Goldman Sachs' AI reboot is a blueprint HR leaders can use now
Goldman Sachs is rolling out OneGS 3.0-a multiyear push to weave AI across every division and function. CFO Denis Coleman framed it as a way to simplify operations, raise productivity, and create room for scale and growth. The focus is clear: better data quality, shared platforms, and accountability for measurable outcomes.
What's changing inside OneGS 3.0
The firm is asking employees to rethink human-driven workflows and shift repeatable work to digitized, automated systems. Investments include AI and agentic AI (systems that can take actions within guardrails) to speed up core processes. Six workstreams are reviewing activities, isolating pain points, and bringing formal business cases to leadership.
- Companywide scope: business lines, control functions, and engineering
- Data first: quality, availability, accuracy, and timeliness
- Shared platforms over one-off tools
- Funding tied to productivity targets and ownership
HR implications you can act on
This isn't just tech. It's operating model change that touches hiring, skills, performance, and incentives. Your job: make the people system match the new way work gets done.
- Skills and roles: add AI literacy, workflow automation, data hygiene, and model oversight to job architectures
- Process ownership: assign business process owners and AI champions in each function
- Productivity baselines: measure cycle times and error rates now so gains are real, not anecdotal
- Change support: train managers to redesign work, not pile new tools onto old steps
Talent strategy: high bar, selective intake, and clear rewards
Coleman noted more than a million people seek lateral moves to the firm each year, while acceptance sits well below 1%. Earlier in 2025, Goldman trimmed the bottom 3%-5% of performers, then signaled a net headcount increase by year-end with targeted hiring in growth areas. The message: keep the bar high and pay for outcomes.
- Quality over volume: prioritize precision hiring for critical capabilities over broad increases
- Front-load performance: pull reviews forward to correct course and redeploy talent faster
- Compensation: keep strong alignment between impact, scarce skills, and pay positioning
- Internal mobility: create fast lanes for top performers to move into AI-enabled roles
Plan with the macro in mind
Coleman called the U.S. backdrop resilient, with an expected 25 bps cut at the next Fed decision, a likely pause into early 2026, and possibly two more cuts after. He also flagged 2025 as on track to be the second-biggest year ever for announced M&A. For HR, that means readiness for integration, onboarding at pace, and leadership coverage for growth segments.
- Build integration squads: HRBP + TA + L&D + Comms to handle M&A spikes
- Update workforce plans with multiple hiring and redeployment scenarios
- Keep a short-list of contingent talent for surge needs
Federal Reserve monetary policy updates
Your 90-day HR action list
- Map top 10 manual workflows per function; run two-week redesign sprints
- Stand up six cross-functional workstreams with clear targets and owners
- Publish a data quality playbook for HR data (definitions, owners, SLAs)
- Baseline productivity metrics and set quarterly improvement goals
- Refresh job architectures with AI-enabled tasks and decision rights
- Launch manager training on AI-supported work design and change conversations
- Recalibrate performance and rewards to emphasize measurable outcomes
- Create an internal mobility path into AI/automation roles with fast approval cycles
Upskilling that matches the shift
If your teams need structured programs by job function, see this curated catalog: AI courses by job. Focus on practical skills that improve cycle time, quality, and decision speed.
Bottom line
Goldman's approach centers on data discipline, shared platforms, and holding teams to productivity outcomes-while keeping hiring selective and rewards performance-driven. HR leaders can borrow the same playbook: redesign work, upgrade skills, and tie investment to measurable gains. Do that, and AI becomes a practical growth engine, not another tool shelf.
Your membership also unlocks:
