In just a few years, Factorial has become one of the most valued Spanish startups and one of the most widely used human resources solutions in small and medium-sized organizations, with tens of thousands of clients worldwide.
The company has also embraced artificial intelligence, which has now become a significant part of its business and will soon become even more integral.
We spoke with Amanda Maireles, Head of People at the company, who shared with Neosmart how this integration has taken place and how their employees use AI internally.
At Neosmart, we are clients of Factorial, so we are interested in both the market perspective and the user perspective. The first question we want to ask is, what can be done with Factorial AI? We know there are several things, but can you mention the most important ones?
From an AI perspective, the two most developed areas are talent acquisition and performance review.
For talent acquisition in our ATS, where we create the job offer and receive candidates, AI reviews the candidate profiles. After reviewing, it tells you if they match the published offer or not. This helps filter a lot, as it categorizes by colors and indicates which resumes to review first.
In our processes, we have a talent acquisition person and a hiring manager who both need to take notes to evaluate the candidate's fit for the offer. This is the second area where AI is developing in the ATS. These improvements are not yet available but will be implemented soon.
The second area where we use AI is in the performance review process. At Factorial, we are very dynamic and open the performance review process every three months. We generate a sort of survey where the person self-evaluates and evaluates their manager. Similarly, the manager evaluates their individual contributor. The questions on both sides are similar, so the AI matches the responses to see if they are aligned and why.
The second thing AI does in this case is to identify action lines for the next quarter, helping both the individual contributor and the manager improve for the next performance review.
Does Factorial staff use any AI internally, and for what purposes?
We are a fairly large company with currently 900 employees. Obviously, we use Factorial internally, but we also use other tools.
For talent acquisition, we use an external tool, LinkedIn, because we recruit an average of 60 to 70 people a month, and LinkedIn is where 99% of our candidates come from. LinkedIn has AI elements for filtering, candidate search, etc.
In talent development, we use external tools to support training topics. For example, we have GoodHabitz, which provides leadership training for managers. We also use Sana Labs, our internal LMS, which uses AI to create interactive, gamified PowerPoint presentations.
For personnel administration, we use a3innuva for payroll and Airtable for ticketing, as we receive many requests from employees and responding to them via Slack can be challenging.
Everything else is done entirely with Factorial.
Do you have any chatbots, or are you considering implementing one for internal use?
Yes, we are developing one. Currently, when you enter Factorial, there is a help button at the bottom right labeled "Let's Talk," which directs you to the customer experience team or the product team. The product team is working on automating this conversation with AI.
Mastering Copilot for business efficiency
Changing the subject slightly, what did the arrival of Factorial AI mean for Factorial as a business?
I can offer my personal perspective. I came from the multinational world, from very large companies. To give you an idea, I worked at a company with 2,500 employees where everything in HR was done on paper. I arrived at Factorial after five years at that company and found that nothing is done on paper here. We hardly use the printer. There is one on a floor for essential documentation in case of dismissals, but everything is done through the Factorial platform.
It allows us to automate many processes with workflows. I have automated the onboarding process, which is very practical as it handles all documentation and notifies you when it's ready. This saves a lot of time.
Another important aspect of Factorial is that HR shifts from being a control team to a much more supportive role in talent development. We can focus more on helping employees grow, improving their well-being, and empowering managers.
How do you integrate Factorial with solutions like ChatGPT, Microsoft's Copilot, etc.?
We have a team dedicated to integrations, not just with ChatGPT or Copilot, but at all levels. We have integrations for access and spaces like Okta, benefits like Alan, Cobee, or Doctor Chat, and payroll with A3...
Our integration team works with various companies to ensure you can access tools directly within Factorial.
How do you prepare your staff and management team for the arrival of AI?
As a tech company, we don't have many issues in this regard. Our engineering team, which currently has about 190 people, is quite young, with an average age of 28. They are very accustomed to working with new technologies.
When ChatGPT was released, an engineering team showed interest and trained together to design these improvements within Factorial. We provide training to prepare everyone.
The management team is also very tech-savvy, and we welcome new technology with open arms. The AI team guides us on the strategic direction, which we then review and implement.
What impact do you expect these technologies, especially generative AIs, to have on your product? Has it changed how your solution will evolve?
Yes, we view AI as a way to automate many tasks, making processes like job description generation much easier. Although AI is not perfect and can have biases, we review the outputs to ensure they are correct. We will integrate AI into all solutions to further facilitate current processes at Factorial.
Regarding biases, do you have any policies to ensure companies comply with new regulations like the AI Act and avoid discrimination?
Yes, our legal team works to ensure compliance and prevent issues. For example, if AI suggests that an employee is not performing well and should be dismissed, we have measures to prevent discrimination. The legal department collaborates with the product team to ensure everything is compliant before launching new features.
Do you use AI in other departments internally?
Other teams, such as Sales Ops, might use AI for business intelligence, but I can't say for sure.
Many startups label themselves as using AI, driven by investors. What do you think of this 'AI washing'? How do you see it in terms of competition?
As my grandfather used to say, "The proof is in the pudding." Many companies claim to use AI, but we focus on transparency and honesty. We have received significant funding and aim to stabilize and reach break-even, without overpromising.
How do you see the future of AI and HR?
AI will help automate many manual HR tasks, facilitating processes like payroll, onboarding, and talent management. While some may see it as a threat, I believe AI will allow HR to add more value by focusing on people. I look forward to more automation to reduce manual work.
