I spend most of my time speaking with HR leaders learning about challenges they’re facing, and I have learned a lot in the last 10 years of doing this work.
Back in the long bygone era we refer to as the 90s, I remember what it was like to be on the cutting edge of technology. I was a gawky teenager with a pager hanging from my belt, considered the peak of technology. It was sleek, brown, and it beeped! I know. Amazing. My family had cable TV with a VCR BUILT INSIDE OF IT. Something called the internet delivered 5-10 CDs to my house in the mail EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK. What a world.
As you may have read, literally, EVERYWHERE, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the next monumental technological leap. While I have used it to feng shui my living room and create an itinerary for my next guys-trip, until recently, I have not used it for practical professional applications.
While going full analog with my client, Sheila, last week talking on a corded phone (yes, they still exist), I asked her if she was using AI in her role in human resources (HR). See, Sheila “wears many hats.” Her office is made up of only her and her colleague Shane. Together they oversee 500ish employees with hiring/recruiting, payroll, and benefits.
“I use it for everything,” she said.
“Really?” I asked.
“Well, I started off like most people with emails. I would drop in the email draft, and it didn’t sound like anything I wanted to convey,” Sheila went on, “So, I told ChatGPT what I wanted to say and then asked it to ‘make it more professional and less mean’.” I laughed.
“I then started using it as a personal assistant, especially on payroll days when Shane was swamped,” Sheila said. I also knew Shane allowed no interruptions on payroll days. There is just too much to do. In fact, Tuesdays the week of Thanksgiving, there was absolutely no way to reach Shane at all.
The advent of technology, and more specifically AI, is making the lives of my clients’ HR practices easier. Not everyone is a great communicator, me included. And, despite my degree in creative writing, striking the right balance in an email or a LinkedIn post can be difficult. AI can help with that.
“In addition, we hire quite a bit,” Sheila added, “and so, when I heard from a colleague that she also uses AI to review resumes, I tried it too. We drop resumes into an AI query and voila, it delivers the best candidates based on the criteria I am looking for in the role.”
AI can improve your recruiting by curating candidate information, scheduling interviews, conducting background checks, confirming the candidate’s information, and providing helpful insights into candidates. Just be mindful of inherent biases in the system and verify, verify, verify.
Despite these advances in technology, what if AI could help with onboarding employees into an HRIS system or using a portal to track their performance? Although these can sometimes make you feel like you need an advanced degree in computer engineering, it can do all these tasks and more.
While I still have that pager somewhere hidden in a box in my attic, thankfully MMA has moved on to create its own generative AI solution. We have also developed and established a Center of Excellence for HR Technology and HR Consulting to assist us with more complex technology and compliance issues.
At the end of the day, the benefits and human resources ecosystem is constantly growing, and it can be more than a little intimidating. Throw in rapidly evolving new applications that change every single day, it can be overwhelming.
With all that fills HR’s plate, including payroll week, how can you learn everything you need to know about AI with so little time? You simply can’t, which is why partnering with MMA and all its resources is so valuable.
I was curious, did Sheila have a pager when she was a kid? So, I asked. “Yep. It was little, brown, and it beeped! But you know what? That thing couldn’t help Shane on a Tuesday either.” Sheila squealed with laughter. I laughed along with her.
If you’re looking for a history lesson on other things 1990s, or if you’d like to learn more about how you can work with an expert in employee health and benefits and still keep your sense of humor, my pager number is below. 😊
