Are we ready for GenAI in HR?

The current world of work has overseen a promising landscape where adopting AI solutions especially GenAI, has become a core part of the organisational HR structure. Yet many companies' HR departments still haven't completely adopted AI solutions and run the risk of lagging behind the rest of their peers. Hence, the pressing issue arises: Are the HR departments even remotely ready for this transformation? 

In this latest LinkedIn live session set up as a pre-cursor for People Matters TechHR Singapore, Mint Kang, Senior Editor at People Matters interacted with Jason Averbook, Senior Partner and Global Leader of Digital HR Strategy, Mercer|Leapgen on the pressing issues of implementing GenAI in Human Resource, developing the AI culture and harnessing AI transformation in the future world of HR and work. 

Here are the excerpts from the session: 

AI in the current world of work

Averbook highlights three major challenges that organisations face while implementing AI in HR:

• Understanding the difference between AI transformation vs AI transition
• Designing AI per human requirements, in this case, the employees. 
• Understanding that adopting AI is not a project but a long-term strategy

He emphasised that it is important to develop a digital mindset. Also, it’s important to note that digital and technology are two different things. Technology empowers the advanced mindset, which further empowers the AI culture in an organisation. This also means that the vision between HR teams should align with one another.

Averbook encourages viewers to ask themselves when it comes to creating a winning culture involving GenAI - 

How do we create that mindset? How are you going to measure success as an organisation?

According to him, the straightforward answers lie in:

• HR leaders need to be upfront about the factors that measure success.
• HR leaders must employ governance while developing the culture of GenAI. 
• HR Leaders must build on 'change' as a strategy. 

The discussion manoeuvred to how AI is misunderstood by a lot of HR Teams. According to the Gartner report, 76% of HR leaders worry that not adopting AI solutions, especially generative AI, within the next 12 to 24 months could put their organisations at a significant disadvantage in the race for success. GenAI is still being avoided by many HR teams to this day.

The solution lies in not being solely dependent on GenAI to be the single source of answers. 

Utilising the concept HITL i.e. Human in the Loop, a human/ knowledge worker should be involved in assessing and massaging the information/solution gained from GenAI and then present the data accordingly. 

This will allow the synergy between GenAI and knowledge workers (IT workers/HR professionals) to flourish and create a better understanding of harnessing the technology for the business’s success.

The business, HR and IT are a partnership, not a project. They are like a three-legged stool to say what will the measures of success of this initiative be!

AI in the Future of Work

Averbook emphasises that for businesses to succeed using AI tools in the future,  it's vital for them to create a strategy that focuses on the Three 'E' - Educate, Experiment, Enable. 

Educate - Inform the masses that AI is not a mystical tool and that it's based on data and algorithms.

Experiment - Find the use cases to understand the experimentation on AI and they should tie back to long-term strategy. The best way to practice this is to test the AI tools, then learn from the mistakes and keep on revising them till the solutions are found.  

Enable - Build trust in the organisation to use AI. If people don't trust AI, they won't use it even with its best capabilities.

Once the strategy sets in, the stakeholders must understand that their synergy lies in partnership i.e. Business, IT team and HR team working together and continuing to evolve going forward when it comes to harnessing the power of GenAI tools.

So what are you waiting for? Book your seats now and gear up for Asia's largest People and Work Conference, set to electrify Singapore only at Marina Bay Sands, on July 18th 2024. Stay tuned with #TechHRSG to follow more conference-related content.