Human resources vs. artificial intelligence: Where they converge and where they differ

Newsletter | With the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), many professions feel threatened and believe they may disappear. Human resources is one of them. Although replacing one with the other is practically impossible, here we will tell you what functions each one performs, what one can do better than the other, and how they complement each other.

• AI helps automate numerous basic HR tasks, including, but not limited to, screening and pre-screening applications that give an HR professional room to focus on more strategic work.
• Manage a database of employees that AI can do better than an HR professional, along with other tasks such as responding to new hires
• Keeping track of each employee’s mental and physical health needs.

While these are just a few functions that AI can do better than human resources professionals on their own, there are numerous tasks where HR and AI must give each other a chance. HR and AI must join hands and ensure proper AI and talent management in an organization.

Human resources specialties that differ from AI.

Before we delve into which HR tasks or functions cannot be overtaken by AI, let’s understand that an HR professional’s work is crucial and incorporates all the organization’s people-related functions, including recruitment, training, wellness, and compensation, among other functions. HR leaders understand the importance of their job. Therefore, depending on the organization’s size, HR business partners or one HR professional handles all the tasks.

So, before comparing HR and AI, let’s understand that AI needs a professional HR touch in a few HR functions. Here is the list of those tasks that need human intervention.

1. Recruitment and Placement of new employees
2. Employee Training and Development Programs
3. Employee Compensation and Benefits
4. Employee wellness and engagement
5. Human resource information system, also known as HRIS.

In addition, there are other functions that an HR professional can perform better than AI and areas where AI can never replace the HR professional.

• Generally, an HR professional is a human being with IQ and EQ.
• An HR professional can maintain more transparent, accurate, and direct communication with employees.
• An HR professional will also better understand and relate to employees, as he or she is also a human being.
• AI can do an excellent job of assessing employees, but it can also better understand and relate to employees because it is also human.
• A human can better understand and solve employees’ psychological problems than an AI bot.
• An HR professional can better judge potential candidates based on their skills and attributes than an AI bot.

There is no doubt that AI is an efficient technology that can leverage numerous HR functions, but there are some functions that still need a human touch. Yes, HR leaders can combine numerous HR functions with AI to ensure better talent management, resulting in talent retention and attracting top talent into an organization.

There are other aspects of the HR department where HR professionals can make a difference or join AI to make a significant difference in an organization’s work environment and culture.

1. Employee Experience: Employee experience or EX refers to the overall association of employees with the company or an employer in numerous aspects, such as physical, cultural, and technological, from the time an employee joins to the time he/she leaves the organization. An HR professional can deliver a more empathetic employee experience than an AI bot. There is no doubt that AI systems will be able to improve the overall employee experience, but the human touch can only come from an HR professional.
2. Diversity in the workplace: an HR professional can impact diversity and increase it more efficiently than an AI-based system, as there will be more hiring awareness. With AI-based resumes, hiring may be biased as it is based on pre-installed algorithms that may or may not be diversity friendly.
3. Data security: an HR professional must maintain a large amount of data, some of which is also confidential. So, this is where artificial intelligence and HR professionals can come together and offer better data security and encryption. HRIS, or Human Resource Information System, is the name of the collaboration of technology and HR that ensures better data security.

Each science is different; if both are merged, it is possible to have excellent talent management that meets the company’s needs.

With information from: www.datafloq.com