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The short answer is yes. Get ready for a transformation of your HR department and I’m talking about making it much better.

Do you really want to work at your current level of speed and productivity? AI is the key businesses have been waiting to make this department more effective: Getting more done, pursuing accuracy and playing a more dynamic role in attaining company goals.

But of course, it will only happen if you know about and implement these changes. So let’s summarize this so you can get prepared. As AI develops you need to be ready to accept the positive change.

Will AI Carry Risks or Disadvantages Too?

Of course, no change is only positive. It’s usually coupled with some stress and a learning curve. If you know what to expect though you can be better prepared to minimize the obstacles. Here’s what you need to look out for:

• You could trust AI to pick the best person for a job but a robot may not gauge certain characteristics that will come to the fore in a personal discussion.
• Your team may be overwhelmed with technology if not trained well. This often leads to programs uploaded to a system but old processes still begin following. That’s a waste of money.
• Employees may feel disconnected if they only interact with AI.

While these risks are mostly manageable—stay involved and give good training—you run a much greater risk if you don’t implement this: Becoming irrelevant in an ever-evolving market. Do you realize you must use modern technology if you want to be a preferred employer?

You want to attract the best employees in the market, right?

Will AI Cost You Your HR Position?

This is an unfortunate myth. It’s normal to be protective of your job but there’s little foundation for this fear. In general companies view AI and automation as an opportunity to retrain employees to cover other tasks—in conjunction with robots and high tech features—so the company can improve productivity.

And here’s an important note: An HR team will play a prime role in preparing companies to implement AI in all departments. Aren’t you responsible for the development of employees in general? That means you now have the privilege of training them for the exciting journey of working with AI.

There will definitely be more work rather than you losing your relevance in your company.

But then it’s important you keep up with the times. Luckily you’ll revel in these benefits coming your way.

The Benefits of AI for Your HR Department

So will it be an overnight win? Probably not.

For a start: For AI to be truly effective the machine learning aspect needs to learn from you and your crew what to do. Then certain tasks can be copied, automated and improved because it will be happening faster. You also must get used to new processes and customize the system to your preferences.

But if you need some motivation to keep going and embrace this new chapter in business functioning, here are the facts.

Benefits for the Employee

Employees are always complaining about having too little time to do too much work. For them, there will be no more reason to grumble since AI systems are designed specifically to combat time wastage.

One example is automating a process such as leave applications. Instead of booking a meeting with the HR department AI can gauge whether it’s an optimal time to take a break:

• Are big projects going live at that time?
• Did other employees book the same time, therefore necessitating your presence on site?

Even general HR queries can happen quickly since you can talk to a chatbot instead of waiting for an employee to answer, and humans usually want to make small talk first.

The bulk of the benefits will be experienced by potential and new employees. The future of AI in HR is closely linked to the recruitment process. When many aspects are automated applicants will benefit from:

• Unbiassed first impressions are drawn from resumes and background checks. Robots won’t be prejudiced to race, gender or even personality types so everyone can get equal chances.
• Fast feedback after applying because AI can work through Bid Data quickly to find the best candidates.
• Training—for new positions—done by AI will be standardized so new employees won’t get watered down teachings because a mentor is pressed for time.

This already helps build a more productive and happy team which will benefit the entire company. This is worth investing in, right?

Benefits for the HR Practitioner and Team

But AI is not only to make the rest of the business function well. Let’s pull it back to the HR department itself.

Firstly if a chatbot can answer general queries it frees up loads of an HR team member’s time. More time is also saved when AI can automate repetitive tasks such as logging work hours.

But once again the most exciting benefit comes from the recruitment process such as helping you to manage it with software instead of handling paperwork manually. This entire process can be managed from a platform such as Mitrefinch, One system that does it all for you.

As mentioned your AI system can identify the most promising individuals from a list of applicants. However its involvement starts much earlier than that.

AI can analyse data to determine which skills, personalities and positions are most needed in a company based on performance appraisals & other data. Instead of HR teams sifting through information AI can do this in record time and do it accurately. Let’s face it. Which human can handle the amount of data AI will be able to work through?

If you know what type of positions to advertise for you’ll empower your company to become more effective in the long run.

Why the drive to get HR departments involved? Because it’s time they play an active role in more aspects of the business. That takes us to the next point.

Benefits for the Employer/Business Owner

You can probably see that AI will make employees more productive but that’s only one benefit for the business owner. He or she can acquire more time and input from the HR team—because they’re less pressured with paperwork—so they can help drive the company towards its goals.

Since HR departments work with the most important asset of all—people—this is vital. Ready to prepare your team?