11 Real World Examples of AI in HR Driving Success

No technology has proved so transformative to so many areas of business as artificial intelligence (AI). Tasks that once took hours to complete can be executed within seconds, thanks to automated workflows. Algorithms can sort through terabytes of data to surface relevant insights around trends, and provide detailed scenario planning and predictive analytics.

As businesses see the potential to maximize efficiencies and generate new insights from their data, AI adoption has grown rapidly: In fact, a jaw-dropping 98% of small businesses in the U.S. say they’ve adopted aspects of AI technology into their workflows.

So how does that impact you, dear HR pro? Organizations need the ability to efficiently recruit, vet, hire, and train their teams to support business growth. As such, HR is a key area where AI tools can be used to optimize workflows and support strategy.

In this article, we’ll explore some real-world examples of companies using AI in HR. By learning from trend-setting companies, you’ll gain inspiration that can help you set the course for integrating AI technologies into your own organization’s HR function.

What is AI in HR and Why Does It Matter?

When exploring examples of AI in HR, we can go as far back as the 1980s, when Applicant Tracking Systems (ATSes) first came to prominence as an alternative to sorting through filing cabinets of paper resumés. ATSes could automatically parse resumes for relevant keywords, saving recruiters time—but for most companies, these systems were still prohibitively expensive.

Modern AI technologies have democratized the business world, enabling large and small businesses alike to gain access to cutting-edge capabilities. Today, organizations of all sizes are using AI-driven tools to support recruitment, onboarding, employee engagement, and predictive analytics. Seventy-six percent of HR leaders say that their organizations must embrace AI technologies within the next 12 to 24 months, or they’ll risk falling behind their competitors.

The Importance of AI in Modern HR

How can AI impact your People team’s operations? Some of the key benefits of embracing AI tech include:

• Boosting efficiency through automation
  AI technologies can be used for time-saving tasks such as building automated workflows for compliance checklists in onboarding and automating payroll processing. Eighty-five percent of employers using these technologies say they save them time and/or boost efficiency.

• Improving decision-making with enhanced data analysis
  AI tools can help your People teams make better data-backed decisions by filtering candidates based on key criteria for job applications, or providing a compensation analysis to decide the right salary range to offer in a new position, for example. AI-based algorithms can support scenario planning, predictive analytics, and trend reporting to help you inform your strategy.

• Reducing bias in hiring practices
  Unconscious bias has long been a problem in hiring, but improved algorithm models have potential to eliminate bias and ensure fair hiring practices based on skills and experience, rather than discriminatory factors such as gender, age, or race. AI tools can help businesses build diverse recruiting strategies to help them meet their DE&I goals.

Now that we’ve covered some key benefits, let’s explore the possibilities of this innovative technology, with real-world examples of AI in human resources.

11 Real World AI in HR Examples Across Key Functions

AI in Employee Engagement and Retention

Employee feedback

Using sentiment analysis and other analytics tools, AI technology can rapidly parse through huge quantities of content to surface insights that can help you check the pulse of your workforce. This can be useful for summarizing 360 employee feedback; evaluating employee attitudes based on internal (e.g. Slack) and external (Glassdoor, LinkedIn) content; and predicting employee turnover based on key data markers (i.e., absenteeism). Using these tools can help you generate insights about your workplace culture and identify employees at risk of leaving, and empower you to build an action plan to improve engagement and retention.

On Reddit, one HR professional at a fintech company shared their experience using an AI tool for tracking employee sentiment via weekly feedback collection. After 18 months, “we have some fascinating results particularly around employee engagement and performance KPIs.” They’ve been able to use the feedback to drive significant improvement in metrics such as eNPS, self-reported satisfaction and OKR completions, and have identified “early warning” triggers that predict attrition.

Chatbots

By using natural language processing and generative AI (or gen AI), chatbots can support HR teams and employees in quickly finding important information via a self-service application. This technology can help HR pros reduce time spent answering repetitive questions and digging through policy manuals, so that they’ll be free to focus on higher-level interactions.

TeamSense’s AI-powered chatbot, Policy Assistant, is one example of gen ai in HR. Using the tool, employees can ask questions about PTO or dress code, and instantly get access to the answers from your organization’s knowledge base. The chatbot can respond to them in a simple Q&A format, so they won’t need to search through company resources or ask for support from an HR rep.

AI in Recruitment and Talent Acquisition

Resumé review

Employers receive an average of 85 applicants per hire made, and typically invite just 3% of applicants to interview for open roles. Narrowing down your applicant pool to that final round of candidates can be a tedious process—but by using AI to automatically grade candidates based on relevant keywords and skills, you’ll be able to pre-screen for qualified candidates far more efficiently. Recruiting software can support the entire hiring process, from job postings across multiple sites, to applicant screening, to scheduling interviews and collaborating on feedback. Nine-tenths of employers say AI has sped up the hiring process, and 77.9% say it’s saved them money.

One HR pro on Reddit uses their ATS to screen for “job hoppers” and automatically reject them, saving time on manual review: “If I get an applicant whose work history is 8 jobs that each last 4 months, and our training process takes 2 months before an employee can become productive, I’m going to reject that applicant. I get tens of applicants like that in an hour after posting a job. If the software can reject them for me, great.”

Candidate matching

AI-powered algorithms can also be used to identify the right candidates for specific jobs based on qualities that aren’t immediately apparent in their resumés, such as their personality type or their technical expertise. Such solutions can also factor in diverse representation, ensuring that your hiring practices meet your company’s DE&I goals.

For example, the tech startup Aviatrix used SeekOut to display each candidate’s GitHub “Coder Score” when hiring for engineering talent to evaluate their technical expertise. They also screened for diversity to ensure they met their goals in expanding representation of underrepresented groups. The solution helped them to expedite hiring time, and enabled them to hire 30% of their applicants from underrepresented groups.

AI in HR Analytics and Decision-Making

Predictive analytics for workforce planning

Other common examples of AI in HR include predictive analytics tools, which can be used to analyze trends in turnover or performance. For instance, someone who had worked as a forecast analyst shares how AI helped them in their role: “I created models that predicted daily and weekly incoming volume to the call centre. With that information, I helped the scheduling team optimize schedules, create adherence tools and improve intraday management based on the historical data and other BI. When I wasn't doing that, I also made capacity scenario models which involved more forecasting and a lot to do with a hiring strategy and plan for the next X months.”

AI tools for real-time KPI tracking

AI analytics tools can also help HR make data-driven decisions, providing real-time insights around metrics such as employee performance, absenteeism, and turnover rate. “We used these KPIs and analytics like a secret weapon back when I was the HR captain of a thriving startup business,” HR pro Abkar Abash shared on Quora. “We kept a close eye on our turnover rate since we wanted to make sure that our crew was top-notch. When we saw it advancing like a villain, we reacted quickly by strengthening our workplace culture and recognising our fantastic staff.”

AI in Onboarding and Training

AI chatbots for personalized onboarding experiences.

Robotic process automation (RPA) tools, paired with generative AI chatbots, can go a long way towards streamlining the onboarding process for new employees while ensuring regulatory compliance.

For instance, you can use a software solution like Gusto to automate the onboarding workflows to help your new hires get set up with your payroll and benefits providers. When employees have questions about the processes, they can ask questions to TeamSense’s Policy Assistant, which uses natural language processing to instantly locate the right content in your knowledge bank, saving you time with efficient self-service.

AI in employee training

Some AI tools can help you evaluate your employees’ real-time performance, so that you can determine where they can use additional support. You can close the skills gap by generating personalized L&D training modules to enhance your team’s performance, and recommend high-performing employees for training in additional skills that will set them up for promotions.

itsu, a British fast food chain, used the AI training platform Attensi to track and analyze employee training progress, and provide instant feedback as needed. “We can see what people have done, and what they haven’t done. Having this visibility helps us to coach our managers so that they can motivate their teams, and in turn the progress of the business,” says Francesco d’Apice, Operational Training Partner. “Thanks to Attensi AI, we know where people need help, and we know how we can support them in the best way”.

Other Examples of AI in HR

AI for diversity and inclusion

Many organizations struggle to increase the diversity of their workforce—but AI can help them overcome cultural blocks that may stop qualified candidates from applying for or being considered for roles. For instance, tools like Textio can assess your job descriptions for biased language that’s likely to alienate diverse jobseekers and offer recommendations for more inclusive wording.

Zillow Group used Texio to optimize their job listings, focusing on “changing our hiring practices, being more intentional, and trying to remove bias and remove barriers,” according to Annie Rihn, VP of Recruiting at Zillow. Textio “gives my team inclusive language that is statistically proven to attract great candidates and improve our response rates.”

Since partnering with Textio, Zillow Group has seen a 16% increase in email responses from passive candidates, and a 12% increase in the number of women applying for jobs.

AI for workforce scheduling

Historically, the task of scheduling hourly employees is an onerous process that often falls on HR teams or individual managers. By using an AI solution, you’ll be able to automatically build shift schedules that take into account each employee’s available time, skills, and pay rate to ensure that you have the right team you need for any project.

Saint Gobain, a manufacturing company that operates in over 75 countries, uses the scheduling app ConnectTeam to automatically build and manage scheduling for its plant workers. Before implementing AI, says Human Resources Business Partner Robert Haynes, “everybody had got the wrong schedule, and you could have people coming in when they shouldn’t be coming. Everything was manual.” Moving to an automated scheduling tool “makes you unbelievably productive… As soon as I get the run plan, I can punch it in and they’ll know their schedule.”

AI for benefits administration

A generous employee benefits package is a major driver of retention—but if employees struggle to access the right benefits, they’re less likely to prosper within your company. By using AI-driven benefits tools, you can make it easier for both new hires and existing employees to educate themselves on their benefits packages and choose the right programs for their custom needs. You’ll be able to track program adoption and usage rates, giving you better insights on the ROI of each program.

Using a solution like Gusto provides streamlined access to comprehensive employee benefits, including retirement plans, FSAs, and health insurance, saving an average of seven hours per month for HR pros. By pairing it with TeamSense’s Policy Assistant, you can make it easy for employees to learn more about all the benefits available to them and how to make the best choices.

Key Benefits of AI in HR

We’ve showcased many effective case studies of how AI can inform your HR strategy—but what are the key outcomes across the board?

Efficiency gains

The use of AI and automation can streamline common tasks associated with recruiting, onboarding, training, benefits administration, and other key HR functions. By setting up workflows that can be easily customized with different variables based on the situation, you’ll be able to automate many of your manual tasks. Eighty five percent of employers using AI or automation said that it helped them save time or increase efficiency.

Improved employee experiences

Employees also come out ahead, with access to self-service support and personalized experiences that will increase their engagement with your organization. Tools like chatbots can reduce friction and help them find answers faster, while personalized training empowers them to upskill more quickly. (In fact, 62% of employees say they prefer using chatbots to find answers to their questions.)

Data-driven decisions

Implementing AI solutions helps HR leaders make smarter, more informed choices, with access to both real-time and predictive analytics to help them measure performance, assess needs, and plan for different scenarios. AI tools for HR can help you analyze vast quantities of data to identify patterns that you can use to make decisions around workforce planning, compensation, hiring, turnover, and many other metrics. For example, KPMG found that using AI analytics tools helped them predict two-thirds of people about to resign, and retain 10 to 20 percent of them.

Final Thoughts

If your HR organization is still in the process of exploring what an AI-enhanced work environment should look like, we hope these examples of companies using AI in HR have given you some positive inspiration for your own strategy. As we’ve discovered, incorporating AI-driven technology can help your business transform functions to boost efficiency, generate data-driven insights, and create a better experience for both your employees and your fellow HR team members.

By incorporating AI technologies like TeamSense, you’ll be equipped to help your employees find answers faster through self-service, and automate your attendance tracking—supporting higher employee engagement while saving your HR team time on employee support. Building a streamlined, effortless solution to support your employees will help you free up time to focus on higher-level HR strategic work to support a growing and engaged workforce.

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