Think about all the things we say we want to do but do not have time for: follow-up calls to candidates, monthly wellness check-ins/stay interviews, individualized onboarding paths, coaching based on performance data.
Imagine a tool that allows us to attack “time-suck” tasks and optimize them, allowing us so much more freedom to create an exceptional work experience. That tool is here – Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the world we live and work in. I believe AI is creating nothing short of a workplace revolution, as it quickly changes our industrial world forever.
The time for engaging with this technology is now. According to the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM), 40% of US Employers are already using AI options to engage with candidates during the recruitment process. Do not be left behind!
Optimizing AI in HR
AI is not de-humanizing HR; AI is allowing HR to become more human by handling mundane tasks and assisting our everyday efforts to serve our companies and its employees.
How can each of us harness the power of AI and apply it practically to our business interests? Here are five (5) rules to ensure you are using AI in a way that supports your team, your culture, and your people:
Rule 1: Make AI Part of Your Culture Strategy
AI is not an IT project. It is a people project. How a company implements AI is not the focus; the focus is how a company uses AI to move its business objectives forward.
How a company uses AI becomes an HR issue. Before seeking any solution through AI, it is important for the user to ask key culture-related questions. One should consider and ask, “How does this inquiry support our culture? How does it help us care for our people better?”
When seeking information in an AI tool, one must create a “prompt” which guides the tool’s ultimate work product. One can tailor one’s prompt to reflect the culture of the organization. HR professionals can request a particular “voice” when writing and that “voice” can mirror the organization’s vision, mission and core values. Whatever AI is enhancing, ensure your organization’s voice is included so AI becomes an extension of your culture rather than a generic output.
Rule 2: Always Pair AI with Human Oversight
AI can flag a disengaged employee. At least at the time of this article’s publication, AI tools cannot ask if that employee is doing okay. That is the job of the HR professional. AI is not displacing the “human” in Human Resources.
Use AI to gather insights but never let it replace the human follow-up. The best use of AI in HR is to enhance judgment, not make it for you.
Human Oversight avoids unpredictable errors. AI is not infallible. Paul Carney, an HR and AI expert, described a typical AI tool as the most brilliant seven (7) year old you have ever met. Beyond Prompts: The 5 Ways to Build Human-AI Relationships that Get Things Done – SHRM Conference Session.
When dealing with ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or any number of other AI systems, they are genius children. As such, they are very literal when you are “speaking” to them and they tend to fill in gaps in your prompts if they lack information to help you with whatever they “think” works. If a person is not reviewing the results of the AI tool’s work product it may not be accurate.
When preparing a presentation many months ago, I was using one of the systems and my request missed some essential chronological information. I learned the importance of oversight the hard way when pushing forward with the presentation not realizing the date was a year off.
AI is an amazing tool and one should use it to its fullest. Never, however, expect perfection. It will enhance work but not do it for you.
Rule 3: Optimize AI Inquiries with Engineered Prompts
AI tools are powerful and that power should not be taken lightly. It is worth the time to provide your team with a formalized prompt and requesting they use it for their AI inquiries.
As noted, a prompt is a template used to request information from your AI tool.
Your prompt creates strong, detailed guidance for your seven (7) year old genius. The prompts should be detailed. One approach to drafting the prompt is to consistently include the following components:
- The Role AI should play (e.g., “Act as a Talent Acquisition Manager”)
- The Specific Request that you are looking for from your AI tool
- Context or one to two sentences of the background of your request (what led up to your need)
- The output format (spreadsheet, Word doc, etc.)
- The appropriate audience for the final product; in other words, perhaps you need it drafted for a presentation to the Board of Directors
- The style and tone that align with your messaging; direct your tool to draft the finished product to match your company’s “voice” and culture
- The length of the final product
Another approach to creating your prompt was suggested by the Society, Human Resources Management (SHRM). SHRM designed this four (4) step process for prompt-engineering under the acronym of its own organization, (S)pecify, (H)ypothesize, (R)efine, (M)easure:
- Specify: “Write a 100-word overview to help HR business partners explain the performance management process to finance”
- Hypothesize: “It may be too technical and there is a risk of over-jargon”
- Refine: “Use plain English; mention high-performing teams”
- Measure: “Rate clarity on a scale of 1 to 5; iterate until you hit 4 or more”
(“The Complete AI Prompting Guide”, SHRM.org)
With such clear direction, your prompt will guide your AI tool into optimal results that make your business lives immeasurably easier.
All organizational users of AI need to embrace the tool but the users should do so from a structured approach. Using an engineered prompt is the right approach to your AI tool of choice.
Rule 4: Audit Your AI for Bias
Be cautious when using AI, monitoring your prompts and results. There have already been bias lawsuits when companies have become overly dependent on AI technology and not noting bias results.
The tasks and duties partially “delegated” to AI need auditing just like HR teams audit their safety practices or general policies. Avoid shirking the human element and assuming your seven (7) year old’s work is 100% valid. As noted, it can fill gaps with mistakes.
Rule 5: Make Sure Your Vendors Are Using AI Appropriately
AI is here to stay. It is in everything we do and all of our partners are using AI, too. We have an ethical and compliance responsibility to our employees. It is essential that HR teams know how AI is being applied by its vendors. There is no harm in contact one’s vendors and asking for demonstrations as to how AI is enhancing their systems, and thus their services to you.
As with all new technologies, insist on transparency from your vendors and expect them to share how they are using AI and how it will affect their services. Shared liability is a topic for another day; if your vendors, however, are misusing information with their AI systems thus compromising your employee information know that your employees will come after both you and them. Ask the right questions of your vendor partners.
Further Considerations Regarding AI Use
As noted, letting AI resources make decisions without human review is dangerous. Algorithms, metrics and resources leading to AI conclusions do not take into account nuances unless specified by the person creating the prompt for AI. Even then, your AI resource may not fully take into account exceptions or unusual circumstances. The person using the AI tool should not assume perfection. That person must review AI-generated results before fully relying upon them.
As we have been saying, use the tool and use the tool frequently! However, recognize that it is a tool augmenting and optimizing effectiveness, not replacing it. Treating AI tools like a “set-it-and-forget-it” option is perilous. Like the dryer in your home, there is nothing wrong with relying upon its use as it is an extremely useful tool. However, walking away from a “hot load” might start a fire. One must monitor, calibrate and review all AI output so there is no danger of burning down your place of business.
Ensuring continued human involvement is not just to avoid mistakes. Sometimes a human connection carries far more weight than an automated, AI-generated response. While few companies are able to ensure a personal response to every job rejection, if someone has been through multiple interview steps, I would always recommend a personal telephone follow up even if the candidate did not secure the position. While a company could rely upon an AI tool to “auto-answer”, that does not feel right when someone has committed time and effort to get to a particular point in your process. After all, let us not forget the business we are in. Hospitality is about care and personal connection. Not everything should be automated; a majority of things should “feel” right.
A final thought on AI risk is the importance of transparency. Let your employees know where AI is enhancing the workplace. Some state laws require disclosure; however, I am speaking about the cultural importance of being open and transparent about the use of this powerful tool. When a company is merely improving its business, there is nothing to hide.
Final Thoughts
AI Tools are everywhere; no reason to shy away from them! Embrace this powerful new technology and come at it with strategic prompts and deliberate human oversight. Be transparent with your people by letting them know where AI is supporting the business.
This is the right tool for HR leaders. In the right hands, with the right approach you, too, can captain this change-driving, revolutionary technology.
Reprinted from the Hotel Business Review with permission from www.HotelExecutive.com.
