Emerging AI Trends in HR: The Changing the Future of Work

There’s no doubt about it: AI is going to change the world of work forever.

In fact, executives estimate that 40% of their workforce will need to reskill as a result of implementing AI and automation over the next three years. 

Which means it’s safe to say that the priority of HR departments around the world is going to be hiring and training a workforce that’s completely comfortable working with AI.

Not only that, but HR professionals have to navigate their own changing roles as the latest and greatest developments in AI help save you time and deliver better results.

Read on to get ahead of the curve and see how artificial intelligence technology is going to transform HR. Plus, learn about the benefits of artificial intelligence in human resources.

How is AI being used in HR?

Today, machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) are helping HR professionals automate repetitive tasks and process vast quantities of data to quickly make more informed decisions. 

A few of the most common ways AI is being used by HR teams right now are:

Automating resume screening

Checking hundreds of applications for every open role across your organization is hardly the best use of your teams’ time. Luckily, AI-powered resume screening is helping organizations quickly identify the applicants who are best suited to the role – without being influenced by unconscious biases.

Some artificial intelligence software even helps streamline the process by giving each candidate a score of how well suited they are for the role based on their experience, skills, and education.

Conducting initial candidate assessments

AI can also help you assess the candidates you choose to invite to the next stage of the interview process. 

For example, if you’re hiring for a customer-facing role, an artificial intelligence chatbot can simulate a realistic conversation with a difficult customer. You can then review the chat log yourself to see how they performed – or use AI to score how well they handled a tricky situation.

Optimizing employee benefits packages

The right employee benefits can help you attract and retain the top talent in your industry. 

Employee benefits surveys are a great way to get to grips with how your current employees feel about your benefits packages. But AI will help you go a step further than that, analyzing which of the benefits you offer your people use most often. You can then double down on your most popular benefits and rethink the ones that rarely get used.

Enhancing employee engagement through chatbots

AI and machine learning can improve the employee experience, too.

AI chatbots can help welcome new hires with an automated onboarding flow that hits all the onboarding best practices. They can also help quickly answer your people’s questions, forwarding them on to a member of the HR team if needed. You can even program them to request important information you need from your people at a time that’s most likely to get a response.

And the best thing? AI chatbots record every interaction, automatically picking out trends that will help you constantly refine your approach to employee engagement based on real-time data.

Predicting employee turnover

Employee turnover has been a hot topic in 2023. And no wonder, with one study from the Center for American Progress (CAP) finding that the average cost of replacing a highly-skilled employee was 213% of their annual salary.

Luckily, AI can help here, too. 

Bill Nowacki, the decision science lead at KPMG, says in an interview with CIO that the organization uses AI to calculate a score for an employee’s risk of leaving, suggests a reason for that, and even recommends what the company can do to keep them.

Nowacki says this helps KPMG predict two-thirds of people about to resign and convince 10% to 20% of those identified to stay.

Improve workplace communication

Another way chatbots are being used to improve the employee experience is to provide real-time feedback on the tone and language used in internal and external communications. This can help executives and employees alike develop more inclusive communication habits – and nip workplace disputes in the bud by flagging when a message might not be well received.

What are the AI trends in HR 2024?

In 2024, AI is set to become even more embedded into your human resources department.

In fact, 76% of HR leaders believe that their organization will fall behind their competitors if they don’t adopt and implement AI solutions in the next 12 to 24 months.

With that in mind, here are the AI trends set to have a huge impact on the world of HR in 224 to help you stay ahead of the curve.

Using AI to maximize your ROI on job ads

2024 is set to be the year of AI in HR recruitment. 

For example, AI algorithms can analyze your recruitment efforts and learn which channels are most likely to attract the right candidates for a specific role. This will not only increase the ROI on every dollar you spend advertising your open roles – it will also help you find the right people for the job as fast as possible.

Personalize learning and development

Learning and development is another area of human resource management that AI is set to completely revolutionize. 

Here’s what that’s set to look like:

Artificial Intelligence will analyze each of your employees’ skills, preferences, and professional goals to recommend a training program that will help them learn the skills that will get them from where they are to where they want to be as fast as possible. It will then track how each employee engages with different kinds of training and create a personalized learning journey that takes their learning style into account.

AI-powered diversity and inclusion initiatives

One of the big benefits AI brings to the table is that it helps mitigate against unconscious bias when you’re deciding who to hire and promote. 

AI tools can help you find the right person for a role using algorithms designed to solely focus on specific skills, qualifications, and experiences. This purely data-driven approach to assessing candidates helps you find the right person for each role without the risk of unconscious biases affecting the outcome.

An AI-powered human resource management system can also analyze data like pay disparities, promotion rates, and employee satisfaction rates, helping you pinpointing areas where DEI interventions might be needed.

Every employee will have an AI assistant 

Last but not least, AI will empower every one of your employees with their own personal assistant. 

For example, Assembly’s Dora AI – which is currently in beta – lets your employees upload a personal database of files into Assembly and then ask it all sorts of questions relating to their work. Instead of having to trawl through files and folders to clarify what the next step in an SOP they’re following is or find out what was covered in the last team meeting, they can get that information in seconds by simply asking Dora for it.

What is the future of AI in HR?

AI has come a long way in the last year.

But we’ve still only scratched the surface of how it's going to help HR teams hire the right people fast, reduce staff turnover, and create and maintain a healthy work culture.

And as your people start to see the benefits AI tools in HR can bring them, they’ll become a lot more open to the idea of using it as a tool to enhance their workflows rather than fear it as something that’s going to replace them.

In the years to come, HR software will include AI-powered features designed to eliminate busywork and automate routine tasks by default. This will free HR professionals up to spend more time designing recruitment efforts, employee engagement strategies, and onboarding processes that will deliver a much higher ROI than manually screening resumes.

HR management tools are also set to come with Machine Learning capabilities baked in. These will allow you to quickly analyze your recruitment efforts, your employee engagement strategy, and the results of your staff surveys to spot ways you can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your most important HR processes. 

The final word

In the coming years, HR professionals’ priority is going to be making sure their organization successfully transitions to the new world of AI-enhanced work.

Get to grips with the developments we’ve outlined here to keep your organization one step ahead during the upcoming workplace revolution.