How HR stands to benefit from artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to boost performance and efficiency across the business and, in the long run, yield a profound impact on an organization’s bottom line.

Most business executives recognize the value AI brings, and are devising strategies to implement AI enterprise-wide. However, Human Resources (HR) is often overlooked, resulting in the department being a bit of a laggard when it comes to leveraging the new technology’s potential.

That should no longer be the case, however, as HR groups are exceptionally positioned to profit from AI. And, given that the department is at the center of the business, connecting every other function together, ensuring HR is finely-tuned will be crucial to businesses’ ongoing digital transformation initiatives.

From recruitment to managing relationships within the organization, HR leaders can easily find themselves overwhelmed. Without a solid game plan or the right know-how, HR executives attempting to integrate AI into their workstreams will be setting themselves up for disappointment.

To execute AI adoption effectively, organizations adopting HR must focus on areas where its impact will be greatest. Here are some considerations.

# 1 | Candidate experiences

Firstly, just as with customers, retaining employee loyalty is all about fostering the right workplace experience. It then follows that modernizing HR means customizing, quantifying and maximizing the employee or candidate’s experience. AI tools can help free up the time for HR to provide more personal experiences, by automating processes such as form-filling and data entry.

# 2 | Optimizing recruitment

Hiring processes are lengthy and complicated: hiring managers must sift through hundreds of resumes before they can narrow down to a smaller selection.

AI and Machine Learning can help shorten the process. Based on a set of pre-determined criteria, AI can do the initial rounds of candidate selection, reducing the hiring manager’s workload. This enables companies to quickly identify talents, and scoop them up before competitors do.

# 3 | Uniting the HR team

Everyone involved in HR, from leaders to employees, ought to have a basic knowledge of how AI works. They can begin with understanding how AI and automation technology is being used across industries, such as chatbots in customer service, or RPA software in finance.

AI can be intimidating, especially for the non-technical person. With a department-wide functional AI knowledge, half the battle for the successful AI implementation will already be won. When employees see the value AI brings, they will then be more encouraged to adopt, and even innovate, with AI.

It is an unfortunate misconception that AI will take the human factor out of HR, as AI does just the opposite: by taking care of the more predictable, repetitive tasks, HR employees can focus on building meaningful human relationships.

This helps a great deal when it comes to designing solutions, as HR can have the time to empathize and understand the needs of employees and gain a better understanding of where AI can oil the engine, whether in HR or elsewhere in the business.

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