Artificial intelligence is a hot topic.
People are scared that with the rise of the machines, we will have fewer and fewer jobs available. Some say that this is a sign of progress: AI is much more efficient, doesn’t need rest and can assist humans with tasks that were previously bothersome.
Among various industries and professions, artificial intelligence might have a big impact on human resources too. One of the most important reasons for this is that HR is all about communicating and managing people. Oftentimes it is hard to make the right decision as we are affected by our bias. With AI, all of that is gone and instead, people will only be dealing with straight facts.
Here are some of the ways in which this big change might affect HR.
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Increased efficiency
As with every profession, the focus of AI lies in increased efficiency. Today, when the economy is so dependent on continued high performance, most humans find it hard to deliver day in and day out. Even if an employee is highly proficient, fatigue will set in after a while. Not to mention the cases which involve negligence. With robots, there are no such concerns. All processes go smoothly throughout the day without any fluctuation in performance.
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No human-related issues
Unlike us, robots don’t take breaks, they don’t chat with other robots nor do they need food or bathroom breaks. Instead, they are able to work all day long, from 9 to 5. In a perfect case, we can imagine entire departments filled with robots, without any need for human work. This can also lead to major reductions when it comes to required working space, utilities, public events and prize systems. All that AI needs is regular maintenance and software updates.
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Consistency
Similar to efficiency, consistency can be a major problem. This is especially true for companies that outsource their human resources. With robots, you are able to provide the exact same results each and every time. Not only will you satisfy your previous clients who constantly purchase your products or services, but all your customers can rest assured they will be given the same type of service as everyone else.
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Help during recruitment and hiring phase
The recruiting process usually takes a lot of time. People who have never worked in HR think that it all comes down to interviewing job candidates. Unfortunately, the professionals working in this industry have to perform numerous additional tasks prior to and after the selection process itself. Oftentimes these tasks are really cumbersome but luckily they can be automated. This would leave recruiters with much more time to analyze their prospects and perform interviews.
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Better data collection
A significant part of human resources comes down to data collection and analysis. Whether we’re talking about customers or our own team, there is lots of data to process. Artificial intelligence would be much quicker in collecting this information and more importantly, filtering it according to its relevance. Afterward, human workers would be able to take this data and use it directly without any further processing needed. This would save a lot of time and effort ultimately leading to better, faster results.
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Unbiased decisions
No matter how much a person would like to be impartial, there will always be some sort of bias during recruitment or managing process. Sometimes, this may have a big impact on the company if they’re unable to recruit the best talents due to mistakes made by their HR team. Machines do not have any bias during the recruitment phase or while dealing with job candidates. Instead, artificial intelligence is able to use the data and make a valid conclusion without involving any emotions or other irrational behavior.
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Improved error detection
Mistakes are a common part of everyone’s work. One of the most important HR tasks is to improve its current talent pool. But how do you improve it if you’re not certain what is the issue? Artificial intelligence might be able to detect work-related issues and to make suggestions regarding potential training that can fix them. Being better at error detection, machines can become a valuable tool in improving organizations’ performance.
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Focus on administration
At this point in time, it is hard to say how much AI will progress going forward. In a hypothetical situation, it might completely take over the tasks of human managers. Today, it is hard to imagine that machines will get to this level any time soon. For now, we can tell with certainty that artificial intelligence will likely show lots of promise when it comes to administrative and repetitive tasks. Robots can perform basic, common tasks that can be processed by their algorithms. Still, this will do a big favor to HR managers as it will significantly reduce their daily workload.
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Better communication during recruitment phases
One of the most important things that HR specialists have to deal with during the recruitment process is to stay in touch with the candidates. Keeping all prospects in the loop is very important for any serious company. Unfortunately, this is something that takes human resource managers a lot of time. As a solution, they can rely on AI to do these tasks for them. As soon as a candidate’s status changes, the robot assistant will directly notify them about the change.
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Focus on better talents
Sometimes, a quality talent would fall through the cracks never getting an interview opportunity. Even though they might be perfect for the job, they might never get a chance to work for you due to human negligence. Artificial intelligence should be able to focus on certain qualities and skills putting emphasis on people who can provide extra value to the organization. This way, companies will never skip on a great worker again.
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Improved human experience
With improved efficiency comes better human experience. Given that candidates will be notified during each step of the process and will promptly get all the relevant information, they will have a better impression of your company even if they don’t pass to the next step of the recruitment process. This way, AI can become an important branding tool for each organization.
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Help with compliance
Like with most other professions, compliance is a big part of HR. While this is a basic process, it does leave room for some mistakes. Furthermore, it takes a lot of time from managers’ busy schedules. Robots will be able to do all the paperwork for humans eliminating the chance for compliance error.
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Tracking dissatisfied employees
AI can also track changes in employees’ behavior. If there is anything suspicious in their emails and other forms of communication, machines can spot this and notify the HR department immediately. With this information, you can either work out the issues or at least figure out what went wrong with a particular worker.
Conclusion
While it’s very early to say, it seems that AI will become a big part of human resources management.
There are numerous aspects that HR managers can benefit from and it would be foolish not to utilize them. As for the managers’ job, it is pretty secure right now as it seems that the human factor is still crucial for making strategic decisions.
Still, we cannot neglect how much work robots can do when it comes to tracking, compiling and analyzing data, sending emails and performing other repetitive tasks that are otherwise time-consuming and may lead to multiple errors.