4 Ways HR Applies Artificial Intelligence
Add bookmark
Business leaders, including Human Resources professionals, are always talking about artificial intelligence (AI) these days. While this technology is still relatively new for the masses and is continously advancing, it is starting to become more popular.
AI is designed to perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence. This allows for automation of busy work, which can free up talent to do more creative and strategic work that requires the human touch.
Discover some of the ways HR leaders are applying AI:
Chatbots
These conversational AI platforms answer commonly asked questions from job candidates and employees. For instance, if employees want to know about the amount of paid time off (PTO) available to them, the chatbot can respond. It can also answer questions about other benefits, compensation, documents that need to be signed, etc.
By now, most people have interacted with a chatbot for customer service. This is the same idea, but it is used in both the hiring process and through the employee lifecycle. The trend to treat employees like customers is taking flight, and this is merely an extention of that idea.
READ: Recruiting Best Practices: Treat Employees Like Customers
Recruitment
Large, well-known companies receive an enormous number of resumes or CVs. Often, there simply are not enough humans - or hours in the day - to scan each of them. Enter AI. It can scan these documents for keywords to help eliminate those who are not qualified and elevate those who are.
HR professionals are divided on the effectiveness of this application of AI. Most agree that it is a time saver and a necessity for certain organizations. However, some show concern that there could be bias in this process. The humans in HR need to oversee the technology, audit it, and consider their own potential bias in programming it.
Learning and Development
AI has the potential to be part of strong L&D programs. For a number of years, learning professionals have been moving toward providing customized education. The AI technology allows for personalization. AI learning platforms can help identify strengths and weaknesses, make recommendations on further learning, and provide personalized assessments and training that adapt to the skill of the user.
This use for AI has not reached its full potential, according to the latest HR Exchange Network report on machine learning and AI. However, the potential is there. Most experts fully expect learning to be the next major frontier for AI application.
REPORT: Employee Engagement and Experience for the Post-COVID World
Employee Satisfaction
In polling and surveying employees, HR professionals can gauge job satisfaction. With AI, they can identify key indicators that suggest an employee may be thinking of quitting. In fact, some have found this useful in addressing attrition.
However, once managers learn of the data points related to attrition, they have to make some ethical decisions about how to respond. After all, if an HR leader believes an employee will be leaving, does she start looking for job candidates, try to intervene to prevent the employee from leaving, or something else?
In any case, understanding attrition is another way to apply AI. Although AI is in its infant stage in HR, it is beginning to gain attention because of how it can help ease the burdens of HR leaders. The potential for application to other parts of Human Resources is growing. By all accounts, experts in AI fully expect HR to be using AI more regularly in the years to come.
To learn more about this technology, read the HR Guide to Machine Learning and AI.
Photo by Alex Knight for Pexels
