According to a study conducted by IA+Igual, two out of three HR managers in Spain plan to increase the use of artificial intelligence, however, three out of four do not have a clear strategy for it.
Although these technologies are on everyone's lips and are beginning to be introduced in all businesses and verticals, in the talent area their implementation is still quite low. The aforementioned study showed that only 35.2% of the HR professionals surveyed were using it.
The introduction of AI in this area is not trivial and requires prior planning. It is a process in which both People and managers must be involved. To find out which strategies are the most suitable for introducing AI, we talked to some experts.
Prior planning
Álvaro de Armiñán, IT Manager at human resources consultancy Grafton, says that the most important thing is to know exactly what our organization needs when thinking about AI.
“Each company will be able to take advantage of this technology in one way or another, and the first thing is to be clear about where we are going to invest resources and time. We should not use AI just for the sake of it, we must have a clear purpose,” he says.
Along the same lines, Juan Merodio, founder of TEKDI Institute, as well as a speaker and digital business consultant, suggests that, first of all, it is essential to “clearly define the objectives that we hope to achieve with the implementation of AI, whether it is to improve efficiency, reduce costs or optimize decision-making.
In his opinion, it is crucial to make sure that the AI solution is properly integrated with the HR systems already in use, in order to avoid compatibility issues.
Merodio also stresses that it is equally important to check the quality of the data, since AI depends on it being “accurate and relevant to generate reliable results.”
Obstacles
The arrival of any new tool or technology to an organization always presents a number of barriers.
Nacho Travesí, CSO and co-founder of the flexible compensation platform Cobee, believes that one of the biggest challenges is “to locate in the human resources departments those tasks that can be solved thanks to the help of AI, so that the teams can work on what really matters, the health and well-being of the workforce.
The IT manager identifies three clear obstacles. The first refers to legal and GDPR issues. Merodio agrees, highlighting “being able to guarantee the privacy and security of employee data”, which would involve “strict data protection measures”.
This will be an ongoing job that involves keeping up to date and complying with all local and international regulations, informing workers about how their data is collected and stored and obtaining their informed consent, having transparent policies and conducting regular audits, and including mechanisms to correct possible biases.
The second obstacle cited by De Armiñán would be the one related to users, since “AI must be very carefully onboarded with respect to the human factor”.
Merodio delves deeper into this human aspect and says that another major obstacle is resistance to change, since it is common for both employees and managers to be reluctant to adopt new technologies.
To overcome this resistance, the 'benefits' of AI must be disseminated among the workforce, “educating and sensitizing employees”, reinforcing the message that it is a tool that saves time and effort in tasks where a large volume of information is handled. One idea is “involving them in the implementation process, as it makes them feel part of the change and increases their buy-in.”
“Staff training is another important challenge, as employees need to be trained to use the new AI tools effectively,” Merodio notes. The head of Grafton seconds him. He speaks of the need for “extensive training” on AI and asks for patience because “changes are always accompanied by rejection”.
The digital business consultant also sees the initial cost of investment in AI technology as a major barrier.
AI itself is, for Armiñán, the third obstacle he lists. “You have to be very clear about the technology you want to implement and take into account aspects such as: quality, data veracity, usability, scalability, etc. Let's not forget that it is a tool, so we have to take care of the technical aspects (not all AIs are the same),” he says.
Strategies
Grafton's IT Manager believes that knowing “Where and When” is one of the most important things for the successful implementation of AI. He advises that the implementation should be carried out like the onboarding of a new department, “step by step, introducing it to the teams and showing it as a medium-term support”.
Cobee points out that people must be placed at the center of the value proposition of human resources departments.
In addition, they argue that HR specialists must evolve in parallel to acquire the necessary skills both to “evaluate the new profiles they face”, and to “take advantage of all these tools to improve selection processes and prevent turnover”.
For the founder of TEKDI Institute, a good formula may be to start with pilot projects, since this way it is possible to “test the effectiveness of AI in a controlled environment before a full deployment”.
In this process it is advisable to “maintain effective communication at all levels of the organization, reporting on the progress and benefits of AI implementation, in addition to interdepartmental collaboration, which is crucial to ensure a smooth and efficient integration of AI solutions,” according to Merodio.
