The State of Human Resources: Attack of The Clones

AI has been present in Human Resources for a while now, and it is replacing repetitive HR tasks. So if the bulk of your HR role consists of mindless repetitive stuff, you need to reskill quickly.

Let’s start with talent acquisition. I talk to plenty of folks that are in the job search process, but are disheartened when they see a job posting on LinkedIn that they love, but see that 399 of their closest friends have already applied for the role. Most recruiters are not sifting through 399 resumes, they’re looking at maybe the top 20% that are a match to the job description based on the recommendation of AI. That AI is already baked into their applicant tracking system of their choice. For some companies like Amazon, they’re using AI to do initial candidate screens and recommend roles for potential employees. Even the job description you’re reading is likely a lightly edited version of an AI created document.

According to SHRM, half of organizations currently use AI tools in their Learning & Development (L&D) efforts. The other half of organizations are planning to go out of business. Cornerstone is a really well known L&D platform. Here is what they say: “Deliver the right content to your people for their unique tasks and career needs, because modern learners expect content in podcasts, videos, books, articles, videos, and more. Show your people their skill gaps, what skills are in demand, and how to move their careers forward.” These AI L&D tools adapt to the needs of your users, and provide you with a centralized place to understand the skills across your organization. There is so much happening with AI tools augmenting the HR professional’s ability to personalize development plans for every member of their workforce. If you’re not using these tools, you’re burning daylight.  

Let’s talk about money. Total rewards teams are leveraging AI to analyze skills-based compensation and salary data. The teams are also using AI to propose automated compensation adjustments.

And yes, my weary Employee Relations friends, if you’re tired of answering the same employee questions over and over again, you can be like Walmart and roll out AI chatbots to handle any non-private questions.

One of the biggest question marks around AI is “can I trust the information it gives me?” Well, can you trust the information you get from humans? The information you receive from humans is only as good as the information that humans have access to. The same thing goes for AI tools. You can trust the information an AI tool gives you if its sources are focused on HR pertinent information. And for that, world-renowned Talent Expert Josh Bersin has you covered: https://joshbersin.com/galileo/

AI is rewriting the HR field at a much quicker clip that most folks anticipated. If you care to stay relevant as an HR practitioner, you must have a sense of urgency about adopting AI tools. Yes, there are issues when it comes to privacy, legality, and ethics but if we think back to any significant change in the way we work, those changes were accompanied with similar concerns. Those who drive forward while mitigating their risks will be the winners (as usual).

This article is part of a 12 article series I’m doing in anticipation of the Cleveland SHRM State of Human Resources event. Please join us on January 22nd, as I discuss the state of Human Resources with Cleveland SHRM’s President, Jared Daly. Registration: https://www.clevelandshrm.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1890209