Workforce priorities and responsibilities are changing rapidly. To remain competitive amidst these dramatic and dynamic changes, HR teams must fully leverage emerging technologies like AI and data analytics.
Watch this on-demand panel discussion to hear how top companies use technology and analytics to gain a competitive advantage in the tight labor market and improve employee engagement, morale, and overall performance.
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Note: This content originally appeared as part of Argyle’s HR Leadership Forum: Harnessing the Power of HR Technology on June 18, 2024.
The conversation centered around the impact of technology on the HR profession, with speakers emphasizing the use of talent intelligence systems, data-driven decision-making tools, and employee engagement platforms to enhance the HR function. They also discussed the importance of striking a balance between AI and human oversight in decision-making processes, addressing bias in hiring processes, and ensuring ethical data use and compliance. Speakers highlighted the need for HR professionals to understand AI and its applications, as well as the importance of communication and transparency in improving employee experiences.
Brittany Sullivan 0:05
Hello and welcome back to the Argyle HR Leadership Forum. My name is Brittany Sullivan with Argyle and it’s great to have everyone joining us today. A couple of notes before I turn things over to our panel moderator. First, a quick reminder to stop by our sponsors virtual booths at any time during today’s event, and for the following week. Our partners are committed to providing you with valuable content and a great overall experience. At any time. During today’s event, you can visit their virtual booths from the main agenda page, which includes complimentary materials, information and meet and greet opportunities. To ask questions throughout the session, simply type into the q&a chat, and we will address your questions at the end of the session. Now without further delay, I would love to introduce our moderator, Todd Allen, corporate director of human resources at Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission. We’re excited to have Todd and our panelists with us for a panel titled, oh the Humanity Transformative HR Technologies AI and Beyond. Welcome, Todd, and over to you.
Todd Allen 1:06
Great, thanks so much. I am happy to be moderator with this great panel. I’d like them to introduce themselves. So I’m gonna turn right over to Rebecca Warren to kick off the introductions. All
Rebecca Warren 1:19
right. Hello, everyone. Rebecca Warren. I currently work at Eightfold AI. I’ve been there about three and a half years, started out in customer success and help to build that customer success team, and now have recently moved over to a new practice that we’re starting, called talent to center transformation where we’re building a practice centered around where we’re building a practice around talent rather than jobs around I’m based out of Phoenix, Arizona. They go to Phoenix, Arizona.
Todd Allen 1:56
Okay, great. Let’s go to Lauren next.
Todd Allen 2:08
I’m not hearing Lauren. So let me go to Savanna next.
Savannah Skinner 2:11
Hi, I am Savannah Skinner. I am a director of human resources over the Human Resources business partner team for air methods. I’ve worked in a variety of industries, starting with the army, the alcohol industry and currently working in healthcare. I’m happy to be here.
Todd Allen 2:43
great. Lauren comes to us with quite a bit of experience. Lauren, I can give a quick intro for you if you’re unless you want to try one more time. More time. All right. So Lauren, oh, yes, Lauren, please. So Lauren.
Lauren Lawrence 3:01
Hi, I’m Vice President of people for TISTA Science and Technology Corporation.
Todd Allen 3:12
Right, great. Okay, so our first question for the panelists. So our first question, I am hearing an echo. So if our behind the scenes team can check on that, please feel free to introduce a solution. Nevertheless, I’m gonna jump right into our first question. What are some of the ways that technology is changing the role of HR professionals? Let’s start with Rebecca.
Rebecca Warren 3:36
Yeah, I think it is changing HRs role significantly. I think talent Intelligent Systems talent intelligence systems, like eight fold, are transforming the talent journey from pre-hire to retirement, adding AI machine learning automation to make the best talent surface more quickly and more easily. I think there’s other things out there like data driven decision making tools such as like Power BI or Tableau, allowing HR professionals to gather data and make predictive decisions, analyzing patterns and trends, enhancing communication and remote work facilitation. And then also employee engagement platforms. I think that process has changed significantly. And I think tech is making that better. Also elearning platforms and training that’s done through VR and AR especially where it’s not possible for trainers to be everywhere using virtual reality and augmented reality makes a big difference for folks. So there’s a laundry list, but there are a couple of things that I think about in terms of making HRs role more impactful by using technology to take away the work that used to be time consuming and allow those HR professionals to become more talent advisors, as opposed to being stuck in the weeds.
Todd Allen 5:09
I love it. I love that you start with talent intelligence. Thank you. Let’s go next to Lauren and then Savannah.
Lauren Lawrence 5:23
At the speed in which our businesses are operating for HR professionals use that data and information in
Todd Allen 5:30
order, or
Todd Allen 5:32
where, where it’s all going.
Savannah Skinner 5:37
And I think it’s such an exciting time to be in HR. I think more than ever, we’ve had a seat at the table, not that we don’t have to fight for it in some organizations, but I think HR is valued more than it has been in the past. And we have the access to data to drive intelligent, intelligent decisions.
Todd Allen 5:56
That’s cool. You guys also remind me of I think it was a cover of a recent Sherm magazine when Janet Johnnie Taylor said, ai plus h AI, because ROI, so it really emphasizes how Rebecca kicked off with human intelligence, you know, partnering with AI, to get the best ROI. So thank you for sharing that. Let’s go a little deeper. The next question, we’re going to drill a little more into AI and the differentiation between generative AI technologies like Chet GPT, and other AI applications. How is generative AI changing the role of HR professionals? Let’s start with Rebecca again.
Rebecca Warren 6:36
Yeah, thanks to an AI company. We have to know a little bit about this. And I’m going to take a step back before I actually answer that question. And I want to talk about really briefly the different types of AI, what it is and what it isn’t. Right. And so, a lot of times people think AI is automation. But automation is just taking and, and making a task easier with minimal human intervention. An algorithm is a set of instructions designed to perform a specific task. Then we’ve got Gen AI, which is AI systems that create new content, such as text, images, music or code. We also then have large language models, which is a type of AI focused on understanding and generating human language. And then we have AI, which is the simulation of human intelligent processes by machines, especially computer systems. So I think there’s a lot of flavor to it. And there’s a lot of times we think it’s this or it’s that and there’s a lot of different levels, when I think about Gen AI and how it’s changing, right, so it can create new content, and build things. I think it’s great for us, too. As a thought starter, I love to use it to think about job descriptions or look at answering questions on a webinar or give me some ideas to think about, right? So Gen AI is changing, because it is systems that create content that tend to emulate humans. And so as we think about using Gen AI, making sure, though, that you’re using it in a way that you’ve got some frameworks around it. And I think we’ll talk more about that as we go along about how we make sure that we’re safe when we’re using AI. But I think as we spend some time looking at Gen AI using it to make our lives easier. I recommend using it as a thought starter for HR professionals. How would I answer this question? How would I think about it, but then also proofing your answer by using some additional information using Google or your experts around you?
Todd Allen 8:50
Excellent. All right, let’s do Lauren. And then Savannah again.
Lauren Lawrence 8:57
Thanks, can I add, you know, as it generates thoughts, or it helps our candidates with their resume writing skills. We’re also using it in our interview interviewing capabilities. And we have to really be mindful of security, right, ensuring that great resumes, great talent is able to position is a cultural fit, and that we’re addressing those biases.
Savannah Skinner 9:26
We’re using it in your methods to generate job postings, like little LinkedIn blurbs about different opportunities and generating more traffic to RECs that we have out there. We also use it for internal communications and have started trying to figure out how to use it for things like employee handbooks and policies just to try to make those mundane tasks a little bit easier.
Todd Allen 9:51
That’s great. Yeah, I was thinking I’ve been dabbling with IT policies can be a challenge sometimes especially. We’ve had some recent legislation and Mayor and having called the time to Care Act, and drawing down thinking around that I was playing, and it helped me get started. But then the proofing piece was so important. And, you know, kind of then doing my normal policy work with the other stakeholders to customize things. So great points, fault starter proofing. And that’s, I think, opens up really to probably helping every area of HR. Alright, I will drill a little deeper again with the next question that kind of builds on what we just said. So let’s just open this up. Are there any other non generative uses of AI for HR that you feel we didn’t cover? In our last? Last response? Anything you want to add? I’ll start with Rebecca, just in case you want to. Since you were very thorough, do you do anything that maybe we might have missed that you want to add to that?
Rebecca Warren 10:56
Well, I think we’ll get to this a little bit further down the road. But there was a question that came in, around outside of recruiting, what other aspect of HR Do you feel AI will be most useful? And honestly, when I think about our role at a fold, right, our mission statement is helping everyone find the right career, right, the right career for everyone in the world. And so where I see AI becoming so helpful, is moving things along more quickly. Right? When I think about helping folks find new jobs, and I’m Case in point, right, I came to eight fold with a TA background as a practitioner for a long time, but did not know customer success and did not know tech. And because I had those transferable skills, the system was able to say yes, this looks like a good fit, I was referred over. But then when I put my resume in, and it says, Hey, here’s a job that would match for you. It came up with TA, but it also came up with customer success. So I think the ways that AI is making connections, not just in recruiting, but internal mobility, how do we help folks stay in an organization instead of leaving? And so what kind of skills adjacencies? Can tech AI help us uncover using talent intelligence to connect those dots, do it more quickly, and make those connections in ways that we might not think about? Right? If you think about teachers are great fits for consultants, but that doesn’t feel like a normal connection. So using AI to help make those internal mobility changes, or getting into a completely different career path? I think AI is huge for doing that and helping connect those dots in ways that we might not normally think about.
Todd Allen 12:40
That’s awesome. How about how about Lauren, and Savannah, anything you’d like to add Lauren first
Lauren Lawrence 12:51
thing as well, and using the autumn systems integrations to really help us in and sizing Asia, that informed decision, nonprofit organization to support those attracting and bringing them into the organization. But as Rebecca mentioned, helping fear staying with the organization is all about harnessing that date. And Dan, what’s an
Todd Allen 13:27
awesome Savannah, anything else you’d like to add?
Savannah Skinner 13:30
I think they covered it well, but I’ll just say this. When I think about non generative AI in HR, I think of data analytics, talent reviews, talent, talent planning and succession planning. I think those are areas where we can make an impact.
Todd Allen 13:46
Okay, very cool. I’ll just throw this out real quick, too. At my last company, I was chief HR and Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer. And it was kind of intriguing after 30 years of like, HR traditional work to be thrown into like, being almost like a chief information officer. That was more low code. And more creating innovation. Partnering with the CIOs was kind of a strange, next level thing for me. And it caused me to get into the business. And we always use the buzzword, people process Tech Data, and people first that kind of balance. And we got into predictive modeling using AI. To predict sewer overflows, we were a water wastewater industry. So it is like, you’re like, huh, but by not having as many sewer overflows, it helped the work life, the workers, that was the worst thing to do, as you can imagine, having to get deployed on an emergency in the middle of the night to clean up a sewage overflow and the community hated it. So the AI modeling said, hey, if we predict heavy rainfall coming in, it’s likely that this is going to happen here with these kinds of various factors. And so we want to do something a little differently in turn of how we operate. And then we avoid that. And now we don’t have to have the number of emergency calls and emergency calls went down. So there’s this deep relationship to, you know, the business’s use of AI as well impact in my opinion, on how we define the jobs, and you know, some of some of the really weird things that are more emergencies, we might be able to predict and avoid the emergency. So that is just kind of an interesting example from our last company. All right, next question. We’ll start with Savannah. How do you ensure that humans are always in the loop of important decisions?
Savannah Skinner 15:36
I think this is such an interesting concept. And I think HR is in an interesting place. Because we not only are in the position to use AI and new technologies, we also have the responsibility as gatekeepers of liability and safeguarding the organization. And then I think even ensuring that data is used ethically. So I think the the solution to this is to make sure that you have checks and balances built into your processes, where humans are playing an active role in identifying the way that the data is used, making sure it’s used ethically, and in compliance and not not letting anything, any technology operate to independent of human judgment. I think it’s a good starting place. But I don’t think that we should rely entirely on technology.
Rebecca Warren 16:33
I agree. And I’ll just jump in. Is that okay? Please, because I think you’ve known by now, I’m not afraid to, you know, chat about things. So to tack on that, Savannah, I think you’re 100%. And I think there’s transparency that needs to happen. But there’s also education. And I think HR professionals need to know what AI is in their processes, and understand it to the best of their ability. Now, I’m not saying that you need to go down and figure out how to code or create, you know, an algorithm or anything like that. But understanding things like Explainable AI is really important. And that’s something that we pride ourselves on at eight fold is that we can explain how it works in general. And I think that’s important for HR professionals to understand what Explainable AI looks like. And then also making sure that you’re holding vendors accountable to, as you said, Savannah, make sure that there aren’t things built into the system that you don’t want to know about. Right. So what are your vendors doing to prevent bias to add that, that human connection, making sure that your AI systems are not making decisions that should be made by humans? There should always be that human oversight.
Todd Allen 17:49
Okay, great. Lauren, anything you’d like to add? Lauren, you’d like? Yeah,
Lauren Lawrence 17:54
I think that the ratio, losing the collaboration, AI generalizes, that there’s that cross pollination is really quite important. And it’s all about humans.
Rebecca Warren 18:11
Yeah, great point.
Todd Allen 18:13
Yeah, I think we can think through our workflow. Sorry, if there’s an echo, so I’ll leave it at that, except the workflow that we’ve designed, you know, making sure that the human steps, so you know, technology’s doing its thing, and then we make decisions about how the human takes the step and overseas improves or whatever, and then pushing it back out, and, and so on. But I love you know, it’s kind of a general theme of checks and balances. Alright, Savannah for the next question. First, how do you keep up with the training needs that new technologies create?
Savannah Skinner 18:53
Think with everything, just like everything that we do, there’s some change management involved. And I think it starts with identifying the gap in knowledge where people are at today and where we need them to be. And I think Rebecca raised some really interesting points with Explainable AI. I think that’s a really good way to put it. If you understand what it’s supposed to do, then you can also help identify what you need your people to understand the right processes around it. And at least for me, throughout my career, when there’s been new technology, I often have one person or maybe a couple of people who are just excited about it. And that’s something that fits really well with their passions and their preferences. So I like to let them be a pioneer, empower them to learn the technology, and help figure out what the right process is and help bring the rest of the team along. But if you’ve got that one, change maker, empower them and let them run with it.
Todd Allen 19:51
Love it. Rebecca, Lauren, want to build on that. Well,
Rebecca Warren 19:56
I love what you said we call those champions. We love pulling those into We’ll our technology right and have them try it out. What do you like? What don’t you like? So I love saying that, you know, get that experimentation getting folks involved early. I think there’s, there’s that one of the things that I find really interesting and some of our clients are doing this is micro learning, right? So how do you take little bite sized pieces and put them together. So breaking down your content into bite sized units, as opposed to saying we’re going to learn all of the things, right? So putting together spaces where it’s easy for folks to be able to learn it, but it doesn’t feel overwhelming. And then giving regular updates. I’m a just in time learner, you give me a whole laundry list of stuff. And I’m like, I’ll look at it later. And guess what? I never look at it later. Right? So giving it to me just in time in bite size is easier to keep up on technology than like, here or take this seven hour course on AI like nobody wants to do that. Right. So how do you make it bite sized? I also think you have to make it personalized as well. You have to in order for folks to feel like they’re coming along on the journey. tailor those training programs, right, depending on what departments you’re in, or what you need to know making sure that there’s some customized learning. And Savannah spots on the right that skill gap analysis, understanding where people might have a gap in their understanding, and then how do you bring them along, but again, doing it in a customized way. So it doesn’t feel like peanut butter, but it feels like we care enough about you to give you that customized understanding and training that
Savannah Skinner 21:32
I love that point. Because then you’re now you’re not just forcing new technology or something, you’re developing your people, you’re teaching them a new skill. And that’s something to get excited about and how you manage the change. I think there’s an internal marketing aspect to a lot of what we do. I love it.
Todd Allen 21:53
Awesome. And then Lorna had a chance to talk a little bit prior to today about a little use of AI competency models of an AI. He talked a little bit of that, sure a little bit of that with us, Lauren.
Lauren Lawrence 22:15
There we go, the government contractors, and we’re constantly seeking to understand our clients as well as those emerging tech needs. And so we’re a competency model that OPI recently released, specific training, both for testing the subject matters, the great investment and any not every organization. But finding those ways is a skill analysis.
Todd Allen 23:09
But we lost Lauren, for a minute there, I’ll just tell her, you know, we also can throw things in the chat or come back to it. But she has shared with me that her organization has tapped into an AI AI competency model. And I thought that was intriguing. I’m not there yet. So I’m learning today as well. But I think I think that sounded really, really cool. And the other comments are spot on, I think, you know, we’re constantly trying to address, you know, our diverse workforce, and different ways to reach them with micro learning. You know, different elearning is customized learning. And, you know, kind of following up. I also think sometimes we’re going through bids. Now, I’m a kind of public sector agency. So when I go through bids, we have very strict procurement rules, but we’ll put into our requirement gathering some of these things we’re talking about. So we receive that information, we kind of have a sense of how our partner would operate in the spaces, and such as even the training, you know, how do we operate and have biters kind of explain my How might they be using AI? And, you know, what might they recommend? So right out of the gate of bringing in new technology, we’ve kind of factored that into our evaluation process. I thought I’d slip that in. Okay, next question. We’ll start with Rebecca, how can HR leaders use technology to improve employee experiences?
Rebecca Warren 24:39
Okay, that’s a huge question. And there’s lots of answers. So, let me start with saying that employee experiences when we think about tech, right, we think about what an employee career path looks like. So there’s lots of ways to improve employee experiences. So the first thing I’ll talk about Just as in general, right? Transparency with communication makes it easier to connect with folks, using feedback and engagement apps, putting those out there, it’s easier for folks to communicate back and forth. Of course, using your LMS, your learning management system, making sure that there’s personalized career journeys in there. And then HR processes, right streamlining the processes by giving Self Service portals easier for folks to find their information, automating some of the workflows easier for folks to dig into things. But I also want to talk about career paths, right? And what does that look like? When the employee experiences when you come into an organization and you’re like, Yay, I’m excited, I’m here, right? I’m ready to go on the champion. And then if you don’t have people pouring into you, or spending time understanding what’s important to you, and what you want to do, that excitement tends to fade, you’ve got folks and maybe are not as engaged as they could be. So I think using tech to improve that experience, in a way that improves transparency, how can you be more transparent about what a career journey could look like? How do you change from a career ladder to a chess board or a lattice? How do you allow folks to learn about opportunities inside the organization, get matched to some of those opportunities, and then be able to either pursue that as their next role? Or put together a project marketplace where folks can say, hey, I want to learn more about what’s going on in tech. But I don’t necessarily want to move from HR into tech. So is there a project that I could add my experience to and what could I learn from that? How do we help employees feel more connected to the organization through transparency of career paths? And also what’s happening at the top? I think there’s a lot of tools that help, like I said earlier, build that communication. And I think transparency overall, from an organizational perspective, I think a lot of times, employees feel like I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t know where things are coming from, or why are leaders making that decision? So opening up that, you know, the doors to Willy Wonka’s kingdom, right, like letting people see behind the curtain? What does that look like? I think that makes employees feel more connected to the organization and more willing to invest when they feel like the company is investing in them. Technology helps do that more quickly. And more broadly, than I think we’ve done in the past. Love it.
Todd Allen 27:51
I might steal the project marketplace idea. I thought about that in the past to just have trouble pulling it off. Awesome. Let’s get to Savannah. Anything you’d like to add on? The employee experience?
Savannah Skinner 28:05
Yeah, so I’ll just add one, one thought, I think in general, it can free up our HR teams, maybe I’ll back up. We’re all limited resources, right. So there’s only so much we can do with the amount of time that we have and energy and resources. So if we can find ways to be more efficient in automating what can be automated, then we have more time, more bandwidth to do more strategic things. And I think that that has a direct impact on the employee experience. 100% Yeah,
Todd Allen 28:39
I also really appreciate thinking about lifecycles like hiring to retire, and how to personalize these journeys. can be super intriguing to build that out. Okay, great. Let’s go to the next question.
Todd Allen 28:59
How can HR leaders use technology to improve the journey and talent acquisition to improve recruiting and talent acquisition? Alright.
Lauren Lawrence 29:07
Tara, hope you all can hear me. We’re really trying to assess as someone comes into the through using these an active listening really think the work understanding work life balance, understanding wellness, really just Branston learners who are Oregon and with us and are hiring ways so that they’re identifying those individuals that want to learn and grow with us and that the adaptable, right whether we’re not just experienced, but we’re able to learn and these new technologies and these new environments that we’re working in.
Todd Allen 29:55
Awesome. Thanks for sharing Rebecca, Savannah.
Todd Allen 30:05
All right, you nailed it. Okay, let’s, let’s go ahead to the next question, then how can we make sure that we’re not baking biases into our HR technology? So
Savannah Skinner 30:15
I think sometimes we have thought that technology is inherently not biased. But I think that that’s not true. As humans, we have a bias. And then the people writing the algorithms and creating the technology also have a bias. And so there is inherently bias to it. So the same issue that we have, with people of us needing to be aware of our biases, and how that can influence things like the way that candidates are screened. I think if you train your programmers and folks involved on the creation of the process of creation of the algorithms, to recognize biases, and work, to make sure that those those that you have equity and inclusivity in mind, when you’re writing those processes, along with diversity in the way that you’re sourcing candidates, I think that that is how you can be mindful and aware and again, with some of the other questions, have human involvement throughout the process and teach your people on inherent bias and try to hit that head on, I think that’s how we can avoid it. But technology, in and of itself, is not sufficient to avoid bias. It needs training and DEI strategy.
Todd Allen 31:34
But it’s something on a quick comment, you’re triggered something I’ve seen this happen over my 35 year career frequently, one CEO will say, we got to emphasize degree required degree required degree required, and some even went highly inappropriate and said, You know, I love Harvard, or I love this or love that I’m like, What are you talking about? And I tried to change that mindset, but a lot of them had very fixed bias and mindset, then they would leave and Lucia would come and say, I think, you know, we need to be more inclusive, and just in a matter of one CEO, to the next day a new CEO, we would we would rework a lots of things. And we see that kind of showing up in lots of different ways throughout human decision making. But I always think that that example pops in my mind is the degree required, versus how we utilize various experiences, and, and so on. But let’s go, let’s go to Rebecca, anything you’d like to add on that topic of the biases?
Rebecca Warren 32:33
Yeah, I think Savannah is absolutely spot on, right, we need to have that human intervention. And when we think about the information that we’re using to build those systems, we need to make sure we have inclusive datasets, right. So if you put garbage data in, you’re gonna get garbage data out. So if you have inclusive datasets, that’s training that model over and over and over and continuing to monitor it, to make sure that if there is a space for bias to get in, and it’s pulled out, that makes a big difference. So you have to make sure that the information that you’re training, and it’s a continual training, right, you think about the model that Eightfold uses, we are an AI native platform, we have the AI before we had the solution to what we’re going to use it to solve for. So our system has been learning and growing and training itself for over six years. So if you think about some of these tools that come in, and they say that they have AI, but they you they can’t tell you about their data set, or they are very new to the space, you have to be a little more vigilant because their AI hasn’t had enough time to learn and to grow and to develop the right path. So a lot of monitoring needs to come into that. And one other thing I wanted to throw in there as well, Todd, so you talked about the again, what data you put in is what data you get out. So if you say hey, a degree required is the be all and end all. And then you’ve got somebody else who comes in and says, Hey, no, this is based on they have to work at these companies. Right? I think when we talk about moving to a skills based process, where it’s not based on your particular background, it’s not based on this. It’s not based on that, it’s based on skills and what people bring to the table. When we move from a job center. Here’s the laundry list of things we need in a job description. When we move here’s what somebody has done and how they can benefit the organization. It also takes some of that bias out because it’s not based on what school you went to, what your title was, what company you worked for. You can find that talent that maybe doesn’t have a company that has a recognizable name, but somebody has done amazing work. So you take away that bias by putting in the focus on skills as opposed to a resume or a background and paying attention to what that potential is. So I absolutely will be able to do that and pull out some of that bias as well, like, oh, they went to this school or they did that it’s taking out that bias as well. Awesome.
Todd Allen 35:06
Now this, see if you want to build on this, I’m starting to follow audience questions now, as we as we start to wind down will increasingly go to the audience questions. So there was a question posed a moment ago for talent acquisition, how do you use generative AI or an ATS to limit biases in the resume screening process? Maybe Rebecca first or Savannah, Savannah, you got something? Why don’t we go with you first? Yeah, go ahead.
Savannah Skinner 35:31
Sorry, it’s kind of reiterating what they said. But it’s the way that the algorithms are written. But I also think, when I hit this home, we need to source diverse candidates. I think you have to think about the different avenues in which candidates are learning or potential candidates are learning about your roles. And if those aren’t diverse, if you’re not targeting a variety of colleges, then for example, or not colleges at all different kinds of websites and resources, where a number of different kinds of candidates are going to get to you won’t have diversity in yours. Tampax is the diversity in your talent process.
Todd Allen 36:15
Yeah, love it thinking about sourcing in the applicant pool about sourcing, and you go to Lauren, Lauren,
Todd Allen 36:27
and just continual for you, right, it’s weighing, if you will, because I in this case, but what’s the impact of the tool and making sure that you’re praying that it’s not screening out that diversity? Inclusion factor?
Rebecca Warren 36:51
Exactly. And that’s what I was saying, if you go down to that skill level, and you focus on that, rather than a name or a specific school, Savannah to your point, you have to have that inclusive data set to train your model so that it knows that we’re going to focus on these things instead of those things. But I absolutely believe your AI can learn and produce the right people based on skills when you are pulling in the right information, and that helps you make the best talent decision as opposed to the most comfortable talent decision.
Todd Allen 37:26
Okay, um, and just kind of wrap up their formal questions. Savannah, is there anything else you’d like to add about pursuing DEI goals and how technology helps? Anything you’d like to add to your last comment?
Savannah Skinner 37:37
No, I feel like I’ve hit that. I’ll let Lauren and Rebecca chime in. All right.
Rebecca Warren 37:44
Well, I have a thought on that. Oh, sorry. Go ahead.
Todd Allen 37:46
Well, just because we only have a few minutes left, I was going to jump right into some questions that are populating up. But if you want to go real quick, Rebecca, feel free.
Rebecca Warren 37:56
I just have one thought there. So as I was talking about that skills based organization, right, if you’re focusing on skills, DEI becomes embedded in how you work and part of your culture. And it doesn’t have to be a separate department, because you’re focusing on the skills, you’re moving more to an equitable playing field. And you can then make DEI part of that table stakes culture, it’s built into everything you do, because you’ve already focused on the right things, as opposed to looking at things that might inherently cause bias. So that was just my two cents there.
Todd Allen 38:31
Rebecca, I’m gonna hit you up with this question. See, if you go deeper on this, you differentiate between AI and an algorithm, it really seems similar just adding a layer of teaching it to act more human or try things when creating buildings.
Rebecca Warren 38:49
Right? So it depends on why you want to figure out what the difference is. But when you think about an algorithm, it is a code based system, it’s designed to produce results repeatedly. So when you think about AI, it’s meant to imitate humans and algorithms aren’t meant to imitate a human. If you think about a Boolean search, that’s really an algorithm that you are creating. So an algorithm really is just a set of restrictions to produce an end result. Whereas AI holistically is meant to imitate how humans would think and react and respond. So it depends on why you want to know the difference. But an algorithm is more like a keyword search and AI is more like thinking like a human if we think about it that way.
Todd Allen 39:41
That’s super helpful. All right. Let’s hit this one. What strategies are you leveraging to bring employees along with HR? On the AI journey? There’s a lot of concern, and a decided lack of information or bad information influencing general opinion. Anybody want to take that one? I
Savannah Skinner 40:02
think this is a piece of what I view as the change management strategy with all of this, I think we have to put, just like any change there, change is scary, I think you have to explain the why the value that there is for the company, the the why for the people, the individuals themselves, how it changes their role and be transparent. I like the Willy Wonka analogy, where to share the information that you can that’s appropriate to share. And I think hitting, hitting change head on with something inspirational and something a bit vulnerable, and getting people excited is the key to those things.
Rebecca Warren 40:45
Yeah, and I would add to that, I think you have to tie it back to what your organization is trying to accomplish. What is the ROI for it? What is it going to allow you to do? As you said, Savannah? How is it going to help me right? There’s a lot of wisdom, we want to know what’s in it for me? Well, how is that going to help my job? How is that going to help a company be more successful? I don’t think anybody wants to go to work to sock it. Nobody wants to go to work for an organization that can’t succeed. And so when we understand what technologies are in place, and why we’re using them, understand it, and then continue to build on that, here’s what it’s going to do for you. Here’s what it’s going to do for the company. Overall, with the goal of being successful, it feels less scary, and less like somebody’s gonna take my job, I think that’s the biggest thing I hear is AI is taking over the world, it’s going to take my job, no, it’s going to take the work off your plate, or it may replace your job, but we’re going to give you something better, right? It’s going to take away the work that feels non value added for a human to do and make you into a better person with the goal of elevating not only your employees, but also your organization.
Todd Allen 41:55
Awesome, Lauren, anything you’d like to add here?
Lauren Lawrence 42:01
Your embrace? Are yours yourself, always helping or new technology? You know, when the auto industry was going from two. And machines, there’s always going to be change, and you’re gonna find new ways to.
Todd Allen 42:30
Yeah, that’s great. I think there’s a lot of fundamental change management principles that come into play with a lot of this getting out and having open communication, honest communication, I have had times where I implemented like robotic process automation, you know, years ago, and that mirror concept was like, our customer service agents were like, Oh, my God, His HR guy coming in trying to fire us. And I’m like, I got the blessing from the CEO, no one will be fired. In fact, our game plan is to upskill. Here’s exactly what we’re going to do. Right now you have this 25 step process, you sit, the customer sits on hold for 30 minutes, while you work through this together. Now, you can intake this through maybe a digital process, have a nice conversation with the customer, and push a button, and the bot kind of will process all this stuff. And it will be done. And the backlog will go from this massive, horrifying number to down to zero. And we can upskill and kind of lattice back to succession planning. You know a lot of people I found that like customer service had this fear. And then when we engage them over time over workforce planning, we could say yeah, you’re right, we will need a few less positions over the next three years. And so we’re going to engage and we found all these people with transferable skills like people that worked at banks, and said, Would you rather also be interested in getting trained to do billing, which is higher than the call center agent? So there was a lot of engagement and custom conversations? And I think I have a lot of examples about that. But since we only have a minute or two, does anybody want to just chime in with any final closing comments?
Rebecca Warren 44:13
Well, my final thought is that we need to shift from a we need to move into a culture of agility. We need to empower and reskill our internal folks to make sure that they are able to move from thought to thought from place to place, concept to concept. We want to build that agility to be able to meet current business needs and to be able to grow inside the organization. So to me the keyword of the year is agility.
Todd Allen 44:44
Awesome. Savannah, any closing comments?
Savannah Skinner 44:48
I think we’re still figuring this out for HR, how AI and algorithms and all of this new technology can impact us and I think these discussions are important for a sickie. Keep our commitment to HR as a profession.
Todd Allen 45:04
Awesome, Lauren.
Lauren Lawrence 45:08
I agree. We are in phase one of a very exciting project or title of today’s event. Yeah, we are. We are transforming and it and the people and as long as we keep that in mind forward, we’re in phase one, and we’ll see what phase two brings us.
Todd Allen 45:30
I love it. Thank you all for your comments and contributions. I turn it back to our emcee. Excellent.
Brittany Sullivan 45:36
Well, thank you guys so much for such an incredible and insightful panel discussion. I also want to thank everyone for joining us today. This session along with all today’s content will be made available on demand following the event. Our next session will begin shortly at 12:25. Eastern which will be a thought leadership titled winning with well being what employees really think and how AI gives HR a competitive advantage. We look forward to seeing you there. Thank you all so much again.
