Artificial intelligence (AI) is a buzzword across the business landscape, and many individuals are concerned that AI will replace people in job roles. But human-assisted AI can be a powerful tool to enhance how people work rather than replace them.
According to 2023-24 SHRM State of the Workplace, organizations have stated they have several goals in mind this year:
- Maintaining employee morale and engagement (81%)
- Retaining top talent (78%)
- Finding and recruiting talent with the right skills (70%)
- Reducing costs and increasing efficiencies (68%)
AI provides human resources teams with unique ways to work on all four of these goals.
The Role of AI in Leadership Development and Employee Engagement
HR professionals are using AI to enhance hiring and recruiting, create better leadership development, and improve employee engagement in many ways.
Recruiting and Hiring
AI data analytics combined with human insight can create a more diverse and equitable recruiting and hiring process for an organization. For example, using AI for blind screenings, optimizing job descriptions, and informing feedback loops helps hiring managers avoid implicit bias during the hiring process, which can lead to more inclusive workplaces.
Leadership Development
Using AI to analyze data to identify leadership qualities and potentials helps HR professionals create a data-driven candidate assessment process, rather than one based on feelings or manager’s preferences (which can be led by unrecognized internal bias). Predictive analytics allow HR teams to forecast leadership success by analyzing historical data. AI models can also predict continuous learning for emerging talent and help them develop and measure emotional intelligence across their careers. Additionally, predictive AI data analytics and diversity metrics inform manager decisions on training and development programs to help all employees reach their fullest potential.
Enhancing Employee Engagement
New technologies can help HR leaders better understand, motivate, and engage employees in meaningful ways, including:
- Personalized employee experiences
- Real-time feedback and communication
- Pulse surveys
- Optimizing job matching and role design to ensure the right people are in the right roles
- Helping with career development paths
Finding and Reducing Inefficiencies
AI is extremely adept at finding data on wasted time, money, or resources in a workforce. The right AI tools can spot trends in overtime hours, overworked employees, or underutilized employees in ways that hard-working managers may not be able to see.
Integrating AI and Human Insights in HR
Integrating AI into HR processes enhances human decision-making with the robust data analysis capabilities of AI, but requires finding the right balance.
It’s best to use AI as a decision support tool rather than a decision maker unto itself. Human intuition and emotional intelligence are both important aspects of interpreting AI data properly to bring context, intuition, and emotional intelligence to the table — qualities essential for making nuanced decisions.
For example, while AI might identify a candidate as high potential based on past data, human HR professionals can better assess cultural fit, motivation, and other less quantifiable traits. Similarly, while AI can find areas where resources may appear to be wasted, managers and consultants can provide context to show whether certain expenses are more necessary than AI may find them to be.
Ethical Considerations
It’s essential to train personnel on both the technical and ethical aspects of using AI. This includes considering how data is collected and presented with regards to privacy concerns and minimizing bias to ensure fairness. For example, running a resume through ChatGPT may seem like a good idea for a quick screen, but is not recommended, as it can expose a candidate and your organization to privacy issues since the data is not encrypted or protected. AI also tends to find information from different sources on the internet without necessarily referencing them properly, which can set humans who use it without checking up for plagiarism or outdated/incorrect information.
Your organization should develop clear policies around AI, including how it’s used, how decisions are made, and who is responsible for those decisions.
Pairing AI with Experienced Consultants
Once you have established how you’ll use AI data and its capabilities, human consultants can move forward with developing programs tailored specifically to your organization or leaders’ needs.
Complementary Strengths
AI and experienced consultants bring complementary strengths to HR teams. While AI excels in handling large data sets and identifying patterns, consultants bring contextual expertise, emotional intelligence, and strategic insights.
Enhanced Decision Making
Integrating AI tools and expertise from human consultants leads to more informed decisions. For example, AI can provide data-driven insights that consultants can interpret and apply within the specific cultural and organizational context.
Strategic Implementation
Sticking to best practices when it comes to combining AI with consultancy services ensures both are used effectively without one overshadowing the other. Create your policy around these general ideas to ensure your implementation is strategic and intentional:
- Ensure your consultants are AI literate
- Use AI for data analysis and reports
- Use consultants for strategic recommendations and complex issues
- Leave decisions up to human beings rather than AI
- Demand transparency when it comes to AI to prevent misuse of data or privacy concerns
Future-proofing HR
Approaching HR with a combined AI and human consultant lens addresses your organization’s needs today while preparing for future challenges. The right balance of consultants and AI will provide ways for your team to continuously adapt and learn from ongoing results.
As AI grows to be an increasingly important piece of the latest HR technology trends, human resources teams can learn to leverage AI data analytics combined with human insight to achieve better employee engagement, retain top talent, recruit new talent, and reduce wasted resources while increasing efficiency across the organization.
