The role of HR in the future AI-enabled organisation
Harriet Ashelby, Veritas Prime
Thanks for teeing us up, Mark. So what is AI and what’s different about GenAI? Traditional AI solves well-defined problems using pre-existing rules and data. It recognizes patterns, makes decisions, or classifies data based on historical input. Whereas the power of generative AI lies in its ability to create net new content using underlying patterns in data and knowledge, GenAI produces new unseen outputs in a variety of formats, such as text, image, music code, you name it. We talk about AI over three horizons. One, deliver. Delivering productivity by leveraging traditional and generative AI to unlock efficiencies through augmenting a human machine workforce with a focus on productivity, curbing costs, and strengthening core business. Two, differentiate by exploring and discovering new opportunities. A chance for organizations to create unique, innovative solutions and unparalleled customer experiences, create an opportunity to establish brand distinctiveness. And last, but by no means least transforming your organization, sees AI reshape some industries through rapid expansion and groundbreaking innovation.
Many organizations want to jump to this transformed step, but it’s a journey that requires all three steps to be effective. Research shows that for the past six years, AI adoption in organizations has hovered at around 50%. This year it has jumped to 72%, with 50% of organizations having adopted AI in two or more functions. But where does HR sit on this adoption curve? The functions most often reporting generative AI adoption, are marketing and sales at 34%, followed by product development, then IT, with HR lagging behind at just 12%. But why is HR so important in driving AI adoption in organizations? Unlocking AI’s value for an organization is a human journey as much as it is a technical one, making the role of HR even more critical than some may instinctively think.
Let’s explore how HR can lead the organization, but also how HR can lead by example. Psychological safety is key to technology adoption and AI is no different. When employees feel threatened rather than empowered by new technology, they resist it. Not because they can’t learn it, but because they don’t want to. HR can help adoption in a few ways. In change management, we need to consider context, encourage exploration, and focus on establishing trust through understanding the opportunity AI creates. The focus needs to be on transforming mindsets to create inquisitive adoption of new tools rather than forced usage. Instead of replacing jobs, AI is transforming them by automating routine tasks, enhancing decision-making, creating new roles, and demanding new skills. Companies must actively manage this transition by focusing on rescaling employees and creating a more dynamic workforce.
HR’s role involves overseeing the deployment and governance of AI technologies in a way that it respects employees rights, promotes inclusivity and ensures transparency. HR can contribute to this through things like ethical guidelines and policy development and much more. Now let’s shift to how HR can lead by example. There are endless opportunities for AI adoption across the employee life cycle, from workforce planning to learning and development, through delivery of core HR services. So let’s explore this together. AI adoption in workforce planning can significantly enhance decision-making by analyzing historical data and current trends to predict future talent needs, helping HR anticipate skills gaps, turnover and hiring requirements before they become critical to the organization. In recruitment, we have experienced the most rapid adoption of AI in HR. With technology becoming widely available, such as candidate sourcing and video interview analysis, it offers opportunities to streamline processes and improve candidate quality and experience.
When we think about engaging and inspiring our workforce, AI can create personalized onboarding, automate admin tasks, whilst also ensuring we have continuous feedback loops with our employees through real-time sentiment analysis. AI can enhance employee development and growth through skills inferencing, predictive insights and tailored career development plans, enabling employees to grow their role, acquire new skills, and progress their careers in ways they may not have thought of before. AI can also help us retain valuable talent through the strategic reassignment of employees within the company. We can establish personalized retention strategies and analyze skills mapping and adjacent skills for career transitions, opening up opportunities that we may not have considered, and more broadly across the organization, thinking about flexibility.
And last, but by no means least, AI can support in automating admin tasks across core HR and payroll and answer employee queries through chatbots. This allows it to free up capacity and focus on more strategic initiatives, employee development and wellbeing. So now what? AI adoption should be with purpose and direction. Some actions we can all take. One, define a clear AI strategy and vision. Two, document a compelling case for change. And three, develop an AI roadmap that is anchored in capability and use cases, not just technology fads.
