Across all industries and business sectors, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are set to transform both our personal and professional lives. In fact, AI is growing at a rapid pace currently, expected to see an annual growth rate of 37.3% between 2023-2030.
When it comes to AI in HR, there are plenty of applicable use cases that will help organizations improve efficiency and diminish hands-on work for repetitive and routine tasks. However, this doesn’t mean that the human factor will suddenly become less important or obsolete in the future of HR.
As such, it’s important for organizations to strike the proper balance between automation and human engagement in HR matters. Continue reading through this article as we discuss the various applications of AI and automation in human resources tasks, and highlight how the employee experience will continue to play an important role in these processes even as the industry continues to undergo digital transformation.
Benefits of AI in HR Departments
There is no doubt that AI technology offers powerful advantages to HR professionals. It has the potential to streamline their workflows and free up their calendar for more strategic and value-add tasks.
Thus, the largest appeal to leveraging AI in HR is the increased efficiency and productivity it can provide. HR teams can automate tedious and time-consuming tasks like employee onboarding, payroll processing, scheduling, time-tracking, and more. Allowing more timeto engage with employees and strategize how to improve the workplace.
Further, AI in HR can also improve the accuracy of key HR workflows and reduce the occurrence of human error. In tedious tasks like payroll processing, scheduling, or time tracking, AI tools can produce more reliable and consistent results that benefit the entire organization.
Additionally, the data analytics capabilities of AI help HR professionals derive data-driven insights quickly to inform their decision-making. Given the large volume of data available today, AI makes it possible to process all this information and gain meaningful insights from it.
Limitations of AI in HR
Though there are plenty of benefits to using AI in HR, there are certain limitations and drawbacks that HR professionals need to be aware of.
Primarily, there have been concerns about the ethical considerations and potential bias that can be found in AI algorithms. Though there might be the assumption that this would only be possible in human decision-making, certain algorithms have been shown to make decisions or recommendations with an apparent bias against certain groups of people.
Plus, no matter how advanced the algorithm, it still cannot replace human judgment and empathy. The personal touch that is included in interpersonal interactions will never be replicated by machines, which is very pertinent to HR matters when dealing with sensitive human issues on the job.
Thus, there needs to be human oversight and intervention, even when AI programs are implemented in HR departments. These programs can be more accurate than humans in certain tasks, but they certainly should not be left unmonitored or deemed infallible.
How AI is used in HR processes
To illustrate the importance of retaining the human touch amid continued AI adoption in HR departments, here are some key uses of AI in HR and why the human aspect will never go out of style.
AI in Recruiting and Hiring
Using AI in talent acquisition was one of the first applications of the technology that HR professionals adopted in the recruitment process.
Related tasks like making job postings, filtering through applicants, and scheduling interviews are all tedious administrative tasks that HR professionals were previously responsible for implementing on platforms like LinkedIn.
With AI, HR departments can benefit from improved candidate sourcing and screening based on the parameters the company has set, leveraging the power and efficiency of automation tools like ChatGPT over having these tasks be completed manually by the HR team.
Overall, applying AI to recruiting and hiring tasks has helped HR professionals create a more efficient hiring process and save valuable time that can be spent on other tasks that require more critical thinking.
Limitations
Though AI can help with initial candidate screening, there is still a certain level of human judgment that is needed to assess other factors about potential candidates aside from what’s included on their resume.
HR professionals are much more adequate at assessing the candidate’s cultural fit for the company than AI programs. Humans are better at determining what the candidate’s soft skills are, and whether those skills make them a good fit for the role they’re interested in.
Plus, humans can offer a more personalized experience for the candidate throughout the application and interview process. AI programs can be used to send out personalized correspondence using templated messages; however, there is still a robotic tone to these interactions that applicants can quickly pick up on.
AI in Onboarding and Training
The onboarding and training process for new employees is often known for being time-consuming and draw-out. But, certain automation tools are helping to speed up these tasks and require less hands-on attention from HR personnel.
Gathering and processing employee documents, getting them set up with the proper accounts, and training them on the essential tools and platforms that the organization uses can all be prompted with the help of AI onboarding through chatbots and other tools.
In this way, AI works to streamline the onboarding process without requiring much human intervention from the HR team.
Depending on the role the individual has been hired for, the AI program can personalize the experience to make it relevant to their position, eliminating certain redundancies that are associated with more general onboarding procedures.
Limitations
AI programs can help speed up the onboarding and training process, but new employees still need to build up rapport and trust with their new colleagues through face-to-face interactions.
A key component of being successful in a new role is the mentorship the hire receives while getting started on the job–something that even the best AI onboarding programs cannot offer.
The nuances that are associated with starting a new job are something that HR professionals understand well, making them more than equipped to address the employee’s concerns and questions as they get started in their new role.
AI in Career Development and Succession Planning
Another great application of AI in HR is when it’s used to derive data-driven insights on current employees. These insights can be used to help employees further develop their skills and receive personalized career path recommendations based on their credentials and qualifications.
This level and volume of data analysis would be nearly impossible to complete manually, which is where AI machine learning comes in handy. Thus, AI programs can identify skill gaps that certain individuals may have, and provide personalized learning resources tailored to their needs to upskill them and help them be more successful in their role.
All in all, companies can benefit from a highly-skilled workforce that can fill in high-level roles when openings arise, a key factor in succession planning.
Limitations
AI-powered employee training programs can help deliver personalized skill development at scale, but employees still require personal interaction with HR professionals when it comes to setting meaningful career goals for themselves.
For employees to discuss their personal career aspirations and dive deeper into what makes them feel fulfilled, they need a real human as a guiding resource, not an AI program. HR professionals can draw on their own experiences, what they’ve observed throughout their careers, and apply that to their industry knowledge to create thoughtful recommendations that increase employee engagement and retention.
Yes, AI employee training programs can deliver personalized skill development courses, but to receive truly individualized career coaching and feedback, HR professionals are an invaluable asset to employees.
AI in Payroll & Time Tracking
Payroll management and time tracking are two areas of HR that are notorious for being time-consuming and repetitive. As a result, they are a great target for AI initiatives and have largely benefited from automation capabilities.
In general, AI payroll tools have helped to increase the accuracy and efficiency of payroll processing. Eliminating the risk of human error, these programs take care of data entry tasks that HR professionals were typically responsible for, and can automatically generate reports, calculate taxes, manage deductions, and more.
Further, AI time-tracking platforms have also revolutionized the space, especially in the modern era where more business leaders are managing remote workforces. AI time-tracking tools can use their sophisticated algorithms to detect patterns in workers’ schedules, flag possible outliers for further review, and provide other analytics that business leaders can use to make informed business decisions.
Limitations
Human decision-making in these workflows will continue to stay relevant even as AI time-tracking tools and payroll platforms take off.
There are many complex scenarios that can arise in payroll situations including overtime pay, bonuses, and other factors that the algorithm may not know how to handle. HR professionals will still need to oversee payroll, time and attendance tracking tasks to handle any exceptions and ensure that employees are being appropriately compensated.
Plus, if employees have any paycheck-related questions or concerns, they will need to turn to a human rather than an algorithm to get their questions answered.
AI in Workforce Management
Workforce management is an important component of any HR department, and emerging AI tools can help these teams make more effective and optimal decisions for the organization.
Automation can assist in this area by helping companies take stock of their current talent, the skills they possess, and other details to create a more productive workforce. Especially with remote teams becoming more commonplace today, AI workforce management tools can help HR departments get a more comprehensive view of the company’s workforce and identify areas for improvement.
HR teams can use AI workforce management platforms to perform real-time data analysis for resource allocation and identify where certain individuals would be better suited. They can more accurately gather employee feedback and utilize this data to make changes to operations that result in better employee satisfaction on the job.
Limitations
With such subjective matters on the line like employee satisfaction, HR departments can’t rely on AI workforce management tools alone to complete these tasks.
HR professionals can tap into their own knowledge and expertise to help balance employee preferences and discover what structure will provide the best work-life balance for workers. Such decisions can be supplemented by what the AI tools recommend; however, human decision-making will still play a major role in employee management matters.
Further, advanced algorithms are great at data analysis, but they are not so effective when it comes to handling employee grievances and engaging in conflict resolution. This is where the value of the HR department shines as they navigate these touchy subjects with ease and precision.
AI in HR Analytics
There is a ton of data out there today, more than ever, and AI HR analytics tools can help teams derive meaning from the large sums of data they possess.
Using data-driven insights for more informed decision-making helps HR departments gain an objective view of their current and future workforce needs, productivity levels, attendance rates, absenteeism, and other important workforce metrics.
The advent of predictive analytics has helped HR teams make better workforce planning and talent management decisions by looking ahead to the future and making accurate forecasts and predictions using historical data.
Limitations
There needs to be some level of human involvement in interpreting and contextualizing the findings of AI HR analytics tools.
There is no doubt that AI algorithms are much more efficient at processing and analyzing data than humans are. But, the level of nuance that must go into interpreting the hard data and facts that the algorithm outputs is the job of a human.
Without human involvement, you will simply be left with data and figures–the real insights from data analytics come from your HR team who will interpret the findings and determine what it means for the organization.
Plus, as we already discussed previously, AI algorithms are not 100% foolproof and do have the tendency to show bias in their analysis. So, HR professionals should still play a role in these data analytics tasks to consider the potential biases that could be in the data and utilize the results accordingly.
AI in Employee Scheduling
AI employee scheduling tools are highly efficient at using algorithms to identify the optimal resource allocation for the company. Companies can utilize automation of shift management to match employee availability, ensuring that all positions are covered during critical shifts.
These programs can use historical data to create the most efficient schedules based on employee skills, availability, qualifications, and other factors. Plus, they can typically do so in a fraction of the time that would be needed to create the schedules manually, and without some of the human bias or error that may be involved.
All in all, companies can use AI employee scheduling programs to help determine the best-recommended employee schedules that optimize productivity and take into account needed employee downtime.
Limitations
Employees care about more than resource allocation and optimization when it comes to their scheduling. As such, HR professionals can help improve employee satisfaction by considering and accommodating employee preferences and their work-life balance when setting the schedule.
AI employee scheduling programs are likely to only consider what’s optimal for the company when making its recommendations, not the side of the employee. As a result, HR personnel should still be involved in the employee scheduling process in order to prevent employee frustrations.
Plus, using their experience, HR professionals can effectively address scheduling conflicts and unforeseen circumstances that may arise, while AI programs may struggle to deal with these outliers.
How Paypro Integrates the Human Factor in AI Solutions
Paypro takes pride in the personal experience we offer to clients through our dedicated account managers. We know that human interaction will always carry high value, even as AI adoption continues to ramp up throughout the industry.
This means we always have professionals available who are willing to lend a helping hand. Any client questions, requests, or modifications are addressed by a member of our team who is eager to hop on a call and walk through the issue. Plus, we are more than happy to build out a customized solution to fit the client’s unique needs.
Not only does our team offer technical assistance, but we go as far as helping our clients interpret what the data means and provide recommendations on how to apply it. Our payroll and legal specialists are even available to offer their own input on the situation!
Conclusion
Further adoption of AI in HR is undeniable–it has the potential to save professionals hours of time each week, improve the accuracy of certain workflows, perform advanced data analysis, and more. But, each application of AI in HR must be accompanied by human involvement to some degree to retain the integrity of the workplace and make it feel more human.
At Paypro, we help clients get the most out of our platform by preserving the human touch even as the world becomes more digital. Our dedication to clients’ success means our team is always ready to draw on our professional expertise to handle even the most complex business issues.
As a Paypro client, you can benefit from top-of-the-line software programs to help your business succeed, but you don’t have to compromise on the human element, either. Schedule a consultation with Paypro today to see what other software platforms are missing.
About the Author
Kayla is the Marketing Manager at Paypro Corporation overseeing all inbound and outbound marketing and sales efforts. She has 7+ years of experience working within the B2B and SaaS based solutions space and thrives on creating messaging and campaigns that introduce products and services to those who need them most.