The Power of HR & Automation: How to Keep the “Human” in HRM with Technology

Will automation cause the workforce of the future to be dominated by malevolent, beady-eyed robots gleefully expelling humans from their offices and cubicles to lay claim to their jobs?

Probably not. But if it takes scary robots to alert HR professionals to the importance of tracking and responding to the rise of automation in the workplace—and the threat that automation could pose to the careers of many—the image will have served its purpose. Automation is everywhere, and its impact on human resources is expanding, but many say HR professionals are only dimly aware of the trend. For HR, automation increasingly affects workforce strategy. It vastly expands the potential of, and expectations for, HR analytics. Technology is transforming traditional HR functions such as hiring, training and benefits administration. And the execution of all this change demands a strong HR role.

The understanding and use of the power of automation may prove to be the dividing line between those who advance in the field and those who are marginalized and, eventually, automated out of their HR jobs.

AUTOMATION & HR

A recent KPMG report found that virtually all HR functions can be fully or partially automated. Of 21 responsibilities, KPMG found only five to be relatively less susceptible to automation:

• People performance whole system architecture (building a high-performance work system).
• HR and business strategy.
• Organizational effectiveness.
• Change management.
• Employee relations.

Even lower-level HR practitioners will be required to increase their value by mastering technology. Improved connectivity and faster access to virtually stored information can give all employees access to the best ideas and solutions, enabling staff with lower qualifications to review organizational data and perform high-level HR reporting.

How can HR professionals best function in this new environment? Make sure you have high business acumen, strong critical thinking skills, good data analysis skills and good judgment.

WORKFORCE PLANNING

As automation takes hold, HR professionals will need to re-examine their organizations' workforces and the mixture of full-time employees, part-time employees, contractors and machines.

The composition of talent at organizations will likely change. Notably, the number of technology workers will rise, including such positions as coders, engineers, human technology monitors, mechanics, and business and data analysts, many of whom will be employed short-term or by the project.

Given the workforce shift toward more technical positions and capabilities, HR professionals must increase their involvement in, and understanding of, how these workers are used and what they need.

In many cases, it will be a major step forward for HR employees to join or begin the conversation on these workforce-shaping topics, in conjunction with IT, operations and other stakeholders.

DATA ANALYSIS

Automated functions are easy to measure, record and analyze, so enormous quantities of data are a byproduct of automation. Increasingly powerful HR tools, including smarter Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS), also generate reams of data. As a result, many say HR managers at larger employers are being asked to stay abreast of all data-driven workforce trends.

Since 2015, for example, software vendor Workday's Human Capital Management clients can use a retention risk analysis function to quickly identify and understand the danger of employee departures for the entire organization or for a specific department. The software can predict whether top performers are at a high risk of leaving in the next year and project the cost to replace them.

HIRING

Sourcing and hiring are becoming increasingly automated. This is altering the role of HR professionals, who will have more time to focus on higher-level functions. Many organizations will be chasing the same types of tech-savvy employees, and HR will need to lead the way in finding them, competing effectively for them and facilitating speedy offers, as delays often result in losing prospects to competitors.

Chatbots and intelligent analytics are already performing automated sourcing. The human sourcers who remain, some say, will use technology to analyze and widen the pool of potential candidates.

For example, HireVue, a video interview and candidate assessment company, analyzes the results of game-based tests of candidates and their recorded responses to questions to facilitate hiring for its clients. It can also use artificial intelligence to perform more-sophisticated psychographic profiling of candidates.

TRAINING

Automation will help make employee training an enormous area of opportunity for HR. Use of simulators and electronic instruction will increase. The old process of master-apprentice, wherein employees are slowly trained by masters in their jobs, will be supplemented and in some cases replaced by digital training.

Apps, webinars and recorded training will allow employees to learn on the job during lulls in workflow or when they need it, rather than when the schedules of a large number of individuals allow.

HR also may have a role in training machines, which need knowledge from real people and help adhering to human standards. Unsupervised technical employees can, for example, inadvertently impart biases, such as racial or gender preferences, into systems.

ADMINISTRATION

Increasingly, automation is enabling employees to establish digital personnel records. That allows them to update and track employment milestones throughout their tenure with the organization. HR may have an increasingly important role in overseeing such records and helping determine how much information should be shared within the organization. These platforms will also allow employees to access their basic records and perform simple HR transactions themselves.

Workday's campaign management application leverages system data to push required and relevant content to targeted employee groups. For example, if a worker is required to update his or her succession plan, the system automatically generates a reminder. The notification may also link to suggested resources to help the employee think through how to find successors.

KEEPING THE WORKPLACE HUMAN

Increasingly, people will be working with machines that don't need benefits, reassurance or human support—or weekends and holidays off. They will provide endless streams of data and conceal nothing.

This is prompting fears that automation could lead to a race to the bottom regarding work conditions. Criticisms of Amazon and other technology companies have included allegations of excessive measurement of, and expectations for, employees, particularly lower-level workers.

Keeping humans at the top of the agenda is important in automation efforts. Putting people ahead of process and technology is ultimately how HR will enable an organizational transformation when it comes to automation. Although, it's still the case that many transformation initiatives are more focused on process and technology than on their talent strategies, it's important to remember that people are at the heart of our organizations.

 P.S- This article was recently published in "The People Management" Magazine.