It’s 2019, and AI is becoming more and more accessible to business leaders to help streamline processes and take over certain mundane or time-consuming tasks.

And when it comes to HR, this is no exception. In fact, HR is one department that can harness AI in so many helpful ways, from recruiting, to training, to answering questions during annual enrollment, and providing helpful feedback that can enhance all aspects of business and the employee experience.  

The truth is, the future of HR has to be a partnership between digital tools and a human touch. What does that look like? Take a look at our personal benefits assistant, Sofia. Sofia is not just a chatbot, her design code allows her to actually learn from the conversations she has with users throughout the year to grow her knowledge and be able to adapt and relate to the many people reaching out to her for questions!

AI is a powerful tool that can help your employees find what they need, when they need it, all with a conversational, human touch. So, what are the other AI trends that can help increase empathy in the HR department?

1. Increasing diversity. Using AI in recruiting can help eliminate human bias when it comes to assessing candidates for a job. The benefit of using this particular type of technology, is that it’s adjustable. The programs can be audited and reprogrammed if bias is discovered. This is a lot easier than reprogramming a human brain.
2. Answering questions. AE is still fresh in our minds, the busiest time of year for HR/Benefits pros. During AE employees ask a lot of questions about their benefits. Think about what you could accomplish if a helpful personal benefits assistant was able to take a majority of those questions out of your inbox and support centers? During AE this year, Sofia was able to take more than 51,000 chats. One person would have to take almost 1,000 chats a day to keep up with her.
3. Enhancing the human experience. AI at its core, is a way to streamline processes and create more time for HR/Benefits pros to have those one-to-one interactions with key stakeholders, employees and strategic advisors to help create workplaces that are ready for 2019. With the talent war raging, HR needs to be able to adapt to the changing hiring climate and develop faster, more efficient ways to find key talent and, once hired, be able to provide a workplace experience that allows employees to grow and thrive.

Despite both HR pros and employees being wary of AI, it is going to be a key tool to help HR departments thrive in the new year and beyond.

Want to get more data points on how AI can help streamline processes? Download our infographic below.