Despite some misconceptions, HR insiders know there’s a whole world of complexity in their work — from navigating employee needs to integrating cutting-edge tech like AI. It’s about understanding and managing the evolving world of work.
We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Josh Bersin, Founder and CEO of The Josh Bersin Company, to talk through some of the challenges, trends and opportunities of AI within HR.
To learn more, read on for key takeaways and listen to the full podcast!
Humans are the key to great HR AI
Before you can integrate AI into your HR processes, you need to first listen to your most valuable resource — your people. “Employees are the most vested stakeholders in the company … when they speak up, they have important things to say,” Josh stressed.
Involving employees in the process of integrating AI into the organization can lead to more buy-in and uncover problems you never knew existed. “If given the opportunity to work on an organization redesign, employees will want to do it themselves,” Josh said. “They know what’s not working because they’re doing it.”
Evolving HR practices in the age of AI is not just about integrating new technologies, it requires finding new ways to engage and empower employees to work together toward a shared and cohesive goal.
“The key to growing a company is not for each individual to do more, it’s figuring out how to organize ourselves so that we can work together in new ways and on new platforms to do things differently.”
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How AI is reshaping HR practices
Human Resources has experienced many changes through the years, but the integration of AI into HR processes is poised to reshape every aspect of the way organizations find, engage, and retain talent. “AI is going to have, and already is having, dramatic impacts on every area of people management,” Josh said.
The scope of AI’s application in HR practices is vast and touches on all areas between recruitment and leadership development. Some of the main use cases of AI within HR include:
- Better data-driven decision-making: Josh says one problem HR professionals have currently is that “we have all this data on people … and we can never make sense of it.” AI can solve this challenge because it aggregates and analyzes large data sets, providing decision-makers with relevant, actionable insights.
- Streamlining inefficiencies: AI can also improve many of the manual tasks associated with HR activities surrounding recruitment, onboarding, employee development, performance management, pay and more. By automating and optimizing many of the redundant or manual activities, AI improves efficiencies and helps mitigate biases and inequities.
- Eliminating outdated tools and systems: Josh takes it a step further and says that AI will revolutionize many areas of HR, rendering “obsolete a whole bunch of the old ways we did things. Databases, transactional systems, knowledge management systems, learning, they’re all going to be revolutionized.”
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The challenges of AI in HR
“AI is not magic. It’s not going to do everything perfectly out of the box. Just like every other technology we’ve ever implemented, we’re going to have to take care of it. We’re going to have to make sure it has good data, we’re going to have to train it, we’re going to have to optimize it,” Josh emphasized.
The opportunities of artificial intelligence to enhance HR practices are evident — but harnessing the power of AI requires navigating the many challenges that it also brings.
- Unrealistic expectations: AI is not a silver bullet — it cannot solve all your problems. In fact, many AI systems require training, ongoing feedback and management to get them functioning optimally.
- Decision paralysis: It can be easy to drown in the sea of possibilities that AI affords you. To drive results, it’s best to start small and make incremental implementations.
- Cleansing data: The success of AI hinges on the quality of data it has to work with. Fragmented, inconsistent or missing data can hinder the effectiveness of your artificial intelligence.
- Implementation challenges: Integrating AI can bring additional hurdles relating to technological bottlenecks and employee pushback — especially as it relates to job security and purpose.
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How AI tech improves the employee experience
An underlying theme throughout the entire interview was the transformative role technology has in improving the employee experience (EX). From personalized communications and learning to employee well-being and performance management, the best AI for HR transcends operational efficiencies and productivity.
AI is tapping into the heart of what moves any organization forward — its employees.
By finding ways to make the workplace more seamless, equitable and personalized, AI is helping HR teams around the world improve the workplace for their employees.
Subscribe to keep learning
Connect with Josh on LinkedIn, and listen to the full podcast to learn more about the topics above and other insights related to balancing HR tech integrations. And subscribe to the Cohesion Podcast to hear from other internal comms, HR and IT professionals, providing structured, high-value, quick-hitting strategies and tactics.
