Episode 105: Artificial Intelligence and HR?!

Paul: Yeah.

Halisi: You’re using it while during the time period where that employee is employed to kind of just check to see if they have concerns, what they may have. On the front end, it sounds like it could be a little bit more riskier on that end.

Paul: On the front end I think it can be, especially when you’re using it in interviewing and using it to filter for who you’re going to interview. I don’t believe that AI has it figured out at all. That’s, my, you know, based off my experience.

Halisi: So, making sure you kind of just, one, paying attention to the latest.

Paul: Disparate impact! I’ve been searching for that since we started. I’ve been trying to get that terminology to come up. So, when you have a test or an AI that knocks people out and you look back and you say, “Oh look, this was the impact it had on everyone,” even though you didn’t think it was, that’s identifying a disparate impact that it’s having on…

Halisi: Right yes, no intent but…

Paul: …a subset

Halisi: …the overall, kind of, inclusion of it. The impact.

Paul: Yeah. Look, I think AI is the way to go. I know larger businesses are using it. I think that, you know, we’re big advocates for smaller businesses, small-to-medium businesses. I believe that AI is going to play an important role. In the next, you know, 2 to 5 years, I think it’s going to show up in a way that really helps us out.

Halisi: Where would you fall as far as helping and, I think I actually might know, if it’s helping kind of just improve processes within the workplace that could ultimately reduce your employee count. That might say, “You know what? We no longer need this position anymore. Because technology is able to replace that particular position.”

Paul: Yeah, I like the idea. I love the idea of AI being used as an efficiency… I mean, it’s well known that, per employee, compared to say 20 or especially 30 years ago the productivity level of businesses. It takes probably 10 fewer employees to do a single job than it used to. Maybe I’m exaggerating but maybe not by much. I mean, I think about what we do here with 35 employees across the country and everything that we accomplish. And don’t get me wrong, folks, we have our own challenges here. But what we are able to do with technology is amazing. And, you know, how we can organize. And it wasn’t that long ago we were mailing y’all your employee handbooks.

[Halisi laughs]

Paul: I mean, we were printing them out, we were binding them, we were putting notes in there and all sorts of things. And, while I miss that to a certain degree, we don’t do it that way. AI is something that is going to transform some of the processes. Yeah, for sure.

Halisi: You just made me have flashbacks with the…

Paul: You were here when we did that, right?

Halisi: With the handbooks.

Paul: The leather-bound handbooks.

Halisi: Leather-bound handbooks.

Paul: They were awesome.

Halisi: Yeah.

Paul: They were awesome.

[Both laugh]

Halisi: So, that’s great.

Paul: Alright, anything else? Anything else on AI?

Halisi: Nope. That was it.

Paul: Okay. Alright, everybody. That was What The Hell Just Happened in HR?! Not yet, but AI is coming.

Closing: Thanks for joining us for this week’s episode of What The Hell Just Happened?! If you have an HR issue or a question, you’d like us to discuss on this podcast, send it to podcast@WTHjusthappened.com. For more HR advice and insights from Paul and his team of experts, you can also join our private Facebook group, HR Base Camp, or visit HRbasecamp.com. Make sure you tune in next week. And remember, when you improve your workplace, you improve your life.

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