It’s time to give AI the human (resources) touch
It is no secret that automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the workplace. The debate on how wide-reaching these changes will be is one that feels never-ending, with no one truly knowing what impact it will have.
The one certainty is that unless the workplace is fully behind AI and automation, it’s likely to see a poor return on investment.
For the foreseeable future at least, we are facing work environments that are a combination of both humans and machines. This means that employees have to adapt to a new way of thinking and will likely require new training – and with that comes a huge cultural shift that has to be managed by HR teams.
HR needs to ensure that staff are not just able to use AI and automation, but also be comfortable working alongside the technology. Get it wrong, and organisations face high staff turnover, business-wide lack of adoption of the new technology, and ultimately a failure to deliver a return on investment.
When a company is investing thousands – if not millions – into new technology, it simply can’t take this risk.
And yet, during technological changes, the HR department is quite often overlooked.
Investing in technology can’t be capitalised on without first ensuring that HR is fully resourced to help with the integration between human and machine. Otherwise, businesses will open themselves up to a huge potential backlash from employees.
Instead, the integration of AI and automation into the workplace should draw similarities to introducing a new employee, team, or even department.
In those instances, steps are taken to ensure that the new people fit in with the existing culture, that they are welcomed by other employees, and that the relationship is monitored and assessed continuously. New technology shouldn’t be treated any differently.
It also shouldn’t be an afterthought. Even if businesses are five years away from using AI in the workplace, the more work that is put in now, the easier the transition will be later on.
To some, AI and automation is frightening. The way these technological advances will impact the job market is unknown: some jobs will change, and some may be lost forever.
But machines working alongside humans isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it enables humans to spend more time doing what they do best: being creative, thinking outside the box, and adding more value to businesses.
Still, without an effective HR team, no one is going to see the benefit.