How to Use AI in HR and People Management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been increasingly adopted by global companies across the world, resulting in much change compared to the way businesses used to operate. Although improved efficiency and automation can be somewhat attested to the appropriate usage of AI, it’s important to also understand that AI can be misused in an organizational setting.

The adoption of AI in the workplace has proven to be beneficial, but it’s important that companies acknowledge potential flaws and understand how to appropriately use AI to responsibly benefit from it. In this article, we’ll discuss how we recommend using AI in the workplace and share examples of how AI can be used inappropriately, as well as providing our advice on how to integrate AI responsibly within the Human Resources and People Management field.

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Using AI Appropriately  

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Within Human Resources (HR) and People Management, AI can be a powerful tool to have in your arsenal. From streamlining processes, to facilitating learning and development programs, there are many benefits to including AI in your HR strategy.

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Enhance talent acquisition and recruitment processes
AI can be useful in multiple ways when it comes to recruiting and acquiring talent. Whether it be using AI to write job descriptions, screening resumes with AI or using AI to determine candidate suitability and whether they meet all the job description requirements. Not only will this save a significant amount of time for HR professionals, but it also reduces the amount of human bias we instinctively have when dealing with other people, ensuring your organization acquires good quality hires, based on merit.

Steamline pre-boarding, onboarding and offboarding processes
AI can be helpful in streamlining processes, whether it be for pre-boarding and onboarding new hires, or offboarding employees. Using AI as a tool to develop customized onboarding plans will undoubtedly save you a lot of time, but also ensure that the employee has a great experience from the day that they join the organization to the day that they leave. Using AI for your xboarding processes will ensure consistency across the board, making it easier to track progress.

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Automate repeat tasks and compliance matters
One of the most significant ways AI can make a difference within HR and people management is through automating tasks that are repetitive and that would usually require a substantial amount of time for HR professionals to complete. Things like leave allowances, processing of payroll, organizing digital documentation and tracking employee time and attendance can all be augmented and made more efficient with the help of AI.

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Facilitate learning and development programmes
With the help of AI, HR professionals are able to better facilitate learning and development programmes by personalizing the process. AI can help with analyzing individual career needs and goals, recommend learning plans that are suited to the employee and finally, track the progression of the goal or learning path. This enables your organization to adopt a continuous learning approach that also leaves your employees feeling engaged and empowered.

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Research of information and analysis of large data sets
AI can be incredibly effective in improving various aspects of the workplace by researching decades worth of information and data that would have previously been very time consuming and tedious. In addition to this, organizations can implement AI to analyze large data sets, which provides individuals with data in a summarized format that is easy to understand and consume, enabling them to make well-informed decisions and generate new ideas.

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Improve employee engagement and retention initiatives
One of the most powerful ways AI can be utilized within HR is in employee engagement initiatives. The correct AI tool will be able to analyze employee feedback, detect areas of improvement and recommend strategies to ensure employees are engaged and motivated at work.

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Using AI Inappropriately

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As powerful as AI can be in making a positive impact on your organization, there are also ways that AI can be unsuitable within the workplace. For example, using AI in place of HR professionals or relying solely on AI to make decisions can not only have a negative impact on profitability, but it can also diminish employee engagement, which is crucial to business success.

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Replacing people with AI
The field of HR and people management inherently revolves around people and in order for people or employees to identify with and build trust with an organization, they need a human touch point. By replacing people with AI, organizations run the risk of decreased employee engagement and increased turnover, having detrimental effects on overall business success and profitability.

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Relying solely on AI for decision making
AI can be useful in decision making through providing analytics or giving summarized results to predict trends. With that said, organizations should not rely solely on AI, but rather use it to enhance human decision making. Only making use of AI in decision making processes could pose risks to the organization through AI’s algorithmic bias, lack of empathy and tendency to overestimate quantitative metrics.

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Using data unethically and not respecting privacy
In order for AI to provide helpful information, it relies on the input you provide it. When data privacy is not respected or used ethically, it can lead to significant implications. When using AI, ensure that the data you have provided has been collected ethically and that those who have given you access, have also given their consent to using their information with AI.

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Disregarding AI biases
Certain AI tools can hold biases toward particular topics or even exaggerate them. In order to avoid this and to ensure that you receive honest and fair information, ensure that your organization is continually auditing the AI algorithms.

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Our recommended best practices for integrating AI in HR

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Establish ethical guidelines and standards for AI use

Before deciding to implement and integrate AI into your organization, ensure that you set clear guidelines and standards for AI usage within the workplace. Important areas to cover include; data protection and privacy, being transparent about AI usage with colleagues and employees, ensuring accountability and oversight of AI decisions and lastly, monitoring and executing plans to avoid AI biases.

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Find an equilibrium between AI and human touch  
When you have decided to integrate AI within your team or organization, ensure that you do not lose human connection with colleagues and employees. Rather, try to strike a balance between AI usage and human touch by continuously monitoring AI, but making sure that you give final approval. Use AI for routine, repetitive administrative tasks that are time consuming, that will allow you to focus on building relationships and managing situations that require human interaction. x

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Continually assess and audit AI practices
Once you have successfully integrated AI, ensure it is being continually assessed and audited as well as taking note of any feedback from colleagues or employees to ensure that the AI processes and practices that you have implemented remain effective and relevant to the organizations needs.

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Conclusion

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In conclusion, when used appropriately, AI can be a powerful tool to utilize in an HR or people management setting, whether it be through streamlining onboarding processes, facilitating learning and development plans or using it to automate repetitive tasks. However, organizations should acknowledge the key fact that AI is fundamentally a tool that can augment certain business processes, and that attributing human characteristics or treating it as such could pose risks.

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