HR is currently undergoing an automation revolution. Many companies are pressuring their HR departments to start implementing artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. They want HR teams to use AI adoption to speed up processes, streamline workflows, and reduce headcount. There are plenty of different AI tools already in use across various functions.
The Automation Revolution in HR: What You Need to Know About AI in Human Resources
Ethical and careful implementation is vital to avoid serious issues and the legal consequences that can accompany them. Human oversight is still very necessary. We’ll go over some of the areas that garner the most questions to provide an understanding of what’s happening, how AI should (and shouldn’t) be used, and some of the emerging trends in this new landscape of HR.
What Tasks Can AI Handle in HR — Should It Always?
There’s a fine line between what AI can handle and what it should handle. Employers and HR departments need to walk it very carefully. Let’s start with what it can do.
The Current Scope of AI Tools In HR:
- Recruiting: AI can sort through resumes and present a short list of top candidates for a given position.
- Onboarding: Employee onboarding can be completely automated.
- Tailored Learning: The company’s LMS can use AI to create the ideal learning path for each employee. It can also send out custom upskilling and reskilling learning paths proactively.
- Employee Queries: An AI chatbot can answer many of the simple questions it receives, like vacation and pay statement requests.
- Performance Monitoring: Rather than annual reviews, some companies are opting for a continuous monitoring AI system that sets employee goals and tracks progress, coaching them along the way with constant feedback.
- Employee Engagement: AI is even being used to monitor employee behavior for signs of disengagement and stress, and make personalized recommendations to improve workplace safety and satisfaction as well as employee wellbeing.
That’s a lot of functionality. Obviously, the pros are speed, scalability, and cost savings. However, there are some hefty risks. These AI tools pick up on patterns humans can’t see. Sometimes that’s good.
Other times, AI notices subtle unconscious bias in the data it’s trained on. It sees patterns like fewer employees of color or fewer women in management and then weighs those factors as less desirable, recreating the bias that already exists.
Plus, being coached by AI likely won’t have all the same benefits as a meeting with HR. Sometimes, people have real issues like loss of a loved one or medical problems. AI can tell them how to improve, but it can’t care about the cause.
Sometimes, just talking to someone really helps. AI lacks empathy and human connection. That may have an impact on employees long term. It may even make employees feel like the company doesn’t care about them.
Will AI Eliminate the Need for Human HR Professionals?
No, AI is not on course to completely replace human HR professionals, and here’s why. Firstly, there’s a lot of legal complexity involved which requires constant human oversight to allow AI to function without extreme consequences. Many of the laws and regulations in place require human oversight of AI.
There are also plenty of functions that are still too complex for AI to manage, like nuanced conflict resolution. Office culture and employee thriving still require human connections and interactions.
Also, all this change is shaking things up quite a bit. However, companies still require people who understand the systems and employee needs well enough to guide these changes in the right direction. These change management consultants will be human HR pros.
The common thread in most articles about AI in HR is that they all list human oversight and management as vital. Some experts believe that this process will just move HR professionals to new roles where they can add value without the constant repetition of administrative tasks that AI can now handle.
What Are the Legal and Ethical Risks of Using AI in HR?
Firstly, there are concerns about bias and discrimination. AI has a well-documented history of bias, from excluding historically marginalized groups to having much lower accuracy with racial minorities. Sometimes HR AI tools intend to avoid bias, but instead, they can replicate it. Companies can be held liable for these outcomes.
It’s also important to know exactly what data collection is taking place, where it goes, and how it’s used. Then, be transparent about that. If you have an AI program watching employee performance, they deserve to know what is being watched, what gets collected, and why.
It’s vital to know the legal and regulatory rules currently in place and keep up with changes.
How Can HR Teams Maintain Fairness and Trust with AI Tools?
The best thing you can do is make your AI practices as transparent as possible. Have your AI algorithms audited for bias by a third-party. Ensure there’s no bias in the data that will cause problems later. Whenever possible, use objective metrics to make decisions, not black-box AI choices.
Your HR teams obviously can’t all be AI experts or be expected to know what data and algorithms went into their creation. However, it’s vital that the decisions your organization makes can be explained. Humans should be involved in every step, and if something seems off or a choice can’t be explained, look into it right away.
The more open and honest the process is at every stage, the better it is for everyone.
How Is AI Disrupting Traditional Hiring?
While there are benefits to using AI for both employers and employees, there are downsides, too. AI resume creation tools are allowing some dishonest applicants to add keywords to their resumes to get picked by the AI tools employers are using to pick ideal candidates. In turn, qualified candidates aren’t getting interviews because they aren’t focused on adapting their resume for AI.
People on both sides are getting frustrated. Their response? They’re going old-school. Candidates are taking printed copies of their resume directly to potential employers to circumvent the resume bots. Employers are increasing in-person interviews and work trials to test out applicants and new hires and ensure they’re as qualified as their resumes suggest.
What Does Slowing Hiring Mean for AI Adoption and HR’s Role?
The future is uncertain. Many companies are instituting a hiring freeze in certain AI-prone areas until they have a better picture of the days ahead. The economy is turbulent, policy is shifting, and AI is making it unclear which employees they still need to hire, and which are no longer needed.
Until things start to stabilize, HR departments need to focus on keeping current talent, reskilling the employees whose jobs are being mitigated by AI, and planning their workforces more strategically. Focus on the things that AI will create a need for, like people who watch for bias and implement AI tools. Then, shape your current staff to fill those roles.
How Can HR Lead in Upskilling and the Future of Work?
AI is coming. There may be some regulations, and some types might be outlawed, but AI will continue to infiltrate HR and all other areas of work. Avoidance is not an option. HR teams must adapt. Employees should be trained to do their jobs more efficiently using AI tools. Others should be trained in new areas that AI creates, like change consulting.
Instead of refusing to use AI out of fear that it will take your jobs, use it to make you more effective at your job. Any tasks that can be automated should be. Use predictive analysis to determine when different tasks should be performed. Show that the tools make your HR teams better, not obsolete.
What Are Emerging Best Practices for Hybrid Management of AI and Humans?
AI is efficient at a great many tasks. It can analyze data faster than a human could scroll through it. It sees patterns the human brain could never imagine. However, it can’t care about people, show real empathy, or understand the human experience.
People need human contact. You can’t automate away biology. Instead, use AI for the things it excels at, like comprehensive data analysis, predictive insights, and organization. Then, give that information to people.
You can’t have a Human Resources department without humans. Humans should oversee all functions for regulatory compliance and employee trust. Be transparent about its use and data collection.
Give employees clear methods of feedback to point out issues with the AI tools. Always remember that people aren’t machines. They have feelings and emotional needs. Lead with empathy.
AI Is a Powerful Tool in the Hands of HR Professionals
AI is not the equivalent of a human being. It never can be. AI is a tool. In the hands of trained professionals, they can be very powerful and helpful. The problem is when people forget that and try to replace one with the other. Both humans and AI work at their best when they work together.
The future is now. AI won’t completely replace HR professionals, but if HR teams don’t learn to maximize their roles and efficiency by leveraging AI, then companies will just find HR workers who can. Educate your HR teams on the uses of AI. Help them use any tools the company implements.
Using AI will likely be like using Word or Excel in the 1990s. Some employees resisted change and refused to learn. They weren’t replaced by the tools. They were replaced with people who knew how to use them.
Implement AI ethically and transparently, and always have human oversight, but ignoring them isn’t an option. They’re not going anywhere.
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