AI and the HR Industry

In early May, IBM announced its plans to pause hiring for about 7,800 back-office HR jobs. The reason, however, isn’t an economy-driven hiring freeze¬—it’s artificial intelligence.

Though we’re all still learning what tasks we can delegate to these evolving systems, this news from IBM does not indicate the end of HR. Like many other fields, it’s experiencing transition.

HR in transition

Right now, businesses are figuring out two things: 1) what operations can utilize AI and 2) how this alters their workers’ capacity.

We can say AI assistants make accomplishing many HR tasks a lot faster. For example, proofreading a document can now take seconds instead of minutes. Crafting a professional company email can be done from a small, bullet-pointed list.

This change has resulted in a workload shift, meaning employees can now fit more tasks within their workday. HR professionals who may have spent half their jobs sorting resumes have more time to do what AI systems can’t, like conducting job interviews. 

While those in HR are happy to have AI systems handle the more tedious tasks, they do need to recognize the reality it comes with—As they accomplish more in the workday, the staff needed to perform these functions is decreasing.

Navigating the new HR

Remember the “human” word in “human resources.”

While AI can offer numerous benefits in HR, it's essential to strike the right balance between automation and personability. It’s only through combining AI technology with human expertise and empathy that you can create an impactful HR experience for your employees.

Tips for business owners looking to use AI for HR:

• Start small: Implementing AI in HR is an iterative process. Begin with smaller, focused projects to test the technology's effectiveness and feasibility within your organization.
• Foster employee trust and transparency: Communicate openly with your employees about the AI systems you're implementing in HR processes.
• Educate and train HR teams: Provide training and resources to help HR professionals understand AI concepts, data analytics, and how to interpret and act on AI-driven insights.
• Regularly evaluate and measure impact: Measure factors such as efficiency gains, cost savings, employee satisfaction, retention rates, and diversity and inclusion metrics.

If you’re not doing so already, you should also take advantage of HR automation software to improve efficiency. Our proven systems can help you automate tasks like scheduling interviews, tracking employee time off, and managing employee benefits. Reach out for a demo!