How AI is impacting HR Viewpoint careers advice blog

How AI is impacting HR Nowadays, many of us think nothing of speaking into a device and asking it to add an item to a shopping list, or play a song we cannot remember the title of. We understand that when companies use Facebook Messenger or Twitter to communicate with us, we’re ‘talking’ to a chatbot, not a human being. However, artificial intelligence (AI) tools have not quite made the same impact at work. “The world of work still has a lot of catching up to do with the consumer world,” says Steve Moore, Head of HR at financial advisers Hymans Robertson. “We are used to doing things on smartphones, but current systems are poorly optimised for them so there is a lag already â€" that needs to start closing quickly and providers must respond to this direction of travel.” Companies are beginning to catch up and AI is growing in use across some sectors: 38 per cent of 10,400 respondents from 140 countries surveyed for 2017 Deloitte Human Capital Trends research said they are already using AI in their workplace, and 62 per cent expect to do so by 2018. A third of employees surveyed said they think their jobs will be augmented by AI in the future. “Right now my clients are multinationals, simply because they are the ones with the largest volumes of data, the ones that risk the most by not going digital,” says Inma Martinez, Chief Data Scientist at AI agency Right Brain Future and Venture Partner at Deep Science Ventures, an investor for science start-ups. “AI really means something when companies have vast amounts of data. It is dangerous for them to have no idea what it means for them â€" they lose competitiveness against tech companies.” AI in HR Aside from high-tech early adopters, AI is “just starting to touch HR”, states Tim Payne, a Partner in KPMG’s People Consulting practice. Machine learning, in which algorithms make predictions about data, is beginning to have an impact on candidate search and selection, while also predicting learning retention. “Some search firms are using machine learning to identify passive candidates through their online behaviour,” Payne explains. “In learning and development, some are starting to use algorithms to identify the topics that people would like to learn more about â€" a bit like Spotify.” According to the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, AI technologies such as predictive analytics are changing how companies hire and retain talent and forecast workforce trends. “However, the costs associated with the implementation of AI and the skills necessary to run the technology have meant that very few companies around the world use it within their HR function,” explains CIPD Research Adviser Ramya Yarlagadda. “The full advantage of what AI can bring to HR is not easily defined as there is quite a journey to go,” says Michael de Graaf, Talent Acquisition â€" Centres of Excellence Leader at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. “What is becoming more obvious, however, is that the concept of employment is changing whether we like it or not. The concept of Work, Worker and Workplace needs now to be considered and in doing so, what will the role of HR augmented with AI be? “To start, you must expect that repetitive, task-based work will be largely automated soon. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is already here and challenging the concept of outsourcing as we know it. “Next, the emergence of machine learning chatbots that recognise speech and text-based conversation to readily respond to queries from workers. Imagine the reduction in workload from having automated self-service in place. “Finally, imagine an intelligent assistant that can draw on incredibly large amounts of data to provide you with the facts by which to make evidence-based decisions. With these three practical examples that can be implemented now, HR leaders can reallocate effort from ‘low value’ work to ‘high value’ work.” Improving HR roles Companies do recognise the importance of AI, however. Nearly half (46 per cent) of HR leaders surveyed by IBM’s Smarter Workforce Institute WorkTrends 2013/14 Survey believe it will transform their talent acquisition capability, and 49 per cent think it will transform payroll administration. “It’s clear that AI is going to have a growing involvement with the HR industry,” says Anna Brown, HR Director at communications agency CreativeRace. “I can see value in more simplistic chatbot technology, especially for large organisations where employees are looking for basic information, such as remaining holiday allowance or how many sick days they have taken. “In this context, chatbots are taking care of the more administrative side of HR roles, leaving the HR department to deal with more complex issues.” According to Michelle Raymond, Founder of HR consultancy The People’s Partner, chatbots can interact with multiple customers and staff simultaneously, providing a self-service experience. Raymond explains how “the introduction of this level of technology will save time, be accurate and increase organisations’ efficiency and effectiveness.” The use of RPA, including chatbots, and other AI tools in the short term will help provide employees with better, faster and more accurate quality of service, which will probably be cheaper, says Payne. “In the medium term, machine learning is going to help create a more personalised service from HR, using analytics to predict, prescribe, suggest and push relevant services to employees at the right time.” This will give HR professionals more time to focus on the professional development of the workforce and tackle challenging issues, explains Emily Antoniadi, Account Executive at communications consultancy Kin and Co. “The best companies know that people are an incredibly valuable resource that must be invested in,” she adds. “Culture and values will be more important than ever as we make decisions to shape the future of our organisations.” Alleviating fears Employers should consider how they can upskill the workforce to work in conjunction with new technologies. Chatbots cannot deal with very sensitive workplace issues, Brown points out. “Sometimes employees won’t act in the predicted manner. Humans can adapt and change when needed, much more so than a robot which reaches conclusions by studying known behaviours.” Fear is inherently human too and technological innovation narratives tend to focus on predicted job losses resulting from automation, according to Yarlagadda. “Organisations need to proactively involve their workforce in processes and clearly communicate possible implications. Employers should consider how they can upskill the workforce to work in conjunction with new technologies.” Moore has few concerns about the impact of automation on the workforce. “Revolution and evolution have always created new jobs that didn’t previously exist, as old ones disappear. “That’s not to say people won’t still have fears. Part of HR’s role is to work with senior leadership teams to ensure people understand the direction of travel and are bought into it, while trying to minimise any short-term impact on people as much as possible.” Susy Roberts, Founder of people development consultancy Hunter Roberts agrees, adding that this doesn’t mean people and organisations aren’t scared that AI will replace HR jobs. “More administrative roles will reduce in number, but more senior positions such as HR business partners and HR Directors cannot be replaced by software.” What should HR leaders do? HR leaders must also experiment with new technology and methods, but simply replicating what other companies are doing with AI tools could have negative consequences, says Yarlagadda. “These technologies require extensive financial and personnel investment, so HR leaders must have a robust business case for why they want to experiment with technology and how they intend to deploy it for the benefit of their people and the organisation,” she adds. “The biggest challenge that the HR leader of today will face is reskilling in a repurposed HR function that has automated administrative task-based work,” says de Graaf. “The new HR function of the future will emerge as the custodian of an employee-centric organisation that holds digital at the heart of its DNA. “The transition from a policy, process and platform approach to one of employee- and digital-centricity will require HR leaders to become technology fluent, creative, commercially minded and emotionally intelligent. Change is inevitable and the best HR leaders will thrive.” This means that the best HRDs will expect to be around the table during strategy-setting and business planning, being valued in a business-critical way for the first time, explains Roberts. “The increased uptake of AI solutions within departments, plus ever-spiralling return on investment pressures, mean the remaining HR roles will become more commercially focused,” she says. But as we learn more about what AI means for HR and the workplace, the time has come, as Payne says, for HR leaders to “dip their toes in the water”. Did you enjoy reading this Hays Journal article? Herere some other blogs that might be of interest to you: AI will be a big part of our future but what does that mean for businesses searching for talent? Can your business stay ahead of digital transformations? 8 ways AI will impact digital tech recruitment Is your team ready for the robots?