Why startups should use AI to tap into employee insights

The COVID-19 Pandemic has created an unprecedented acceleration in digitizing the way we live, play and work. It is no surprise that today we are doing much more tasks online than we ever did before. Digital has penetrated every aspect of our lives right from ordering groceries online to getting treated by doctors, everyone and everything is now digital.

This pace of digitization is only expected to accelerate and all businesses are now pivoting to being digital first. This has impacted every function within the organization, and it has brought HR into focus, and thrust it forward into the chaos of this new world. Almost 83% of companies are already using digital technology in some form or the other and post the pandemic everyone wants HR to be digital.

HR Technology & Startups

Artificial Intelligence is today visible in virtually every industry be it healthcare, advertising, transportation, finance, legal, education and others. Now we see it making its way into our work. Today companies are using virtual assistants and chatbots not just for their customers but also for their employees. They are also exploring other areas within HR that they can automate or leverage data to making informed people decisions.

While bigger companies have professional HR teams it is the startups & small medium enterprises who cannot afford to hire an experienced HR professional nor have easy access to such technology would greatly benefit by implementing AI to make up for a skill gap within the HR team.

Why AI in Startups?

There are compelling reasons for using AI specially for startups and small companies. In this changed world of work virtual teams, remote employees and hybrid offices are going to be a norm. All companies are trying to reinvent and reengage their workforce which is not just diverse but is now also going to be spread geographically. Understanding their needs and drivers and creating a sense of commitment and loyalty is critical for the team managers or leaders.

By using AI, team managers would be able to dive into deep employee insights that are at times hidden. These insights in turn could analyze and predict employee behavior, performance and engagement.

AI-powered employee engagement can also give you real-time actionable insights about employee productivity, challenges, motivation and sentiment. This would give a new dimension to strategic workforce planning and reduce unwanted employee attrition while exponentially impacting organizational outcomes!

Using AI could also lead to multiple benefits like:

1. Automating repetitive HR tasks freeing time for everyone.
2. Using AI to help recruit and save time in screening irrelevant candidates.
3. Getting intelligent engagement analytics that enables leaders and team manager to take proactive action to improve morale and impact productivity.
4. Help in deploying complex training programs making them more interesting, relevant and engaging thus improving employee capabilities.
5. Delivering real time reports & using AI to predict outcomes ensuring the right action is taken at the right time.

Overall harnessing the power of AI will greatly help to automate everyday repetitive HR operations with accuracy and speed. This in turn will ensure that key people within the start-up and the HR function are focusing on their core and not wasting their time and energy in doing non-core activities thus creating higher impact for the businesses.

The author is Dr. Gaurav Hirey, Founder & CEO, GoEvals.