The days of HR may be numbered

The days of HR, as we know it today, may be numbered.

Technologies have had revolutionary impact on the businesses and the global economy recurrently. Normally it starts with a small tool for convenient efficient work but, in due course, it transforms the day-to-day work of employees and also the whole organisation’s processes. Advent of Computers, Internet, Android/iOS, Mobile APPs etc have already made their impact in the way HR functions. This would not stop in the future and the pace of change would be accelerated greatly. Let us also agree on the bigger picture here. In long run, any transformational changes in HR will have its impact on the employer-employee relationship, on the business economy and also on the whole society itself.

Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) is expected to be radical in the field of HR too and it has already started in many organisations around the world. Whether we like it or not, the days of HR, the way we see nowadays, are numbered. In this article, let us drive our thoughts to see to what extent it may transform the way HR functions as a department and possible effect on the Human capital of the organisation.

AMALGAMATION OF ALL WORK PLACE TECHNOLOGIES

Over past few decades, we have seen usage of different technologies & systems for different purposes like productivity systems, CRM systems, ERP, HR systems etc. AI may enable amalgamation of all technologies into one which would communicate laterally with each other in a seamless manner. 

Imagine the entire process of a company - Setting daily operational targets, Customer feedbacks monitoring, Project management system, Sales monitoring, Point of Sales systems,  internal & external communications, Performance management, Career development , Rewarding, Compensation etc – are all connected as one platform and it is designed with Artificial Intelligence to feed into each other without human intervention using Machine Learning capabilities. Firstly, it would solve a major grievance from HR professionals that people are hesitant to use performance management system and it is not being used to its full efficiency. In most of the companies, performance management is conducted like an annual ritual which is 20% of its potential utilisation. With the new advancement, the HR tech may be in the same productivity platform where people spend most of their day and it may become part of their actual workflow. It would sharpen everyone’s focus on Productivity, efficiency and output because every single activity is in the big data, the ML analyses the data and the feeds them back into the system. The opportunity for subjectivity minimises big time.

RECRUITMENT & ONBOARDING

AI powered tools may take over all the mundane routines in recruitment functions like sorting and shortlisting suitable profiles from a bulk databases. AI powered Chatbots may be employed to conduct initial screening interviews to filter down the suitable talents for the vacant job. All these process may happen automatically with least human intervention and HR personnel would focus their energy on final evaluation and selection of right talent.

VR powered tool may be employed for behavioural assessment interview, Personality assessment process, Orientation and On-boarding. Communicating with applicants, scheduling interviews timings, Blocking interviewer’s calendar, sending alerts for all concerned are secretarial tasks which may be taken care automatically by AI powered tool.

It may not be surprising, if companies use ML for data analytics within the organisation and come up with custom designed employment contracts linking performance & incentives for each individual differently instead of generic contracts for positions or grades. Gamified Orientation and Onboarding would be more efficient and can be implemented with consistency for all new joiners.

Internal candidate sourcing may become more efficient than posting the vacancies on some wall or timeline. AI system would understand the requirement of the vacant position, look into the entire employee database for people with relevant skills & competencies and notify them about the job opening individually. This ultimately contributes to open environment for internal growth and career development

HR SERVICE TO EMPLOYEES

AI powered chatbots may answer most of the queries for an employee and can get the response from anywhere and anytime.  Most importantly, the response would be free from any mood swing, bias or inaccuracy. Queries like ‘I am in Probation period. Can I get a paid public holiday?, I am at the hospital. Can I get my health insurance number? How many leave days balance for me? How to apply for a loan? Is there any internal vacancy available in Finance department? Which is the pickup point for the company transportation? Can I see my employment contract? Etc.

For more complex queries, Chatbot would directly assign it to HR associate to take over. All these touch points with HR can be reduced drastically and HR team shall be directed to focus more on complex matters and activities. HR professionals would be driven towards up-skilling and upgrading themselves to stay relevant to the new HR.

EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE

The new HR tech system may focus more on the experience of the user by providing a platform which is very convenient to use like any other social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. Usage of Voice-to-Text and Text-to-Voice capability would bring down the apprehensions radically in accessing the HR system. Flexibility of using the tech in any device - desktop, laptop or mobile- would also enhance the convenience and user’s experience.

TALENT MANAGEMENT

Impact of AI in talent management would also be transformative in nature. AR & VR would have a major role to play in gamifying the trainings enhancing the fun in learning.  There are few new generation tools already built and in the market. Glimpse of some tools are as follow;

Xander and Compass give managers coaching based on direct feedback from engagement surveys. Pymetrics assesses mental capabilities and skills through AI-based games, dramatically improving hiring. Zugata assesses and analyzes functional and technical capabilities through surreptitious emails to peers. Butterfly.ai coaches managers based on behavioral cues and real-time feedback. Volley reads documentation and generates learning assessments automatically. Edcast recommends content based on role and experience of others. BetterUp identifies the best coach for an employee and monitors the coaching process based on self-assessments and work experience.

It is evident that AI is going take a huge leap further from the above listed capabilities and, as I understand, all these companies’ R&D teams are still working on upgrading their product.

CONCLUSION

I believe that just the tip of the iceberg is covered in this article and a lot more are to come. Some of the upcoming advancement may be beyond our current comprehension, entirely changing the way HR works and dramatically transforming the image around HR. HR professionals who are proactively upgrading themselves and adapting to the fast pace change would learn to rove through this wave. In the future, just a secretarial or administrative skills would not be enough to get into HR field and one would require conceptual knowledge to work on matters involving creativity and complexity. However, whatever it may be, as far as I can see, you can’t run a Human Resources department without humans working in it. How well equipped we are to meet the change in job competencies would be the question to be answered.