It’s official: the artificial intelligence genie is out of the bottle.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT had a million users within five days of its launch in November 2022; within two months, the app had 100 million active monthly users.
And CEOs are increasingly recognising the need for agility and early adoption in this fast-changing, hybrid-working, post-pandemic world. 76% of CEOs are investing in automating processes and systems and 69% in deploying technology including AI worldwide. In the UK alone, investment in these areas is even higher: 86% and 77% respectively. Flashbacks of The Terminator and a world run riot? The jury’s still out. But in the meantime, and unlike a cyborg assassin, there’s a world of opportunity offered by generative AI and its intersection with your company’s Human Resources and People functions.
The true cost to productivity
Anyone in HR right now will have more than their hands full. Bear or Bull market, HR are always busy. And it’s not just your HR department who are buried under a mountain of admin. A 2015 survey of 1,000 US and UK-based managers by ServiceNow found that line managers are spending around 40% of their time on administrative and operations-focused tasks such as filling in forms and requesting support services.
Onboarding a new employee? 70% of managers surveyed estimated that it takes at least 10 requests across four departments to get ready for a new recruit. Most of the time these admin queries and tasks are still carried out by email: technology that was last cutting-edge when it was invented in 1971. On average, the survey found that managers are spending more than 2 days a week on routine admin tasks, with 20% spending 3 days or more. So for every 10 managers you employ, the equivalent of four FTEs are spending all day, every day, dealing with process-based work-about-work.
And if this sounds like a middle-management problem, the financial impact is clear: in the US alone, the ServiceNow survey estimated that companies are spending $575 billion a year on admin inefficiencies - roughly the combined annual profits of America’s 50 largest public companies.
That’s where Harriet comes in
The best HR software, and time-saving efficiency, that your company can invest in. Unlike the majority of us, Harriet loves nothing better than to manage your teams’ payslips, sick leave, parental leave and holiday pay; she knows what the wifi password is; she digests your company’s policies and internal documents and answers employee queries on them with perfect accuracy; your personalised compliance management system, she knows what forms need to be filled in by who and when, and doesn’t mind chasing them up; she’s proactive as well as reactive, ingesting new information and training on the job as she interacts with your employees; she interfaces with your company’s ‘accessible’ self-service HR software so that your employees don’t have to; and she knows how and when it’s appropriate to escalate an issue to the HR team.
She’s the AI for HR who allows your talent to focus on the tactical, rather than the transactional. She works 24/7, she’s never sick, and she’s tracking your holiday allowance for you. And her hiring process is simple: (just click here for a free trial)
Genies are notoriously difficult to stuff back into bottles.
We know there’s an element of fear across industry about the future of HR and how HR and AI will coexist in this evolving landscape. And it’s understandable: AI for HR really is coming for your job. But only for the crappy bits, the tasks that cause stress and contribute to employee burnout. The good bits are very much still in your intray.
References:
https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/c-suite-insights/ceo-survey-2023.html accessed 19/7/2023