Let AI take over HR tasks and make better use of your humans!
About half of employees worldwide, according to a recent study by Service Now, struggle to get answers to basic questions from HR or the IT help desk. These issues, often referred to as ‘speed bumps’, drag down the employee experience and sometimes make a job impossible to enjoy. Too many of these speed bumps and employees will become unhappy, less-productive and profits will suffer. Finding the answer to a simple question often takes too much time, which not only distracts us from our work but significantly lowers our mood, too.
Robert Half conducted a study that showed 96% of managers are seeing signs of burnout amongst their employees. The potential for exhaustion at work is even putting people off high-paying roles. Another recent study has demonstrated that nearly three-quarters of job-seekers would avoid an employer whose staff seemed worn out. The same survey showed that workers these days are doing their due diligence on potential employers with almost a third going as far as to contact current employees.
If burnout is the problem, then what is the answer? According to some, the answer is medical. As mentioned in our news section, there is currently research being undertaken that may lead to anti-burnout medication. That solution, alongside its ethical considerations, is also a long way off, so we need to address the problem in more presently available ways.
One such presently-available answer appears to be through the use of our ubiquitous friend: Artificial Intelligence (AI). Many companies, large and small, are turning to AI-assisted employee experience solutions. Deloitte introduced such a system in 2016, called ConnectMe, and was designed to improve the situation in two main ways. First, ConnectMe uses chatbots, which were themselves trained via machine-learning algorithms, to provide immediate answers to almost any question. Second, the software is able to take over the repetitive tasks of most jobs, so that people can spend their human talent on more complex, interesting work.
With ConnectMe handling the routine data-gathering, data-entry and number crunching, humans can turn their attention to more personal tasks. Brian McMahon, Managing Director, Personal Wealth Planning, Deloitte, said, “We’ll be able to spend a lot more time meeting one-on-one with our clients. That’s the fun part.”
Many organisations forget that good employee experiences are as important as good customer experiences. The data shows that employees expect to be able to access information quickly and easily, with 77% saying that they expect access to information in one central location. User friendly tools go a long way to creating a more pleasant working life for staff and can prevent that frustrations and disengagement that lead to burnout. Workers want access to information at work to be as easy to get as information when they’re at home. That means always-available portals with mobile-optimised tools and communication channels other than email. Software is the answer, but only when properly designed and implemented.
No matter what kind of AI tools and systems companies put in place, humans are still an essential piece in the workforce puzzle. Kristine Dery, a research scientist at MIT, said, “Managers will need to spend more of their time teaching and coaching, to help people develop new habits and new ways of working in a digital world. That’s a very different role than they’ve had before.” Dery firmly believes that humans are necessary, and need to be on board with new technology, for it to work effectively. A good synergy between tech and talent is “much more effective at creating better employee experiences than making huge investments in AI alone,” she concluded.
It appears, as I’m sure you would assume, that nothing can fix the problem of staff burnout by itself. A pill, some software, extra AI and automating job roles in isolation will never remove the stress that staff are put under—or put themselves under—so it’s down to good human managers to implement the right policies and practices that can support staff in all circumstances. An eclectic approach, whereby any and all ideas are brought into the workplace to help boost productivity and staff wellness must be adopted if an organisation wants to retain its top talent.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
