The Chief HR Officer at MTN Ghana, Esi Wilson, has challenged organisations and Human Resource Managers to prepare their organisations and staff to meet the oncoming challenge which will be posed by the advent of AI to the world of work.
Speaking at the 2026 MTN-Chartered Institute of Human Resource Management Ghana (CIHRM) Conference in Accra on Wednesday, Wilson challenged HR Managers to reconsider their approach to human resource management, taking full cognizance o the disruptive effects of AI and other emerging technologies in the global world of work.
Drawing lessons from MTN’s 30-year journey, she stated that “technology alone does not transform organisations. People do. Every major leap we have made, has deepened our ability to prepare our workforce to adapt, adopt and lead through change.
Human Resource Managers, she noted, now have an opportunity to translate technological progress into human capability and organisational performance.
She stated that it is the responsibility of HR professionals to ensure that their staff are equipped and empowered to leverage technologies like AI Co-pilots confidently and responsibly through governance structures.
“The question is no longer whether AI will transform work. It already has. The real question is, are our people ready? Are our organisations ready? Is HR ready to lead the transformation?” Wilson quizzed.
She also cautioned them to build resilient systems that are capable of absorbing the shocks of the turbulent geopolitical space, which has become increasingly volatile in recent months, adversely affecting the global economy.
She said, “Unlike previous industrial revolutions that changed how we worked, the rapid changes such as trade wars, tariff shocks and currency instability are reshaping workforce economies.”
Human Resource Managers, she said, need to design adaptive workforce architectures, capable of absorbing these economic shocks.
Wilson reminded the audience that employees carry societal anxieties and grievances into the workplace, and “it is the responsibility of HR professionals as enterprise strategists, to ensure social stability, organisational legitimacy and workforce sustainability.”
She also reminded the audience that concerns about AI adoption, data governance, algorithmic bias and digital equity are not merely theoretical, but real.
MTN’s Chief HR Officer observed that traditional job description is fading, and being replaced by a more flexible model of work defined by skill, rather than titles.
“The approach of the modern age is no longer fixed and hierarchical. The half-life of a skill is less than five years. In some AI-adjacent fields, it is closer to 18 months. Organisations cannot hire their way out of that reality. The must build capability continuously, because by the time recruitment catches up, the skills may already have re-evolved,” she concluded.
The President of the Chartered Institute of Human Resource Management Ghana, Florence Hutchful, urged HR professionals to uphold accountability and ethical leadership, responsible exercise of authority in the workplace.
She said, “AS HR professionals, we must acknowledge that the authority entrusted to HR carries significant responsibility.”
She lamented the abuse of said authority by some HR professionals in their places of work, thus undermining the values of the profession.
Hutchful criticized reports of HR professionals taking decisions which have been driven by personal interest, rather than objective organizational considerations.
She said, “As custodians of fairness and organizational values, HR professionals must uphold the highest ethical standards. Our credibility and effectiveness depend not only what we do, but also on how we do it.”
She announced that the Institute has began the full implementation of Act 1020, which mandates the Institute to regulate the practice of Human Resource Management and promote professional training in Human Resource Management in Ghana.
The President reminded the public that is illegal to perform HR roles in organisations, provide tuition for professional exams, train HR professionals, outsource personnel o provide other HR services if you are not a member of the CIHRM-Ghana.
The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, in a message delivered on his behalf, noted that the future of work is being reshaped by Artificial Intelligence, automation, robotics and other emerging technologies.
These developments, he said, “require us to rethink how we prepare people for employment and leadership.”
Employers, he stated, are increasing looking for persons with technical knowledge and 21st century skills like critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, adaptivity, communication and digital competence.
This development has stressed, calls for stronger collaboration between education institutions, industry, policy makers and professional bodies.
