In Spain, 58% of medium-sized companies plan to update or change their Human Capital Management (HCM) system in the next three years, compared to 43% that declare themselves satisfied with their current tool. These figures emerge from the latest study prepared by Workday, the AI-powered business platform for managing people, finances and agents, in collaboration with KPMG, based on a survey of more than 100 professionals from Spanish companies with between 250 and 2,500 employees.
Under the title “Trends and challenges in the Digitalization of HR in the Mid-Market in Spain”, the report analyzes the degree of digital maturity of the HR function in the Spanish mid-market, as well as the technological and organizational barriers that slow its evolution towards a more efficient and data-based model.
Talent shortage as a transversal barrier
The report confirms that the talent shortage is the most transversal barrier for companies in the Spanish mid-market: it affects almost all autonomous communities, sectors and company sizes, and is even more worrying than technological adoption – mentioned by almost four out of ten respondents in industry, technology, construction and financial services – or the economic context itself.
Integrations, the problem pointed out by one in two companies
When asked about the difficulties of their current solution, integrations with other systems top the list: one in two companies cite them as their main problem, ahead of usability and employee experience. This circumstance hinders the flow of information and reduces confidence in subsequent analyses.
However, when asked where they want to direct technological investment in the short term, companies prioritize Artificial Intelligence (35%) and data management (25%) over the unification of systems (22%) or strengthening security (9%). In other words: they want to advance in AI before solving the underlying problem, integrations, which the report identifies as one of the main risks for this digitalization to have a real impact.
The use of artificial intelligence in HR remains at 46%
The report confirms that HR operational processes (such as selection or talent management) maintain a relatively homogeneous degree of maturity, around 65%. The use of AI in these processes, on the other hand, is much lower, at only 46%, the lowest value in the entire survey.
This gap also appears in decision-making: only one in four companies claims to use data in an advanced way to decide, while two out of three recognize a low or very low level. AI, for its part, is already used in these organizations, although its actual integration into corporate applications continues to be a minority, which confirms that the challenge is not only technological, but also that of identifying use cases with real impact.
The Basque Country leads the digital maturity of HR
Beyond the national photograph, the study also allows us to analyze the degree of HR digitalization by autonomous community, revealing notable differences between territories. The Basque Country is consolidated as the most advanced region, with 73% maturity in the technological field and 77% in its internal HR processes, while Catalonia (40%) and Madrid (32%) are the communities where the most companies declare themselves dissatisfied with their current Human Capital Management (HCM) software.
Internal HR challenges also vary by territory: the talent shortage is of particular concern in the Basque Country (57%) and Madrid (46%), while in Catalonia (50%) and the Valencian Community (40%) the main challenge is digital transformation. These differences confirm that, although HR digitalization is advancing throughout Spain, it does so at different rates depending on the region, conditioned by the particularities of each business fabric.
Six levers to close the gap
The report summarizes in six keys how to accelerate the transformation of HR in the Spanish mid-market:
- Address the talent shortage as a strategic challenge, reinforcing external attraction and internal development (upskilling, reskilling, career plans) to improve retention.
- Align purpose, leadership and culture, so that technology can be adopted, sustained and scale within the organization.
- Strengthen the data foundations, with consistent models and robust integrations, before scaling analytics and AI.
- Simplify the technological architecture, prioritizing unified and easy-to-extend platforms.
- Adopt AI gradually, starting with concrete use cases with measurable impact.
- Consolidate HR as a strategic function, capable of anticipating talent needs and acting as an engine of productivity.
“These data confirm that medium-sized Spanish companies are at a key moment: they need to modernize their HR systems and, at the same time, make a decisive leap towards Artificial Intelligence. At Workday we are putting to work a new generation of AI agents, governed and with business context, on a single people and finance platform, so that AI stops being an isolated pilot and translates into better decisions and more agile processes. With solutions like Workday GO, designed specifically for the mid-enterprise, we bring these capabilities closer to medium-sized companies without the complexity of large technological deployments,” comments Adolfo Pellicer, VP & Country Manager of Workday in Iberia.
The study also allows us to analyze the degree of HR digitalization by autonomous community, revealing notable differences between territories
“The Spanish mid-market has a clear opportunity to close the gap between its operational processes, already mature, and its strategic ambition to address the talent challenge. The companies that organize their talent strategy, the services with which to execute it, their data and resolve their integration problems before scaling up in artificial intelligence will be the ones that turn this transformation into a real competitive advantage, and not just another investment with no clear return,” adds Miguel Valdivieso, partner responsible for People & Change at KPMG in Spain.
