HR departments are now taking full advantage of all the emerging technologies to improve the way people work and connect. According to a leading AI specialist, Avi Ben Ezra, the CTO of SnatchBot: “Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning and analytics will continue to be essential to the leaders and the teams of human resources departments over the next 5 years as they strive to improve the work environment, hire the right employees and boost business decisions and productivity”.
So what should you know about chatbots for human resources departments?
These intelligent machines can leverage the needs of candidates, employees, and employers. Even though the field of technology is vast and ever-changing, most companies and their employees are ready to embrace it and the resources that it offers.
The most common uses for AI in HR up until recently were about keeping employees informed about company policies, identifying candidates, training and learning recommendations for employees, employee engagement, screening and assessing.
As the technologies have improved AI is deployed for employees to request time off and to check their benefit changes – a process that is easier. AI is also used to identify employees who are unhappy and considering resigning and it can also make career suggestions to existing employees.
Avi Ben Ezra also explained that with their “no-coding” approach on the new version of the chatbot platform, there is no need for technical expertise: “The Chatbot store is essentially a bot store where you can buy some of the best templates in the world: HR, Travel, Finance, Generic Customer service and so forth. For this reason, adoption rates are soaring and small businesses are jumping on board with ease”.
These are the current trends that every chief human resource officer (CHRO) needs to watch in the year ahead:
Artificial Intelligence is an asset to the workplace
Employees within companies no longer need to carry out repetitive and mundane tasks as these are been taken over by AI. Chatbots are one example of how HR teams have had their workload reduced and they save HR departments time and resources to perform other strategic tasks that can lead to increased productivity and profitability.
Analyzing the available talent
Data-driven decision making has been adopted by many organizations to analyze people and their performances. HR departments and business leaders use these analyses to sort out the talent within and manage their performance to ensure boosted productivity by maximizing the potential of employees.
Improving the employee experience
The employee experience does not only include decent renumeration and a healthy work environment. Many employees are not receiving any communication or have any interaction with their employer once they are employed. AI can automate candidate engagement; which needs be made in real-time and with a unique approach.
Employee engagement can be improved by investing in technologies and tools that can be customized and configured to give them a wonderful experience. Employees feel empowered when they have technologies available to them that assist them in their daily tasks.
Performance management needs to be continuous
Continuous feedback and periodic review have become easier with technology allows HR to offer recognition and coaching where needed. The benefits of continuous performance management include increased productivity, more employee engagement and talent retention.
Employees seek growth and career opportunities
AI incorporates training, mentoring and coaching to help employees increase their skills and competencies. This ensures that they perform better at their jobs and is what they crave because they want growth and better career opportunities in their existing workplace. By offering continuous learning opportunities, companies encourage their employees to adapt to new roles and technologies and the responsibilities that come with them.
Support and customized training offered by AI gives employees the ability to develop their careers. Managers and leaders can often not provide the training needed, and AI can scale the program for the different departments and also for individual needs.
Insights from employee engagement surveys
Work culture is important for employee engagement and companies need to be able to measure it. Employee engagement surveys are the best way to gather anonymous feedback from them. This gives companies insights on how to create a people-friendly culture and an environment where employees put more effort into their work; increasing employee engagement.
Avoiding pitfalls in AI implementation
As more companies around the world embrace AI in their HR departments, indications are that most already use some form of the technology. AI helps employers to eliminate bias in the hiring process and applicants for positions are employed on business performance and employee engagement rather than other criteria that may include gender, race or even an expensive education.
HR departments need to be aware of the pitfalls of AI and ensure that the HR technology that they decide to use identifies patterns that may unknowingly eliminate certain candidates who don’t fit traditional patterns.
Finally
CHROs and their HR team need to provide HR technology companies with feedback and suggestions so that they can understand what needs are most important to them. Human resources can only continue getting better with the input from AI, NLP and machine learning.
