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Artificial Intelligence

rtificial Intelligence (AI), the current exercise as they have a number of them to complete
technology buzzword, will have key and don’t have time to write each review individually.
implications for a broad range of The process can be greatly improved with the use
business processes—most notably the of natural language processing and the ability to have
Apeople-centred activity of human capital various types of data about the employee in one
management. place. Natural language processing already exists in
These days we’re used to doing all manner of tasks the publishing world, whereby AI-powered systems
without needing input from another person. Using a write basic news and sports stories.
mobile device or computer, we regularly manage our The same technology can be applied to a
finances, buy clothes, book doctor’s appointments … performance review, taking data from various
the list is seemingly endless and only getting longer. sources and assembling it for a manager to review.
And yet, a relatively high level of bureaucracy exists The system could, for example, review data on an
when it comes to managing everyday tasks in the employee’s work and include a suggestion to give
workplace. In many companies, even the most basic him more flexi time because his child just started
HR services – like an inquiry about tax or employee primary school or it could recommend a new project
benefits – cannot be managed by employees on their based on his volunteering activities.
own. Workers still need to send their query to HR and The ability to bring all of this content together and
wait for a response. extract value from it will make HR Managers’ work
The desire for more efficient self-service is as strong more efficient and rewarding. They will save a lot
at work as it is in our lives as consumers. of time, enabling them to prepare sufficiently for a
performance review conversation.
Automating administrative tasks
Manual admin tasks take up much of HR’s time, Chat bots as a powerful enabler
especially in large organisations where an HR Director It’s not hard to imagine AI software being used to
might be responsible for up to 200 employees. The help employees check and amend their HR records,
aim is therefore to reduce this burden so that HR book holidays or view their previous performance
teams can spend more time on strategic initiatives. reviews. However, chat bots will have limits, of
This is why there is currently so much buzz around course.
the potential role of AI and machine learning in HR, AI and chat bots will never replace HR completely.
specifically in the form of chat bots. The technology is They are simply powerful technologies that reduce
still in its early stages, but the prospect of automating the administrative burden on HR teams so they can
even some of the daily administrative HR tasks has focus on the more strategic tasks in their ever-
huge implications. expanding remit.
The more AI automates processes and extends Although HR leaders are showing a growing
humans’ reach, the more HR leaders can apply interest in exploring AI, they are still hesitant to bring
the uniquely human capabilities that they bring to a it into the workplace. This resistance is the same that
situation – their judgment, creativity and empathy, cloud technology faced five years ago – we are ready
freeing them to do a better job of relating to their to explore it and know it is a game changer but we
colleagues as people and leaving the mundane tasks fear how it could potentially impact us. We should
to their robot counterparts. move from “if” to “when” we should adopt AI.

Improving the performance review
Performance reviews are a necessary part of most Ronnie Toerien is the HCM Sales Development and
managers’ lives but, for many of them, it’s a repetitive Strategy Leader at Oracle Africa, www.oracle.com.

HR FUTURE · JUNE 2018 39