The future of work
Your weekly briefing on AI and human collaboration
ISSUE 017 | 26 OCTOBER 2026 | WEEK 20–26 OCTOBER 2026
This week in perspective
This week’s evidence places people at the centre of AI performance. Charter’s findings link employee agency and manager support to better outcomes, while ServiceNow reports widespread security incidents involving agents. Alongside these signals, research on videoconferencing highlights human strain; Wiz identifies AI-assisted cyberattacks; and Scaler documents demand for technical professionals who can work closely with customers. For CHROs, this is not five separate issues. It is a work-design question: are we giving people the authority, skills and support to work effectively with increasingly autonomous technology, while measuring both value and risk?
Top stories
01 Employee agency matters more than AI sophistication
On 21 October, Charter released its AI Pulse study, drawing on more than 5,000 surveys and 90 interviews. Employee influence over how AI fits into work emerged as a leading factor associated with benefiting from AI. Managers reported substantially more support than employees recalled receiving.
Why it matters: Tool sophistication alone will not translate into improved work if employees cannot shape use cases, practise safely and receive visible managerial support.
SOURCE [1] Charter · Brian Elliott and Christina Janzer · 21 October 2026 · Read original source
02 Agentic security readiness trails exposure
On 20 October, ServiceNow released a study of more than 3,700 global security leaders. It reported that 90% of surveyed organisations had experienced an agentic-AI security incident in the previous year, while only 13% satisfied the study’s criteria for a defensible programme.
Why it matters: The figures are survey findings using ServiceNow’s assessment criteria; nevertheless, they sharpen the case for practical agent ownership, permission limits, visibility and response controls.
SOURCE [2] ServiceNow · Deployed but Ungoverned research · 20 October 2026 · Read original source
03 Hybrid meeting fatigue adds hidden human costs
Research first published online on 21 October analysed surveys of 383 employees in Taiwan. Videoconferencing fatigue was associated with work exhaustion, while a direct association with perceived meeting effectiveness was not statistically supported. The cross-sectional findings do not establish causation.
Why it matters: A meeting may appear effective while contributing to exhaustion. Hybrid-work design should measure cognitive demand, employee experience and collaboration outcomes together.
SOURCE [3] Chang and Yang · WORK / SAGE · 21 October 2026 · Read original source
04 Autonomous attack tooling targets identity systems
On 22 October, Wiz described activity associated with the ARTEX autonomous penetration-testing framework against IT and software vendors. Researchers observed repeated attempts involving identity providers, authentication flows and customer-data access, illustrating the ability to automate parts of an attack workflow.
Why it matters: Defensive controls must anticipate repeated machine-paced probing of identity and connected systems, not simply a larger volume of traditional manual attacks.
SOURCE [4] Wiz Research · Sapir Federovsky and Rami McCarthy · 22 October 2026 · Read original source
05 Forward-deployed roles combine technical and human skills
On 22 October, Scaler and CyberMedia Research reported findings from 1,000 engineers and 200 enterprise decision-makers in India. Among surveyed enterprises, 88% expected demand for forward-deployed engineers to increase by 2030, connecting applied AI, production deployment and customer engagement.
Why it matters: This is India-specific, forward-looking survey evidence—not a global hiring forecast. It illustrates demand for people able to translate business needs into deployed AI solutions.
SOURCE [5] Scaler × CyberMedia Research · Team Scaler · 22 October 2026 · Read original source
ALISON’S VIEW
Human in the lead means changing the design of work, not just the tools
Alison Ettridge | Founder, AmpliTask | Draft for approval
There is a contradiction at the heart of many AI programmes. We expect people to embrace intelligent technology, yet we often give them little influence over how it changes their work. We count automated tasks, but rarely measure the new effort required to supervise agents, challenge decisions or keep digital collaboration sustainable. And we talk about autonomy without being sufficiently clear about authority.
For me, these are all symptoms of an outdated operating model. Future-ready organisations will not simply add agents to yesterday’s processes. They will redesign tasks, decisions, hand-offs, accountability and capability together. They will make the human contribution more valuable, not less visible.
The question for CHROs is therefore not “How many employees are using AI?” It is “Are we designing work that people and intelligent systems can do better together?”
Themes to watch
Agency and accountability: Charter and ServiceNow together suggest that work redesign must join employee influence with enforceable agent controls. Track whether practical participation and clear permissions improve outcomes, not merely confidence. [1, 2]
Human cost and hybrid capability: Meeting-fatigue evidence and emerging forward-deployed roles point to two sides of AI-enabled work: cognitive strain and higher-value integration skills. Monitor both workforce wellbeing and actual capability transitions. [3, 5]
Key actions for workforce leaders
Prioritise three measurable actions grounded in this week’s evidence.
| Action and intended outcome | Owner / timing | Evidence of progress |
| Co-design one AI-enabled workflow with employees; document influence, oversight tasks and manager support. [1] | CHRO + functional lead Within 2 weeks | Mapped decisions and hand-offs; employee feedback and manager commitments recorded. |
| Audit live agents, external permissions and abnormal-action response; test an agent stop procedure. [2, 4] | CISO + AI platform owner Within 30 days | Agent inventory, accountable owner, access controls, test result and remediation log. |
| Review one hybrid team and one emerging AI-enabled role for strain and new skills. [3, 5] | People Analytics + L&D Within 30 days | Meeting-load baseline, wellbeing pulse and role capability map with development actions. |
Sources and further reading
[1] Charter · Brian Elliott and Christina Janzer · 21 October 2026 · https://www.charterworks.com/research/ai-pulse/
[2] ServiceNow · Deployed but Ungoverned research · 20 October 2026 · https://newsroom.servicenow.com/press-releases/details/2026/ServiceNow-Research-Study-Warns-Security-Leaders-Ungoverned-Agentic-AI-Exposure-Is-Compounding-Inside-Enterprises/default.aspx
[3] Chang and Yang · WORK / SAGE · 21 October 2026 · https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10519815261497297
[4] Wiz Research · Sapir Federovsky and Rami McCarthy · 22 October 2026 · https://www.wiz.io/blog/artex-in-the-wild-storm-0940-expands-targeting-of-it-and-software-vendors
[5] Scaler × CyberMedia Research · Team Scaler · 22 October 2026 · https://www.scaler.com/blog/forward-deployed-engineering-indias-next-%E2%82%B91-crore-salary-opportunity-scaler-x-cmr-report/
Source types: Charter and ServiceNow report survey findings; the SAGE article is peer-reviewed research; Wiz publishes incident analysis; Scaler reports a company-sponsored industry survey. Accessed 28 October 2026.
Continue the conversation
Where could your organisation create more value by redesigning the relationship between employees and AI agents? Contact Alison to explore a practical work-re-engineering diagnostic, starting with a priority workflow.
AmpliTask · Maximising human impact in the future of work.
www.amplitask.com | alison@amplitask.com | LinkedIn
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