Improving Talent Experience with Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have brought about revolutionary growth for various industries- be it retail, pharmaceuticals, advertising, travel or finance. AI has made businesses customer-responsive, the most common applications being chatbots and virtual assistants.

Given that talent engagement initiatives have led to 26% growth in revenue for organizations according to reports, it is no surprise that AI has made its way into the HR strategy of more than 22% of the organizations surveyed. AI is the foundation for providing stellar talent experience, and if you are an HR manager, it is time you think of AI as your friendly new team mate – one that is going to help you manage hiring, onboarding, engagement, evaluation and retention more efficiently than existing HR models and practices, that too at a pace never seen before. According to VentureBeat, while 24% of companies are currently using AI for recruitment, that number is expected to grow, with 56% reporting they plan to adopt AI in the next year.

AI can be a game changer for key aspects of the employee acquisition and onboarding process:

Finding the Right Candidates

Companies have typically spent a ton of time and effort in finding the right candidates on the internet. With AI, it is now possible to automate the search, match employee skills with role and company requirements, and reach out to gauge their interest, significantly cutting down time spent by recruiters and improving interview-to-hire ratios.

Attracting the Best Candidates

AI goes a step further and helps you go over every application: scanning for suitability and, hence, weeding out the least-fit candidates. Some platforms are able to filter out over 75% of the applications, allowing recruiters to focus on the best profiles for their open positions. Many companies are now using AI to analyze video-based interviews to automate how they read the fine print, such as assessing facial expressions and judging attitude and fitment, which were previously judged subjectively by HR employees.

Reducing Bias in All Forms

Artificial Intelligence removes the guesswork and subjectivity of human resource judgments. AI algorithms aren’t biased by any of the problematic biases that human resource departments have struggled with for decades. This way, decisions are made based on data and more conclusive pieces of an employee’s profile. With AI integrated into the software used to communicate with prospective employees, the chatbots will automatically use standardized and inclusive language that is programmed into it.

Onboarding

Statistics indicate that employees who are brought onboard using a well-designed onboarding program are 58% more likely to spend more than three years with the employer. New hires need to adjust to a whole new environment, and often need a lot of hand-holding to settle down, which is not always possible for HR managers to do. This is where AI takes over, by designing personalized onboarding programs that ensure employee satisfaction.

Talent Engagement

Gone are the days when the HR team could host an annual feedback survey to get a sense of employee satisfaction. It is expected that the leadership will keep a tab on the pulse of the organization in real-time, and address concerns immediately. Using AI, organizations now use pulse surveys to monitor the “mood” of their talent, identify geographies or teams that are under pressure or stress by monitoring the sentiment of their oral and written communication, and intervene accordingly.

Gordon Bethune, former CEO of Continental Airlines and the man credited for turning around the fortunes of the airlines, couldn’t stress enough on engaging with talent and valuing their opinions, emotions and feedback. He said “Treating your employees well is the right thing to do—and it’s good for the bottom line.” In fact, he regularly released a voicemail to update his teams on what is going on with the organization, and they could voicemail him back with their feedback – no judgments applied.

As organizations learn to leverage AI in the hiring and talent management process, it is important to think about the value AI can add by capturing talent expectations. What is it that your talent wants improved? What irks them daily? What makes them walk in to work with a smile? Without knowing what is important to talent, and by how much, it is hard for HR managers to fully capitalize on AI-powered HR tools.

OSG is at the forefront of developing technology and products that solve complicated business questions. Talent Success, OSG’s talent management platform packages advanced technology and behavioral analytics in an easy-to-use, intuitive platform to provide you with customizable question banks. Talent Success helps you gain deep insights into your employees’ challenges and motivations to get a real-time pulse on their state of mind at work. Talent Success enables you with employee-centricity and helps you make the right strategic decisions to become the organization that everyone wants to work for. At OSG, we rely on an extensive Talent Engagement Survey that keeps us relevant and an employer of choice, year on year. Read more about our survey here.

We hope this information has been interesting and valuable to you. Please, feel free to share it with colleagues and other people in your network. We welcome discussing this topic further with you and understanding your business’s specific challenges.