A director has said that investing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) allows those working in HR to focus on where their real value lies like creating workplace cultures that drive recruitment, retention, productivity and performance instead of spending time doing less vital tasks.
This is the opinion of Damian Oldham, divisional director at the Access Group a provider of HR software who sees AI as tool professionals in HR can use to make themselves more effective at their job.
Mr Oldham believes senior leaders are being urged to use 2020 as the year where they tackle the issues holding HR teams back. He believes HR has reached a “critical point due to data-led systems, capable of automating many transactional tasks quickly and accurately.”
Mr Oldham said:
It would be easy to assume HR professionals are worried about automation threatening their jobs, but nothing could be further from the truth.
The majority are crying out for tools that do the heavy lifting, so they can spend more time developing new and innovative strategies that really engage employees. This is particularly true of tech-savvy millennials who want to learn new skills and make a real contribution to the company’s success, not feel frustrated by excessive admin.
According to delegates we polled at the CIPD Festival of Work, over three-quarters see technology as integral to their people strategy – yet just over 12 per cent have confidence in their current systems. This is clearly worrying because it leaves HR unable to deliver what is increasingly expected of them.
Mr Kropp said:
Organisations are not ethically ready for AI. Every company needs to create their own ethical bill of rights relating to AI. The rise of AI should lead to companies hiring someone whose job it is to be ethical, this person should be in HR.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.
