I asked ChatGPT if HR has a place in the UK HR industry. Not surprisingly it was very enthusiastic!

ChatGPT’s Response:

Absolutely. AI is already beginning to reshape HR processes in the UK, and its influence is only expected to grow. It can streamline recruitment through automated screening, enhance employee engagement with chatbots and data analytics, and offer insights for talent management. However, successful integration will require addressing challenges such as ethical considerations, data privacy, and mitigating bias.

Let’s break out the answer;

Automated Screening: A Useful but Risky Tool

Yes, where it is filtering perhaps by location where physical presence is essential for a role, or qualifications where again it is non-negotiable.

There are still risks around bias and discrimination in screening as well as ethical challenges as to how it deals with certain situations.

Chatbots for Employee Engagement: A Hard No

Who came up with ‘we have employee engagement issues, I know, we’ll give them a faceless AI program to talk to…..’

Uses could be to point to the correct port of call, or policy, but as an actual engagement tool and to enhance the employee engagement experience, that’s a hard no from me.

Data Analytics: Yes, But With Caution

Data analytics-yes-give it all the data you want, just ensure your data stays in your company and isn’t getting swept out into the world wide web, or that you are not in-avertedly breaching Data Protection by doing so!

AI for Talent Management: Limited Role

Insights into ‘talent management’- for data collection to support the process. For further insight, I’m afraid again it’s a hard no from me.

People know people, they know their quirks, why they work in a certain way, why on some days they are sad, others happy and that life events and human emotions affect the way we perform.

Do you know what is good at that? Well trained and emotionally intelligent managers. How do we do that? Train them. Provide them with AI tools to supplement their role, to collect data and to take the ‘grunt’ out of the work they feel can be automated but leave human interactions and decisions up to the humans.

AI Will Not Defend You in an Employment Tribunal

AI is not going to be an employment tribunal defence. A judge is highly unlikely to ever find that it was reasonable for an employer to behave in a certain way ‘because our AI said it was ok’. It also isn’t insured if things go wrong and may actually invalidate your own legal expenses insurance.

AI Can Improve Efficiency—When Used Correctly

AI can be a huge help in efficiency, particularly when it comes to data and analytics that are unlikely to be impacted by bias, making HR jobs easier and freeing up time for other more strategic projects, but it needs to be used in the right way.

Already we are seeing cases come out of the US where lawyers have landed themselves in hot water over the use of AI in legal proceedings. We are looking at increased regulation in the UK where knowledge based AI will be required to disclose where their knowledge comes from.

For some, this may as well say ‘I googled it’…..unless the knowledge bank or learning model has been fed by qualified, legally tested and scrutinised material, it will be unreliable.

Can AI tell you a disciplinary procedure needs to be used – absolutely. Can it take you through the process, taking into account sickness, disability, life events, stress, human reactions, emotions, internal politics and the laws on reasonableness. No.

It is the reason the HRoes HR software, its processes and knowledge banks are fed by qualified specialist lawyers.

Best Practices for AI in HR

• If your business uses AI consider putting together a framework or policy on its use. Ensure that your data, client data and employee information is protected and not being released without checks.
• Ensure that you understand how AI is being used and what parameters and checking should be put in place.
• Consider which system you want people to use and which have been tested and signed off by the business.
• Remember, if in doubt – call a trusted adviser!

Need More Guidance?

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