Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way organizations operate, deliver solutions and make important business decisions. In many ways, it will enable workers to operate more efficiently and make their work lives easier, with recent research finding that 83% of global employees believe it will increase day-to-day productivity and 72% saying it will improve strategic decision making.
Despite these benefits, most employees are not using AI to its full potential. If not addressed, this could hinder company growth in the long run, making them less competitive among their peers that take full advantage of the technological evolution currently underway.
Human Resources professionals play a critical role in implementing and advancing the use of AI in their organizations to help ensure it is being used by the right people in the right way. But this transformation does not occur overnight. Below are key steps HR leaders can take to help their organizations promote the use of AI, while supporting employees.
Identifying AI Adoption Gaps
AI is rapidly changing every few months, and with it comes new opportunities and challenges for today’s workplace. While it is normal for employees to feel uneasy around change, many believe AI will support their daily work, lead to faster career growth and new job opportunities. Yet, a clear disconnect exists between how and when to use AI.
The first step organizations must take when encouraging wider uses of AI is to understand how employees are currently using it, what may be slowing them down when adopting it and their opinions on the technology. Through establishing this base line understanding, HR leaders can better steer organizations on how to roll out tools, policies and best practices around the technology.
Understanding AI’s Impact on Your Business
While AI has the potential to help solve many challenges, it is important to remember it is not a magic wand that can fix all business challenges, and the human touch is still needed. Organizations must take into account the unique needs of their business to understand where AI will be most impactful – only then will it make their businesses more efficient and successful.
For different industries, this can take shape in many ways. For the manufacturing industry, AI algorithms can be used to predict when maintenance is needed, inspect products for defects in real-time and help optimize supply chains. In the healthcare industry, AI can help speed up the drug discovery process and serve as virtual health assistants. In the financial industry, AI can help identify and protect against fraud in real time and provide customer service.
All of these uses of AI are tailor made for specific industries and require special care in developing so they fit within an organization’s business model. Once this is achieved, companies can then provide clear guidance on how to use the technology for their employees.
Promoting the Right AI Tools
Just as AI cannot fix every business issue, not every tool is the same. When deciding which AI tools to incorporate into a business, HR and other business leaders must consider the needs of their clients, employees and the work outputs as well as security concerns, all with the goal of ensuring that sensitive company information is not used to teach the algorithm. Once companies decide on the right tools, this must be clearly communicated to employees, so they understand which options are available to them.
Investing in Trainings for all Employees
While companies across all industries are facing pressure to streamline costs due to the ever-changing business climate, employee education and training are not where businesses should cut corners – especially when it comes to AI. In fact, this is where HR departments and leadership should be focusing more resources.
This starts with developing training dedicated to creating a tech-enabled workforce across all levels, regardless of job titles or seniority. Through a mix of online, instructor-led and forum-based training, companies can help their employees master new skills necessary to complete their jobs.
At Unisys, we do this through offering all employees base-level training as well as advanced instruction based on job role. Through this approach, we are constantly evaluating how technology is changing to provide employees with important updates on how it will impact their roles. Not only does this create a culture dedicated to continuous learning, but it establishes greater trust among employees.
Companies can then take this one step further by providing internal platforms where employees can share how they are applying what they learned from ongoing training on a daily basis. At Unisys, we host an AI Forum, where 250 people are invited to come together to share case studies and data on how AI is easing their daily workload and assisting in the creation of new groundbreaking solutions.
Measuring for AI Readiness
While training is an important first step to ensuring your workforce has what it needs to succeed, it is only as good as what your employees get out of it. This is why measuring training participation rates does little to evaluate its true impact. Companies must dig deeper.
Luckily, many organizations already have the infrastructure in place to effectively evaluate their training programs. Through tools like annual engagement surveys and exit interviews, leaders can receive greater insight into what is working as well as what needs improvement. HR professionals can also measure success through pre- and post-training assessments, meant to evaluate how well employees retain information.
Evolving technology like AI can shift the way businesses operate for the better, but careful planning is needed to prepare tomorrow’s workforce for these changes. With a clear strategy, organizations will be better prepared for what lies ahead, and HR leaders will be better positioned to help lead their people strategy.
Ruchi Kulhari joined Unisys in April 2024 and serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). As the CHRO, Ruchi oversees human capital strategies for the company, including organizational design, associate training, recruitment, retention, leadership, career development, and inclusion initiatives for the company.
Prior to Unisys, Ruchi amassed nearly two decades of progressively senior-level human resources leadership experience, most recently serving as the chief people officer for Coforge. In addition to her time at Coforge, she has held global human resources roles with Infosys and EXL Services.Ruchi holds a Master of Arts in psychology from Pune University and a Bachelor of Arts in psychology with honors from the Institute for Excellence in Higher Education, and a certificate in organizational change management, human resources development from Harvard Business School Executive Education.