HR Automation: The Best Places to Start

AI and automation are topics that we are hearing about more than ever. They are applied to countless different processes and currently being adapted across all industries. HR is one of the many departments who is working to fully embrace the application of these methods due to the critical and dynamic nature of their work. However, wanting to adopt new technology and being fully prepared to implement new technology are two different things. While there are clear benefits to automating manual labor-intensive processes, your HR team needs to know where to start and what specifically to apply this new tech to. While it may be tempting to think large-scale when implementing new tools, doing too much at once can introduce unforeseen issues while your new processes are being implemented, such as adoption fatigue or resistance. Today we will cover three critical areas to start at with automation that will support a streamlined talent process and deliver the talent experience that your people need.

Skill data and career architecture

Many organizations’ career architecture and skill data foundations were put together at one point in time and are infrequently updated if they receive updates at all. This information includes job role names and descriptions, job role responsibilities, job families, and associated skill and competency data, such as expected proficiency levels. While it may not strike you as the most pressing element of your talent management, it is the basis of many other functions and can cause problems if not attended to. Leaving such an important process to manual updates can cause errors such as incorrectly logged data, duplicate roles or people with different job titles performing the same tasks. Errors such as these can cause over-hiring or mis-hiring which often leads to costly layoffs. Bringing AI into your skill data and career architecture can help you scale and understand your workforce as your company grows. An AI solution for skill data and career architecture should organize your current internal data as well as keep it updated with external information regarding industry trends and skill requirements over time.

Career paths and development

When employees look at their career paths and future at your company, they logically look towards moving vertically up the ladder. While this is a very traditional way to approach career mobility, AI can help give employees insight into more nontraditional paths. Automating your career data can allow employees visibility into different roles in the company and show them recommendations based on what career move has the smallest skill gaps. Skills can be highlighted across departments to show employees what makes them transferable not only vertically, but also laterally by showing a percentage match to other roles. Organizations can also use this skill data if they know that certain job roles or functions are becoming obsolete to transfer talent to new positions that their current skills are suited for. If organizations have a way to track employee aspirations, AI can match organizational opportunities with employee goals to help infer personalized development plans, leading to increased reskilling and upskilling opportunities.

Talent pools and succession planning

When someone in the company is promoted, leaves, or retires, how do you choose who will take their place? Traditional processes for creating talent pools or succession plans can leave open areas for bias to creep in. Is the favorite choice or the next in line truly qualified or even the best fit for the position? AI can create data driven inferences to help recommend candidates based on skills, qualifications, and preferences. This can help encourage a fairer talent selection process that is data based to help combat discriminatory bias and improve your company’s overall DEI. AI curated data also allows for a more accurate top-down view of all of the talent and skills housed within your company to help you make better placement decisions both now and in the future. While bias can never be removed, AI recommendations working together with your hiring managers or subject matter experts can form a trustworthy partnership.

Whether your goal is to help fix outdated, manual processes, increase organizational visibility, or help reduce bias, utilizing automation in your company’s talent strategy can have many benefits. By starting in these three critical areas, you can create a solid foundation to build upon and integrate across your talent practices. As you help push your business and people forward, automation will give you the helping hand to help you realize your strategy at scale.