MANILA, Philippines \u2014 Close to 500 HR leaders and executives filled Dusit Thani Manila on July 8, 2026 for
\nthe State of HR Summit 2026, Sprout Solutions’ flagship event on the future of work. Held to full capacity under
\nthe theme Leading a People-First AI Transformation, the summit explored how organizations can use AI to
\naccelerate performance while keeping people at the center of change.<\/p>\n
AI Is Operational, Not Experimental<\/b><\/p>\n
Sprout Chief Operating Officer Kislay Chandra <\/b>opened with the reframing that ran through the day: “The question is no longer whether AI will reshape work, it’s how leaders choose to shape that transformation,”<\/i> he said. “The organizations that win will be the ones that combine human capability and AI well.”<\/i><\/p>\n
The State of HR 2026 Report: AI & the Filipino Workforce<\/b>, a nationwide study of 3,500+ employees across 13 industries, backed him up: 78% of Filipino employees now use AI daily, with higher use associated with more output, less stress, and greater recognition. Yet only 35% receive role-specific AI training: a clear gap between AI adoption and enablement.<\/p>\n
Reframing the Human Side of AI<\/b><\/p>\n
In the opening keynote,\u00a0Cliff Eala, CEO of BS Works<\/b>, argued that a people-first approach prioritizes augmentation over automation. “AI skills on their own are useful,” <\/i>he said, “but it becomes far more valuable when you pair it with real domain expertise.” Leaders, he added, must actively redesign jobs around the moving line between what should be automated and what should be augmented, and make upskilling and reskilling role-specific rather than generic.<\/p>\n
His sharpest point was complementarity: AI skill matters most when paired with genuine domain expertise. He also warned that outsourcing too much thinking to AI can erode the human judgment that experience builds. “We often don\u2019t have complete, accurate, and timely information. This absence breeds uncertainty, which begs for judgment. And this is exactly where the human is needed.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
From Strategy to Adoption<\/b><\/p>\n
In Five Shifts Defining the AI-Native Workplace,<\/i> moderated by Maria Lourdes Ann Cruz <\/b>of Lufthansa Technik Philippines <\/b>with Dannah Majarocon <\/b>of Jobstreet by SEEK<\/b>, Alvanson So<\/b>, former Regional People Lead for\u00a0Canva<\/b>, and Marvin Zoilo <\/b>of Tech Mahindra<\/b>, panelists named a familiar Philippine tension: many workers are fluent in mobile and social media but still underuse AI for real work, making AI adoption less about access and more about demonstrating practical value.<\/p>\n
That thread continued in Operationalizing AI: Aligning People, Process, and Performance,<\/b> moderated by Firdausi Ismail II Abbas<\/b> of Acquire Intelligence<\/b> with panelists from CIMB Bank<\/b>, Booth<\/b>, and MindYou<\/b>. Their core message: employee buy-in is the real bottleneck. Leaders can set direction, but adoption fails if people cannot see how AI helps in their own work.<\/p>\n
Making Adoption Stick<\/b><\/p>\n
In Your Team Has AI. Now What?<\/b>, Mia Cuenco, Director for Human Resources at Smartsourcing<\/b>,\u00a0argued that people create value while AI amplifies capacity. She framed transformation as the alignment of leadership, people, process, platforms, and AI around a clear purpose, stressed that work should be redesigned before it is automated, and challenged the room to ask not how AI can replace work, but how it can enrich people.<\/p>\n
Sprout’s Francis Pe\u00f1a, Commercial Director<\/b>, then led the roadmap session, Building an AI-Ready Workplace for 2026 and Beyond<\/i>. Anchoring the demo in the question “What is your why?”, Pe\u00f1a showed how Sprout’s people-first AI platform connects payroll, compliance, performance, and people data, including Sidekick<\/b>, Sprout HR’s AI assistant built to answer employee questions on payslips, compliance, and products, and the Command Center<\/b> that lets HR admins orchestrate multiple functions in one place; Foresight,<\/b> Sprout’s new AI-powered predictive and prescriptive HR analytics solution; and Comply<\/b>, its compliance solution built to keep pace with evolving Philippine labor and tax regulations.<\/p>\n
Pe\u00f1a also walked through Sprout’s two performance management solutions: Sprout Perform<\/b>, an add-on to Sprout HR that digitizes the full appraisal cycle from KPI scoring to digital signatures; and Perform Pro<\/b>, powered by Peoplebox.ai, which adds AI-supported reviews, OKR alignment, and 360 feedback.<\/p>\n
What Leaders Must Do Differently<\/b><\/p>\n
The leadership panels sharpened the human angle. In Leading Human Performance in an AI-Driven Workplace<\/i>, moderated by Eli Harell of EmergePH <\/b>with May Manaog of IQ-EQ<\/b>, Julian Mengual of Medicard Philippines<\/b>, and Airon Caraullo of KMC<\/b>, speakers agreed the old expectation for leaders to know everything is obsolete; judgment, curiosity, accountability, and the ability to bring people together now matter more.<\/p>\n
In Mission-critical Skills, Roles, and Teams for the Next Era<\/i>, moderated by Atty. Arlene De Castro <\/b>with Cliff Eala<\/b>, <\/i>Fleire Castro of DashoContent<\/b>, and Dr. Raymond Sarmiento of mWell<\/b>, the panel noted that AI can compress teams but must not lower the bar for quality, and that competitive edge comes from orchestrating AI\u00a0well. Sustained upskilling and reskilling<\/b>, they added, is what keeps the Filipino workforce competitive as roles are redesigned.<\/p>\n
Recognizing People-First Workplaces<\/b><\/p>\n
The summit debuted the inaugural Sprout Foresight Awards<\/b>, powered by Foresight<\/b>, Sprout’s new AI-powered predictive and prescriptive HR analytics solution. Headlined by the Great Employer Awards<\/b>, the recognition honored organizations demonstrating workforce health and people-first workplace practices in the Philippines. Closing the day, Sprout\u2019s Chief Marketing Officer, Renzo Belardo<\/b>, returned to the summit’s core conviction: technology may change how work gets done, but people shape what comes next. \u201cThe challenge isn’t adopting AI, it’s helping people adopt a new way of working: every organization will eventually have similar AI capabilities, so the real differentiator will be leadership, the willingness to learn, and the courage to bring people along,\u201d<\/i> he concluded.<\/p>\n
Powered by Partners<\/b><\/p>\n
The State of HR Summit 2026 was powered by Sprout Solutions <\/b>and BS Works<\/b>, with support from platinum sponsors mWell and Singlife; gold sponsors Hubstaff, MetroMart, Xoxoday, and Medicard; and silver sponsor Hive Health<\/b>. Strategic partners included the Philippine Society for Talent Development (PSTD), MindYou, the British Chamber of Commerce Philippines (BCCP), Plan International, World Vision, IHRI, and RCBC x DiskarTech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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