How to Implement Artificial Intelligence in Human Resources

The AI furor might be long past, but the tools are here to stay. Tons of tools HR teams are already using have AI features built right in, so you might be using them without realizing it. But whether your team hasn’t implemented AI in their workflows yet or you want to get more out of what you’re already doing, here are a few things to consider.

For one, there are four main types of artificial intelligence HR teams can work with:

• Generative AI tools use massive banks of data to create human-equivalent text, images, and other types of content.
• Machine learning platforms analyze data to pull out insights that can teach machines to perform tasks the way a human might.
• Natural language processing tools can review the text people write and draw conclusions like the sentiment or ideas it expresses.
• Predictive analytics is exactly what it sounds like. These tools use historical data to pick up on trends and help their users predict how these might change in the future.

These AI tools can be used independently (like ChatGPT for generative AI) or be bundled into existing HR tools (like 15Five’s Spark for natural language processing).

Now let’s cover everything else you need to know about using AI in HR processes.

How is artificial intelligence used in human resources?

AI can help streamline all sorts of processes, saving you time, improving employee experience, and freeing up HR resources for more important tasks.

Here’s a quick list of ways HR teams can use AI tools in their everyday work.

Candidate pre-screening

When you’re getting dozens of applications across multiple job postings each week, you need a bit of a helping hand. Automated candidate pre-screening has already been in use by HR teams for years, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. It automatically picks up on desirable traits and characteristics to filter out candidates who aren’t a good fit for a job posting.

Creating job descriptions

Writing job descriptions is repetitive but necessary work that involves taking information from multiple sources and compiling it into a single piece of text. A perfect task for AI.

You’ll still want some human input here—as you do with most AI-assisted tasks—but you can get a quick first draft done in minutes using generative AI tools.

AI-powered transcription and note-taking

There’s nothing worse when meeting with an employee or candidate than forgetting a crucial piece of information. You don’t want to have your head buried in your laptop, but you also want detailed notes. Good thing there are AI tools built specifically for this.

A tool like Otter can automatically join all your meetings and transcribe what’s said for your review later. You can also feed it audio recordings from calls and other conversations it can’t join so you have notes for everything.

Flagging anomalies in financial transactions

You might not think you need AI’s help for reviewing financial transactions, but how often is HR the frontline when employees have questions about their paycheques or benefits? Smaller teams often have HR professionals running double duty, answering questions and performing tasks that would otherwise go to an accounting team.

AI tools can not only help you answer these questions and close out these tasks, but they can proactively pick up on discrepancies that could become problems later on, actually reducing the workload associated with the organization’s finances. 

Turning unstructured data into insights

HR teams have a ton of data at their fingertips. A project management tool might reveal a lot about an employee’s performance, for instance, while an HRIS system like ADP is used to report on just about everything else. But more data isn’t always better, especially when you don’t have the technical knowledge or expertise to process it.

That’s where machine learning platforms and predictive analytics come in. These AI tools can take all that data and pick up trends in a fraction of the time it would take an HR professional.

Streamlining internal requests with chatbots

As your organization grows in size, your HR teams will quickly be drowned in more requests than they can reasonably handle. Many of these requests will be repetitive too, with employees asking for the same documents over and over again, or asking questions about new initiatives that you’ve already answered multiple times.

An AI-powered chatbot allows HR teams to filter these incoming requests so they’re only spending their time on requests that actually need their input.

Assist in onboarding and training

By combining machine learning and chatbots, HR teams can create a streamlined, optimized onboarding process that only requires their input when it’s absolutely necessary. Everything from automatically sending policy documents to making training suggestions based on performance data can be handled by AI tools. Pairing this with human judgment can create a first-class onboarding experience that scales with your organization without needing to double the size of the HR team.

Automating other repetitive tasks

What comes to mind when you think of repetitive tasks in HR? Writing emails? Informing applicants of the status of their application? Processing payroll? Managing performance reviews? The right AI tool can do it all. By feeding all these tasks to an AI tool, you can free up more time for working on initiatives that make more of an impact on your workforce.

4 challenges of pairing HR and AI

While AI can be a game-changer for HR teams, there are some pitfalls to watch out for. Some may only hamper your productivity slightly while others can actually harm the work your employees do.

Adopting AI too quickly

This might be less of an issue than it was a year or so ago, but adopting a tool just because it boasts robust AI features isn’t the way to go. Adopting an AI tool quickly without doing your due diligence can lead to a chunk of your budget going down the drain when the tool doesn’t work out (at best) or a critical project completely failing (at worst).

Like any other tool, you’ll need to do a bit of research before you pick a platform. Get buy-in from the right stakeholders, and try a pilot project before you deploy a tool to the entire organization.

Applying AI to the wrong processes

AI can be a great help in many HR processes, but it’s not necessarily suited to all of them. Repetitive tasks that barely need human input are the best candidates for AI help, while anything that requires human input should probably stay in the hands of humans. But finding out if a task fits in one bucket or the other isn’t always so obvious.

Using AI in the wrong processes can lead to frustrated employees, befuddled HR teams, and a ding on the organization’s culture.

Opaque processes

AI tools aren’t always very transparent about how they work. HR teams aren’t the most qualified to dig into an AI model to understand the impact it could have on the broader organization, even if they’re the ones who end up using the tool the most. This can lead to nasty surprises when you deploy a tool that doesn’t do exactly what it advertised.

Employee trust

Mentions of AI can make employees inherently nervous. Some are worried about losing their jobs to AI while others are more concerned about a perceived decline in the service they’ll get from HR if AI tools are implemented.

When adding AI tools to your processes, do what you can to mitigate these fears. Employees need to trust your team, and that trust is hard to win back if you don’t introduce AI in the right way.

4 benefits of using AI in human resources

While properly implementing AI tools in your HR processes can be challenging, it comes with some undeniable benefits that make it all worth it.

Mitigating unconscious biases

Try as you might, your HR teams will have some unconscious bias that can affect everything from who you employ to what your leadership team looks like. AI tools can take on processes that are especially affected by these biases to mitigate this.

More efficient HR processes

The single best advantage of using AI is making your processes more efficient. Saving time on the repetitive, redundant tasks that barely need human input means everything gets done faster. Tasks that might have taken half a workday take minutes, and HR teams can put their focus back on more important aspects of their work.

Better access to data

Not all HR teams are the most data-savvy, but all of them need to process tons of data to do their best work. AI tools can give you the leg up you need to do more with your data, meaning all that money spent on performance management tools doesn’t go wasted.

ROI boost on HR initiatives

When AI tools can pick up on trends you should be acting on, take on repetitive tasks, and even evaluate the potential success of your work, every HR initiative inherently has a better return on investment (ROI). That makes it easier to get buy-in from stakeholders and make a lasting impact.

AI-powered HR

AI tools, both standalone and built into other HR platforms, can create a huge productivity boost for HR teams while surfacing insights that would go otherwise unnoticed. Just remember to research them appropriately and introduce them with tact. Once that’s done, you’ll reap the rewards on just about every single HR process.

Here at 15Five, we truly believe that AI has the power to transform HR for the better, and we launched Spark AI to make that a reality for our customers. Spark AI is the first-of-its-kind assistant for managers and HR leaders, designed to drive measurable improvement in engagement, performance, and retention.

Seamlessly integrated into your daily workflow, Spark AI leverages cutting-edge generative AI technology to help managers and HR leaders drive impact through the HR Outcomes Flywheel – from outcomes to actions – at scale.

Spark AI helps you close the measurement-to-action loop even faster by supporting HR and Managers with things such as:

• AI synthesized feedback insights from engagement surveys, reading through thousands of open-text comments and providing themes, insights, and next steps
• Reducing bias and save time writing manager reviews with AI-assisted Reviews
• Providing managers with an AI Manager Copilot for real-time assistance within the flow of work so they can support their teams with things like creating more effective 1-on-1s

And we’re just getting started. Spark AI is continually evolving, harnessing the power of AI to develop innovative ways to assist employees, managers, and HR leaders.

Learn more at 15five.com/spark