English Edition | 23 April, 2023, 03:02 PM IST | Today's Paper

How AI and digitalisation are determining the

future of workplace experience
By Anjan Pathak, ET CONTRIBUTORS Last Updated: Feb 18, 2023, 10:12 AM IST

Synopsis
AI capabilities have become particularly critical in HR functioning. From planning
processes and performance management to maintaining relationships, AI has not only
unburdened HRs but is also making them more efficient and accurate in their actions.

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From being perceived as a threat to
human forcesto being seen as a
supporting tool, AI has fundamentally
changed the world of business. AI and
digitisation have become unavoidable
in the workplace, especially due to
emerging workplace challenges like

AI provides data-backed insights on employee

higher turnover, disengaged employees,
performance as well as individual and team and decreased productivity.
progress.

According to Gartner, the number of companies investing in AI increased by

270% between 2015 and 2019. The global AI market is valued at over $136
billion in 2022 and is estimated to grow by 38% in 2023. By 2030, the market is
predicted to reach $1.81 trillion. These numbers make it obvious that the
workplace looks fundamentally different today compared to a decade ago.

AI capabilities have become particularly critical in HR functioning. From

planning processes and performance management to maintaining
relationships, AI has not only unburdened HRs but is also making them more
efficient and accurate in their actions.

Changing role of HR and workplace experience

Thanks to AI, creating a nurturing environment for top talents and delivering
a stellar employee experience has now become much easier. While some HRs
are losing competitive advantage by not adopting technological advancements
like AI, others are already on the bandwagon. The result is a visible shift in all
HR functions, including recruiting, engagement, and organisational decision-
making.

The use of AI-powered recruiting tools saves time, money, and effort by
integrating automation into the hiring process. From pre-screening potential
candidates to analysing their sentiments on job descriptions, AI can assist
HRs in every step of the hiring process. It can assist in screening resumes,
reviewing referrals, and filtering profiles from a large pool of candidates to
shortlist the best ones.

AI provides data-backed insights on employee performance as well as

individual and team progress. It predicts and identifies areas of improvement,
streamlines the organisational workflow, automates data collection and
analysis, and gathers insights HRs wouldn’t have had access to before. With AI
and predictive analytics, it is now possible to mine intensive data and analyse
them with greater speed, leading to better and faster decision-making. Thus,
making it easy for HRs to take action based on real numbers like- why
engagement rates are going down or why an individual employee is becoming
less engaged in the workplace.

With the increasing emphasis on creating an employee-focused workplace,

businesses are trying their best to keep employees happy and engaged. Most of
them are investing in taking measures, policies, and programs to improve
their engagement levels. But only 32% of US employees are engaged, one of the
reasons being the traditional approach of HRs.

Setting policies does not change the game unless the administration
constantly analyses the numbers and actively works on the shortcomings.
This is where AI comes in. It can scan through all employee data and help HR
leaders gauge employee satisfaction, well-being, retention, or fatigue rates in a
blink of an eye. It can measure and analyse employee sentiment and predict
what exactly they need to do to improve engagement. HRs are only required to
prioritise the issues that need attention and respond with action.

Adding a new dimension to employee wellness

The growing presence of AI is making wellness among employees achievable.
It enables HRs to design customised well-being programs for employees
depending on their present health condition, health goals, and preferences.
The advanced AI-backed programs can also leverage the employees’ goals and
challenges to increase participation and reward their achievements. This is
something me and my team are also trying to achieve as well.

AI-powered wearables are efficiently helping employees track their health

with step counts, heart rate, count of calories burnt, and such. AI has also been
emerging as an effective solution in managing mental health issues among
employees with real-time chatbot assistance.

L&D programs have also got the much-needed reboot with the intervention of
AI. It is now possible to cater to each employee with a personalised learning
program relevant to their individual needs. This content matching helps HRs
create agile and adaptable development programs. In addition, it provides
data that illustrates how it is contributing to the overall business
performance. Coaching chatbots are there to offer leaders the additional
support they need in their learning journey with real-time responses to the
FAQs.
Organisations are also utilising AI coaches exponentially to help their
managers engage with the team members as success coaches. These AI
coaches can also assist leaders to better understand the psyche of their people
by keeping track of the tone and frequency of communication.

To conclude, AI is no more the ‘future of the workplace.’ It's the present reality
and is already occurring now. Its integration into HR administration will only
make organisations perform better with up-to-date and error-free data. AI has,
in fact, become a strategic asset in the hands of HRs for richer workflow
innovations.

The writer is CTO & Co-founder – Vantage Circle.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions
expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.)