Protiviti and ESI ThoughtLab’s research found that only a small fraction of companies (about 4%) globally are seeing a notable impact from using advanced AI in their staffing and talent management operations. However, that percentage is expected to rise to 30% in just two years, according to the study.
That projection is not surprising, given AI’s potential to improve the hiring process, which can be time-consuming for hiring managers (and job candidates, too). AI technology can make the resume review and candidate evaluation process less burdensome by identifying the most suitable candidates, using machine-learning techniques that go well beyond simple keyword matching. Responding to common questions from job candidates is another area where AI technology can help companies.
AI will also allow hiring managers to devote more time to the vital “human” aspects of recruitment, including assessing a candidate’s organizational culture fit. (Robert Half knows the value of using AI in the hiring process firsthand: We leverage AI technology, machine learning and big data to help us make better job matches. We are both high-tech and high-touch.)
Every company benefits from having a well-trained workforce, and AI technology can help ensure that they can build and maintain one. The future of professional development may include AI-powered adaptive learning programs that modify training courses, on the fly, to suit different learning styles. The AI could also analyze which modules have the highest and lowest levels of engagement and test different variations. And it could help a company to measure its return on investment from training, based on outcomes such as productivity, profitability and turnover.
AI is already being used to help people work smarter and become more engaged in their jobs. U.S. company Humanyze, as an example, has developed “smart” badges that use sensors, AI software, and data analytics to track employees’ interactions in the office. The technology has proven useful in helping companies better understand the relationship between team-building and productivity — in one case, discovering that close-knit sales teams perform better than teams split across different locations.
Also, AI technology could help to reduce employee attrition. In 2016, IBM’s Watson AI platform showed that it could analyze a collection of data points about a company’s past and current employees, and generate a score for each based on how likely they are to quit their job. Predictive models such as these could soon become critical in alleviating the turnover headaches that many organizations face.