting themselves to using it as a simple search engine: the main activity today is searching for information.
The majority of workers who use AI note improvements in performance and productivity (91%), 86% improvements in the quality of work, and again 86% improvements in the ability to learn, while among the risks noted is the fear of weakening interpersonal relationships (81%). 32% of workers are concerned about the impact on their jobs in the next three to five years, fears mainly related to increased precariousness and the impact on skills. To a lesser extent, there are those who see the intention to limit recruitment, reduce the workforce or intensify control over employees.
45% of organisations claim to have invested in AI solutions in the last year to support HR processes. The area in which these tools are most widespread is Talent Attraction. Among the most adopted solutions in this process, software to optimise communication to potential candidates and/or in the writing of advertisements stands out in terms of presence, followed by tools to analyse the CVs received and classify them according to the open position.
The talent shortage
One in two companies expects to grow their workforce in 2025, but as many as 78% of organisations struggle to hire new staff, and in about half of the cases, the difficulty has been growing over the past year. The most critical aspect is the difficulty in finding candidates with the right technical skills. About 1 in 4 new positions concern digital professions: the most sought-after profiles are those specialised in AI, Big Data Management & Data Analytics and Cybersecurity & Data Protection. Acquisition through internal development has increased in all three at the expense of external market research.
Talent Shortage makes the organisation's ability to develop new skills even more central. Already today 10% of workers need to be retrained because the skills to do their job are not adequate or are at risk of obsolescence within 3-5 years. And 32% of workers are concerned that their skills will become obsolete in the near future or that they will have difficulty re-training. But more than 1 in 2 also believe that they have skills that could be useful in other roles, for which they are not currently considered. Today, one in three organisations not only does not yet carry out an analysis to identify skills needed in the short to medium term (3-5 years), but also does not carry out an assessment of current skills.
The Skill-based Organisation
In Skill-based Organisations, growth choices, allocation of responsibilities and work organisation are based on people's competencies, rather than on traditional factors such as hierarchical position, functional affiliation or seniority. This approach is based on 'job de-construction', in which employees' skills are dynamically matched to specific tasks or projects rather than fixed roles, and on a strategic analysis of the skills present in the organisation, with a more horizontal structure based on self-managed teams. In these organisations, in addition to a better valorisation of skills, the percentage of employees who 'fit in' rises from 10% to 18% and intenders and resigners from 41% in the sample to 36%. But the real surprising figure is the percentage of fully involved and motivated workers, which jumps from 17% to 42%.
GenZ
Attracting and retaining new generations is a priority for the 82% of Italian organisations. Understanding and integrating their emerging needs is a strategic necessity. The youngest embody in an emblematic way the transformations taking place in the labour market. The most relevant issues for GenZ are well-being and the ongoing search for work-life balance. Work is only one of the possible sources of self-fulfilment and personal satisfaction, a component of life that, although important, cannot be all-encompassing. Moreover, wages are no longer regarded as a goal or even as a means to achieve status, but as a necessary resource. Welfare and welfare services provided by the company, on the other hand, are perceived as essential to make up for the shortcomings of a state that is perceived as less present and able to guarantee security and protection.
DEI policies
The US administration has launched an unprecedented campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The demand is clear: companies that supply products or services to the US government should adapt to the change, even if they are based in Europe. To date, there does not yet seem to be any effect in Italy: only 3% of companies state that they have reduced their investments on DEI issues, compared to 34% who plan to work on it in 2025 in continuity with last year, and 23% who want to expand their initiatives to address the issue as comprehensively as possible.
The HR Innovation Awards
The Observatory has awarded the HR Innovation Awards 2025 to organisations that have distinguished themselves by innovating and improving their human resources management and development processes. The winners are Generali in the category "Potential of AI in HR", Webuild in the category "Digitisation of HR processes", SACE in "Competencies at the heart of new organisational models" and A2A in "Welfare solutions to support well-being".
In the category 'Potential of AI in HR', Generali won the prize for its project to introduce tools enabled by Generative Artificial Intelligence to support performance management, which made it possible to enrich qualitative assessments and support users in the process stages thanks to a dedicated chatbot. The other finalists are Campari Group, with the project "Shake your career: Become a Camparista!", and Carrefour Italia for the adoption of a digital tool to assess soft skills during the selection process.
In the category 'Digitisation of HR processes', Webuild won the award thanks to its project to centralise applications from external agencies in a single touchpoint, which simplified the exchange of information and improved the visibility of the selection process. The other finalists were Poste Italiane, with its project to digitise administrative practices through web applications integrated with the HCM platform, and KOS Group, with its adoption of a digital platform to support the recruiting process, which enabled it to implement a new fully digital authorisation process.
In the category 'Skills at the heart of new organisational models', SACE won with the project 'A Journey towards a truly Agile Organisation', which enabled the transformation towards a new organisational model with AI tools that made it possible to orient strategic choices on the basis of people's skills, freeing up time to devote to activities with greater added value, training, volunteering and welfare. Also finalists were Arcese for the "Skill-based Digital Transformation in Arcese - Road to @-platform" project, which lays the foundations for "skill-based" approaches starting from a pilot project in the IT Department, and Swegon Operations, thanks to the training courses aimed at potential candidates with the objective of developing the necessary skills.In the "Welfare solutions in support of wellbeing" A2A was the winner with the "A2A Life Caring" project, which offers tools to support parenthood through economic contributions, raising awareness among the corporate population and extra leave for new parents. The finalists are also Lagardère Travel Retail Italia, with the 'AnticiPaga' project, which allows people to request an advance on their salary through a totally digitalised process, and Reale Group, with the 'Reale Wellbeing' project, which has introduced a portal to make use of the welfare offer with a personalised browsing experience and targeted communication.
The HR Innovation IMPACT Award went to AGSM AIM for the 'On-Volt' project, which innovated the onboarding process by favouring the creation of a shared corporate identity and the transmission of corporate values to new hires.
* The 2024-25 edition of the HR Innovation Practice Observatory of the POLIMI School of Management was realised in cooperation with Alveria, Assolobarda, Babbel for Business, Cornerstone, Indeed, Joinrs, Jointly, nCore HR, Oracle, Quint, Rai, ServiceNow, Skillvue, Speexx, Studio Toffoletto De Luca Tamajo, Talentia Software, TeamSystem, Top Employers Institute, Up2you, Zucchetti; Frog Learning, Inaz, Innovation4HR, K-Rev, SAP, SEAC, Strada, Synergie, Talentware, W Executive; under the patronage of: Anitec-Assinform, Assintel.
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