Clever use of artificial intelligence and chatbots in the field of HR

Many HR departments still operate with long-established analogue processes and paperwork. But digital solutions are much more efficient. The trend is even moving towards artificial intelligence in HR management, simplifying many tasks, thus, relieving the burden on HR professionals, for example, with the help of chatbots and voice assistants.

Human Resources and artificial intelligence (AI) seem to be mutually exclusive, as many see the danger that the latter will take away people’s jobs. However, AI in the form of chatbots or voice assistants for automated job interviews can relieve HR staff and, as a supplement to HR software, give them more time to devote to the tasks for which many of them have chosen this job. They want to make a difference and not just manage people’s lives; they want to develop employees and devote more time to talent management. That’s why many HR managers are shifting their focus to new technologies that relieve them of day-to-day routine tasks.

AI will play an increasingly important role in the future. However, the question arises as to what is actually understood by this term. As Stefan Scheller, the man behind persoblogger.de, writes, chatbots in recruiting, for example, are more related to full-text search engines than to artificial intelligence. But, of course, such chatbots or bots can be fed with intelligent algorithms, which makes them partly AI again.

8 examples of how AI and chatbots are used in HR

Wolfgang Sölch, Head of Enterprise Sales Europe von CX-Lösungsanbieter (Customer Experience) Qualtrics, hat für EAS-MAG, dem Magazin für Enterprise Application Software beleuchtet, wie „Künstliche Intelligenz dem HR-Bereich unter die Arme greift“ und nennt acht Beispiele:

1. Get rid of repetitive tasks: AI and chatbots can help to check CVs for authenticity and automatically set appointments for job interviews.
2. Better onboarding through feedback: Positive experiences with onboarding are often gladly shared. Unfortunately, just one out of four European organisation asks applicants for feedback, among other reasons, due to lack of time. With the help of AI, surveys can be sent automatically to the candidates in order to process the answers faster. This way, it is possible to determine how the onboarding experience can be improved for future employees.
3. AI-based surveys and automated analysis can help keep employees happy and engaged by allowing for constant interaction and revealing possible hidden insights, such as personal development within the organisation or fair performance evaluation of new colleagues. As Sölch describes, AI can also suggest informal learning-oriented lunches to give employees the opportunity to familiarise themselves with other departments.
4. AI can also contribute to better shortlists of potential candidates and sift through thousands of CVs in no time.
5. AI is first of all unprejudiced and can help to ensure that it is not the young “phoney“ who is shortlisted, but a woman who is perhaps already in her 30s, with the respective experience and qualification.
6. Chatbots can relieve HR staff of the task of having to answer the same questions over and over again: When is my salary paid each month? How many vacation days am I entitled to? Do I need to take time off for a doctor’s appointment? What about options to work from home?
7. AI can help to speed up and standardise application processes by using an intelligent algorithm to examine, for instance, audio and video recordings of candidates for word choice, intonation and other subtleties that may remain hidden to a human HR professional.
8. Last but not least, according to Wolfgang Sölch, AI can also contribute to the improvement of the employee experience, which will be more important in HR than in almost any other department. The author is keen to ensure that HR professionals can use their AI-based insights and dashboards to demonstrate their successes to decision-makers and to propose measures to optimise the employee experience.

As Sölch concludes, artificial intelligence is not intended to replace human employees completely but should be seen as a support to relieve staff of “repetitive” recurring tasks.