by Sydney Stone
Artificial Intelligence is changing the way companies operate. From retail to education to healthcare, AI has permeated all aspects of most industries, automating and improving a wide variety of business processes.
Ironically, the human resources sector is benefiting tremendously from this so-called “non-human” technology.
If you haven’t embraced AI technology as part of your overall HR business practices, here are 5 important benefits you’re missing out on.
1. AI can automate your most mundane and time-consuming HR tasks.
Writing job descriptions. Posting job openings to various hiring sites. Onboarding. Staff scheduling. Managing employee vacation time. Human resources professionals lose approximately 14 hours per week performing these types of manual tasks.
All of this repetition can now be automated thanks to the use of artificial intelligence in HR applications. Apps such as IBM’s Watson-enhanced Kenexa Talent Acquisition Suite are being used by more and more HR departments to give hiring managers more time to focus on strategy, training, and employee development.
Automation not only gives you more time to do your job, it also helps you do it more efficiently and can save your company thousands of dollars.
2. AI can make you a better recruiter.
According to a recent study from Ideal, 52% of HR professionals said that screening candidates is the hardest thing about recruiting. AI recruiting apps can pre-screen the hundreds of applications you receive for every job posting and present you with only those candidates who are truly qualified. Artificial intelligence can also be used to perform pre-testing for specialty skills such as computer programming languages and other types of technologies.
Another major benefit to AI candidate screening is that it can help you meet diversity goals. Artificial intelligence looks at skills and qualifications and not genders or races. This can help you significantly reduce (or eliminate altogether) any hiring biases that you might not even know you have, giving you a much more diverse workforce and your company a better overall reputation.
Artificial intelligence recruitment can also enhance your applicant pool by maintaining and even keeping in contact with excellent candidates that might not have been hired previously, but are a great fit for a new job opening. This keeps you from having to start the process all over again, as you are already familiar with and may have already interviewed the perfect candidate.
3. AI can take the awkwardness out of the interview process.
Let’s face it. In-person interviews can be uncomfortable and nerve-wracking for both parties involved. Artificial intelligence is helping to make the interview process less awkward and more – dare we say it – fun!
Consider this scenario. You have an AI-enhanced recruiting app that has found you the perfect candidate. It sets up an interview date based on both your and the candidate’s availability and preferences. Prior to the actual in-person session, the candidate receives a series of emails and instant messages – sort of like a “nurturing” campaign, giving them detailed information about the company, a virtual 360-degree tour of the office, an org chart, and even a short bio about you – the person they’ll be interviewing with. All of this attention to detail helps the candidate be more prepared and less nervous.
You as the hiring manager can also use artificial intelligence prior to the interview to get a better idea of the candidate’s personality. You can design specific pre-interview questions that can be analyzed through behavioral AI algorithms, get a breakdown of the candidate’s strengths and potential weaknesses, and even conduct a video interview that can analyze facial expressions to determine if the person’s demeanor is the right fit for your team.
4. AI can help you provide a timely and fair review process.
We all know that it costs less and is more beneficial to maintain a current employee than to find a new one. So once AI has helped you find the perfect candidate, it can help you nurture and keep that person.
Just like the whole interview process, the employee review can be tedious and dreaded. Often times, it is put off due to scheduling or time constraints or – worst case – not even done at all.
Artificial intelligence can automate a lot of the performance review process by monitoring pre-determined KPIs, employee attendance, project assignments, etc. Plus, it can gather data from supervisors, co-workers and other team members to analyze in order to provide an honest and unbiased roadmap for growth and improvement. And it can schedule regular intervals of reviews that hold both employee and supervisor accountable.
5. AI can increase employee retention through effective communication channels.
Encouraging open communication throughout your organization can lead to happier employees and less turnover.
Applications with built-in AI capabilities, such as an HR chatbot that answers employee questions about benefits, can provide staff with instant responses to their important concerns, all while saving you countless interruptions throughout the day answering the same questions over and over.
You can also utilize artificial intelligence to nurture your employees through continuing education and personal development programs that are personalized for each individual employee.
And don’t forget, happy employees will talk about their workplace to other people. An AI-enhanced employee referral program can help motivate your staff to bring in more highly qualified candidates that are perfect for your organization. (And that means even less recruiting work for you!)
Conclusion
While the subject of AI can be somewhat scary to many humans – especially those in the human resources industry – the positive benefits the technology brings to HR professionals should far outweigh any concerns.
By automating routine tasks, improving communication, reducing biases in the hiring process, and delivering (and keeping!) the absolute best candidate for each job opening, artificial intelligence in human resource management is a “smart” move for everyone involved.
Sydney Stone | freelance writer & editor 