How AI is transforming HR: Applications and benefits

The market for artificial intelligence (AI) in human resources (HR) is expected to grow 35 percent from $3.89 billion in 2022 to $17.61 billion in 2027. This massive increase is not surprising when we look at how many benefits AI technologies provide the field of HR.

From recruitment and onboarding to employee management, HR requires heavy administration. It is chock-full of processes that can be streamlined and improved by AI. By integrating AI into their processes, HR professionals can become more efficient and improve their decision-making skills to better support organizations and their employees.

In this article, we’ll explore what AI in HR looks like, the key benefits of this technology, and the top applications of AI in this field. Plus, we’ll share how Jotform can support HR professionals and what AI in HR may look like in the months and years to come.

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What is AI in HR?

AI is a technology that is able to perform tasks and workflows that would typically require human intelligence, reasoning, and understanding to complete. HR deals with the recruitment, hiring, training, and management of a company’s greatest asset — its employees — and AI improves the speed and quality of tasks and workflows. Currently, a quarter of organizations use AI to support HR-related activities. Interestingly, the majority of those organizations have only started using the technology within the last year.

HR processes are wide-ranging and well suited for different AI tools. Talent acquisition, performance tracking, training, and upskilling are just some of the areas where organizations can use AI. Here are a few examples of AI and AI-powered tools that HR professionals can implement in their workflows:

• Chatbots: These simple AI tools can be used to answer candidate questions about available roles. They can also be used internally to answer employees’ frequently asked questions.
• AI assistants: HR professionals can use AI assistants to schedule candidate interviews and send reminders for upcoming meetings.
• AI agents: These AI tools act autonomously without human intervention. HR teams can use them for tasks such as collecting resume information from candidates or gathering information from employees.
• AI-powered data analytics: HR personnel deal with large amounts of data. AI tools can analyze the information and present recommendations to help managers make important decisions for their businesses.
• Generative AI tools: These AI tools are useful for creating content, such as for job postings, email communications, employee handbooks, and training materials.
• Learning management systems (LMS) with AI: HR teams can use these tools to offer highly personalized learning experiences for employees based on their skills, interests, and roles.

This is just a small sample of the types of AI tools used in HR. There are many other tools, such as project management systems, messaging and communication platforms, and meeting software, that use AI to enhance their capabilities. These can also greatly benefit HR teams. For example, meeting software that uses AI to take meeting minutes and summarize the information with actionable takeaways can be useful for candidate interviews.

Using artificial intelligence in human resources greatly enhances traditional HR practices, removing the administrative burden from HR employees so they can focus on the more strategic aspects of the job.

Key benefits of AI in HR

Organizations that take advantage of AI in the area of HR can expect to experience plenty of benefits, such as improved decision-making, enhanced recruitment, and greater personalization in training. Plus, they can boost employee engagement and minimize bias in hiring. How? AI tools can analyze large quantities of candidate and employee data within seconds, providing HR personnel with the information they need to make better decisions for the company. 

Here are the key benefits of AI in HR:

• Improved decision-making with predictive analytics: AI tools can help HR personnel determine outcomes based on past data, such as for employee engagement, turnover, retention, and satisfaction. Management can use this information to pivot strategies in order to achieve their business goals. 
• Enhanced recruitment through AI-powered applicant tracking systems (ATS): These solutions help HR teams determine which candidates will be the best fit for an organization based on a number of criteria, such as skills, education, expertise, previous experience, culture fit, and more. 
• Personalized employee training and development: Learning management systems that use AI can create highly personalized training, development, and education plans for employees based on their roles, the skills they want to gain, and their learning styles. 
• Greater employee engagement and satisfaction: Performance management tools can help HR teams provide feedback to employees to enhance their skills, getting them more engaged in the company and their roles. 
• Less bias in hiring decisions: Many organizations prioritize hiring from diverse communities; however, sometimes the language used in their systems and tools can be biased and skew candidate pools. AI tools can help detect bias in hiring practices to ensure equity and inclusion.

Top applications of AI in HR

Some 61 percent of HR professionals are optimistic about the effective use of AI in their organization. What does AI in HR look like in the real world? Here are a few examples of how artificial intelligence is transforming human resources processes for the better.

Recruitment

Recruitment involves creating job descriptions, posting them to different job boards and websites, screening candidate resumes, identifying suitable candidates, and scheduling interviews. All of these tasks can be greatly enhanced by AI tools. 

For example, generative AI tools can write job descriptions, AI agents can post job descriptions, AI-powered applicant tracking systems can screen resumes and identify suitable ones, and AI assistants can schedule interviews. Using AI for recruitment gives HR a better chance of finding the perfect match for the role. 

Employee engagement

It can be difficult for HR teams to accurately determine employee engagement and satisfaction. However, employee engagement AI tools can help solve this problem. 

For example, HR automation tools that take over dull, routine tasks can help boost morale, while AI survey tools can gather employee engagement feedback and analyze the data with actionable recommendations.

Workforce analytics

Workforce analytics and talent management software that is powered by AI can help organizations make strategic decisions for the future of their business. 

These tools can analyze large amounts of employee data to predict employee turnover, attrition, and other important metrics. They can also help organizations optimize their workforce allocation, leveraging employee skills and experience to reach business goals more effectively.

Learning and development

Offering employees learning and development programs not only attracts top talent, but also gives organizations a strategic advantage. However, not all employees learn in the same way or want to learn the same things to advance their careers. AI tools within an LMS can create customized learning and development plans for each employee. 

Challenges of implementing AI in HR

As with any new technology, it’s important to consider the challenges that may arise as you integrate AI within your organization. 

Data privacy

When it comes to AI, one of the biggest concerns is data privacy. HR personnel handle a lot of confidential information about employees. If that information is stored in or processed by AI tools, organizations need to know that the product is secure and that it meets industry regulations for privacy and security.

Biased data

Another issue that may arise with AI is the potential for introducing bias into AI output. AI is trained on various datasets, and if those datasets contain bias, then the output of the AI tool may also be biased. It’s important for organizations to carefully select the AI tools they use to ensure they have been trained using unbiased data. Organizations training their own AI tools need to evaluate how well their own data meets this standard. 

Employee dissatisfaction

In addition to technology-related challenges, organizations also need to consider challenges they may experience with their personnel. 

Many employees are resistant to change and may not like the idea of AI tools making decisions that would otherwise be made by a human. HR teams may be worried about AI taking over their jobs, while potential employees may have concerns about the decisions made by such tools — decisions that could impact their careers. It’s vital for organizations to prioritize open communication and transparency when implementing AI in HR (or anywhere else!) and address employee concerns openly.

Jotform: For AI in HR and beyond

Wondering how you can get started with AI tools for your HR needs? Of the many solutions on the market, one that stands out for its ease of use and customization is Jotform AI Agents. 

With Jotform AI Agents, human resources teams can turn any HR form into a dynamic, conversational experience without having to write a single line of code. Jotform makes it easy for HR teams to collect important information from candidates and employees and provide answers to questions in return. 

Here’s how to use Jotform AI Agents: 

• Build the foundation of your AI Agent by starting from scratch, choosing a form, or using a template.
• Train the AI Agent by using data from your organization’s websites and documents. 
• Customize the AI Agent using the agent builder and personalize it to fit your organization’s data collection needs. 

Jotform AI Agents come with hundreds of human resources AI agents in the AI Agent Directory, including: 

• The HR Manager AI Agent, which shares information on company policies and labor rights 
• The CV Application AI Agent, which simplifies the job application process for candidates and answers important questions 
• The New Employee Details AI Agent, which streamlines onboarding by collecting vital information from new hires
• The Employee Self-Appraisal AI Agent, which guides employees through the self-evaluation process 

Best of all, Jotform AI Agents offers a free plan that makes it easy for you to get started. That means you can explore the tool and see how it can transform your HR processes before scaling up.

Future trends in AI and HR

While artificial intelligence tools for human resources have been around for a few years, they are still being developed and will continue to evolve — and HR teams need to evolve with them. Professionals who fail to adapt to technology-related job transformations will very likely be limited in their prospects for advancement. In fact, 76 percent of HR leaders believe that if their organization doesn’t start using AI technology in the next 12 to 24 months, it may not be as successful as organizations that do.

In the future, AI tools will continue to take over administrative and data analysis workflows for HR teams. They will also move more into the strategic decision-making realm, supporting HR professionals as they make key decisions on hiring, training, and employee engagement. 

Tech companies will focus on eradicating bias from their AI tools so that they can further support organizations in hiring and management decisions that take into account diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). In addition, we expect that AI will be even more deeply integrated into business systems for project management, scheduling, communication, payroll, benefits administration, and more.

There’s no doubt that AI in HR will continue to change the way organizations recruit, train, support, and manage their teams. It’s certainly an exciting time for HR professionals, who are likely to experience positive changes in their role thanks to the powerful capabilities of this new technology.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko