Back in the early 2010s, I was working at HubSpot right as the internet was emerging as the place to buy, connect, and do business. Instagram was brand new. Most businesses didn’t have a strong digital presence yet, and still relied on cold calls and trade shows to find customers.
During my time at HubSpot, I co-created the HubSpot Academy division.
I helped build and scale education that trained millions of people around the world in a completely different way of working: inbound marketing.
What made it unique was that we weren’t just training our customers. We were also training prospects, agency partners, students, and new employees inside HubSpot.
Our goal was to help people learn how to use the internet to grow their business.
And our challenge was behavior change at scale.
Today, HR teams are facing something eerily similar: AI is changing the rules. And from my conversations with HR executives, practitioners, L&D professionals, and more a general sentiment has popped up: most people have a general sense of the starting point of AI adoption through clear HR policies, they often don’t know where to go from there.
And I get it, why would they what’s expected since it’s still so new.
But the thing is, we’re also seeing is that AI usage is quickly becoming a baseline expectation inside companies.
A recent Gallup study found the number of employees using AI at work nearly doubled in two years, with weekly use jumping from 11% to 19%.
And while more people are using it, people are still unsure about its role in the future.
According to Ernst & Young, 71% of U.S. workers are concerned about AI in the workplace, and 75% fear tech-driven job loss. It’s what they’re calling “AI Anxiety.” So yes, there is enthusiasm, but there’s also real fear.
That’s where HR comes in.
This isn’t just an IT problem. This is a people opportunity. And we believe that HR is uniquely positioned to lead it.
Why HR? Because HR owns the employee experience. If people feel unsupported, afraid, or unprepared to engage with AI, the return on even the most ambitious tech investments will fall flat. Gartner and McKinsey both cite lack of employee readiness as a top blocker to AI success.
And enabling readiness isn’t new territory for HR, it’s what you already do.
AI enablement is ultimately a matter of change management, talent development, and psychological safety — all core HR competencies. You know how to help people grow, adapt, and feel safe while doing it. That’s why HR isn’t an adjacent player in this transition. You’re essential to making it work.
As Amy Spurling, Compt’s founder and CEO, put it:
“If AI is your biggest investment this year, your second should be helping your team adapt to it. AI is already reshaping work. Your benefits better help your people keep up or they’ll find an employer who does.”
To help companies adopt AI responsibly and successfully, HR teams need to master what we’re calling the AI Adoption Trifecta: three foundational pillars that make or break your organization’s AI adoption success. They’re simple and people-first.
Let’s break them down.
1. Clear policy → So employees know what’s encouraged, what’s off-limits, and how to use AI responsibly
Setting expectations builds confidence. And it reduces risk. Clear AI policies help employees:
- Understand when, where, and how they should use AI
- Know what’s prohibited (e.g., uploading confidential data into ChatGPT)
- Follow internal guardrails around data privacy, intellectual property, and bias mitigation
Good policy doesn’t mean restriction. It means clarity. It gives employees the psychological safety to try without fear of doing it “wrong.”
Need a place to start? Even a lightweight acceptable-use policy can help build guardrails. Encourage teams to treat AI like a powerful intern: useful, imperfect, and requiring fact-checking and human judgment.
2. Practical support → So people aren’t left guessing
As Kim Rohrer, longtime people leader, explains:
“The important thing is not just to give your employees money to spend on AI tools, but to help them understand ways to integrate it into their work. … Even deciding where to spend their budget might seem overwhelming or intimidating.”
Don’t assume your team knows how to start. Most don’t.
Support means more than a single training or a Slack channel of AI enthusiasts. It means:
- On-demand learning and trusted resources
- Encouraging experimentation with sandbox sessions
- Role-specific guidance and examples
- Making space to learn together
This is where L&D and HR shine. They create inclusive learning environments where people can safely build fluency, curiosity, and trust in new tools.
Or consider doing as a recent piece in HRD suggests:
“Consider creating AI champions within each department — employees who receive extended training and serve as peer mentors during the transition. These champions can provide real-time support and feedback, making the learning process more collaborative and less intimidating.
The investment in training pays dividends through improved user adoption, reduced errors, and maximum value extraction from AI tools. Organizations that skimp on training often find their expensive AI implementations underutilized or misapplied.”
And there’s clear demand: McKinsey reports that 94% of employees are aware of generative AI, but only 48% say their company offers formal training.
If you’re looking for others who are creating formal training, consider reading up on the World Economic Forum’s AI Literacy Framework, or Zapier’s AI Fluency Assessment in interviewing.
Closing that gap is one of the most powerful levers HR can pull.
3. Flexible funding → through a stipend, so everyone can explore what works for their role
One-size-fits-all tools no longer work. Teams need the freedom to explore AI in ways that make sense for their work. That means budget, flexibility, and transparency.
AI stipends are the modern way to do this.
Instead of centrally choosing one tool, progressive companies are offering AI stipends through Compt’s Professional Development Pro™. It’s a centralized, tax-compliant way to:
- Fund AI upskilling on demand
- Support personalized AI adoption without losing visibility or compliance
- Track adoption trends and reimbursement patterns with zero guesswork
Employees using AI stipends today say:
- “I used my AI stipend to upgrade to ChatGPT Pro. It’s been a game-changer for my productivity.”
- “It made me feel supported to try new tools without asking for approval every time.”
At Compt, we’ve rolled out three unique AI stipends for customers just this quarter.
And we’re not alone. Buffer recently announced a $250 per year AI Tools Stipend to support their team’s exploration and skill-building in this space.
Why the AI Adoption Trifecta Matters
If you’re missing any one of these elements, your AI adoption efforts will stall. You’ll see increased AI Anxiety (as named above in the Ernst & Young piece), misuse, or confusion.
But when you combine:
- Clear expectations
- Practical, people-first training & support
- Flexible funding
… you create a culture where AI is safe to try, supported at every step, and customized to each person’s job. It’s about empowering your people to take on an AI-curious mindset, which is what many of today’s teams need.
As the HR Brew cited Todd Blaskowitz, senior client partner on the AI strategy and transformation team at consulting firm Korn Ferry, HR can start encouraging employees to embrace an AI mindset. By asking questions, like:
“Help your people rethink their work, rethink the outcomes that they’re trying to do with a mindset of, ‘How might AI improve this?’” Blaskowitz said. “How might AI enhance the overall experience, the overall quality, my overall productivity?”
And my personal favorite that I’ve asked my team, “What can we do now with AI that we couldn’t do before?” The ideas, opportunities, and innovations are leading us in incredibly fascinating journeys that (hopefully) add more value to our customers and interested HR leaders.
That’s how real adoption happens. And with stipends, it’s adoption you can actually measure and tie to ROI.
Closing thoughts
The good news? You’re here now. You’re right on time.
And the even better news? HR is built for this moment.
Driving AI adoption isn’t just about policies and tools — it’s about trust, communication, learning, and change management. HR already owns all of that. You’re the stewards of culture, capability-building, and inclusive growth.
You’re the function that:
– Builds companywide clarity from ambiguity
– Champions learning across levels and roles
– Understands how change really happens — through people
That’s why this isn’t just a tech rollout. It’s a human one. And HR is already holding the keys to success.
Let’s make AI adoption real.
