All things AI in HR: 6 tips from top HR leaders

Hey there, Modern People Leaders! In this special edition of the newsletter, we're diving into the game-changing world of AI in HR.

We’ve rounded up the best tips and insights from our guests to help you stay ahead of the curve.

Check it out. ⬇️

1. We need to rethink our relationship with technology 🆕

Steve Cadigan, LinkedIn's first CHRO, author, and professor, thinks we need to slow down and recognize the incredible opportunities AI brings.

“This is our moment to rebuild our relationship with technology,” he says.

But what he’s noticing is that many are focusing on using AI to cut jobs and boost the bottom line. He says that’s such a small part of the potential AI holds, but it’s what the media loves to highlight.

Steve wants to change that narrative.

He’s frustrated by businesses’ poor track record of leveraging technology to make work more interesting and impactful, citing the rollout of email as an example.

And now, jumping into AI without careful consideration feels premature. AI is ten times more complex, and we need to proceed with caution.

Even AI’s creators, like Sam Altman, are both excited and terrified. When Sam releases ChatGPT and then tells Congress to build guardrails around it, it’s clear there’s still a lot to figure out.

Steve believes it’s still early days for AI.

What saddens him is that people aren’t using this moment to rethink HR and business.

For instance, a friend asked how AI could make recruiting better. Steve’s response was, don’t think about it that way. Instead, consider how AI can uncover talent within the organization, not just outside it.

We’re trying to fit AI into old business methods, and that’s a mistake. Steve urges us to think differently. With AI, we have tools to see things much faster and more clearly than ever before.

It’s time to move beyond conventional approaches and harness AI to create greater value.

Listen to the full episode here.

2. How this CHRO built their AI roadmap 🤖

A couple of years back, excited by the potential of AI, Gianna Driver, the Chief People Officer at Exabeam encouraged their People Team to “figure out AI”. She said it was a broad directive to find AI applications within HR by their next monthly meeting.

However, excitement turned to disappointment when the next month rolled around and no progress had been made.

Realizing the need for a more structured approach, the team paused their AI endeavors. This break allowed them to reconsider their strategy without the pressure of producing immediate results or deliverables.

About a year and a half ago, they picked it back up, this time with smaller, more focused experiments.

One of their first successes was using AI to craft job descriptions.

Instead of waiting for hiring managers to specify what they needed, the talent team used AI to generate robust and inclusive job descriptions proactively. This shift not only sped up the hiring process but also impressed hiring managers, opening their eyes to the practical benefits of AI in streamlining HR tasks.

🔄 Identifying More Opportunities for AI: Motivated by their early wins, the leadership team started to evaluate other tasks that could benefit from AI, focusing on those that were repetitive and time-intensive. This strategic move freed up the team to engage more in high-level, strategic work rather than getting bogged down in mundane tasks.

📚 Revamping the Employee Handbook: Traditionally, updating the employee handbook every year has been a cumbersome task, driven by changing laws and internal policies. Gianna’s team introduced AI to this process, using the technology to provide a preliminary update, which was then refined with the essential human touch.

📊 Automating the Merit Process: Their journey didn’t stop there. The team looked at automating their merit process, a task that involves considerable data analysis and decision-making based on various metrics like market deltas and performance scores. By collaborating with their AI-savvy product team, they developed a tool that automated many of the manual steps involved, encapsulating the logic in streamlined AI-driven processes.

Listen to the full episode here.

3. Zapier's company-wide AI hackathon & what their People Team is building ✅

Zapier initiated an 'AI code red' to signal the urgency that led to a company-wide hackathon.

This wasn't about becoming AI experts in a week, but rather about opening their minds to the possibilities that AI could offer.

The outcome was a clearer vision for integrating AI into their product offerings and operational processes, significantly impacting departments from Learning and Development to finance.

Today, half of Zapier's employees use AI daily in their work.

Within their People Team, two groups stand out for their innovative work with AI:

1 - The L&D Team: AI-powered Coaching

One of the key skills they prioritize is the ability to give and receive feedback effectively.

Recognizing that not all managers excel at this, and acknowledging that coaching is a limited resource, Zapier’s Learning and Development team has created an AI-powered chatbot.

Developed using Zapier, this chatbot acts as a virtual coach, trained on their feedback guidelines and enriched with examples akin to traditional training methods.

It enables employees to practice giving feedback, offering them tailored advice to improve their approach.

2 - People Operations Team: Automating Responses to Frontline Inquiries

Additionally, their People Operations team has leveraged Zapier and OpenAI to automate responses to frontline inquiries.

This has proven especially useful as they prepare for their annual company retreat in Denver, an event that generates numerous logistical questions.

An AI-powered chatbot now handles most of these inquiries, directing staff to use it as the primary information source.

This efficiency allows their events team to focus more on enhancing the retreat experience, a task uniquely suited to human creativity and innovation.

Listen to the full episode here.

4. HR's role in driving your company's AI strategy 💡

What’s HR’s role in driving your company’s AI strategy?

David Hanrahan believes that for organizations to truly adopt AI, HR leaders need to be actively involved. There will be a lot of change to work through:

🤖 People's work styles will change with AI implementation.

⭐ Skills like synthesizing dense information, once seen as superpowers, will shift.

💭 Middle management will need to focus less on processing and repeating information and more on asking insightful questions and guiding decisions when data is unclear.

He says this shift will be challenging, especially for those accustomed to certain work styles.

We’ll need to lean on HR leaders to overcome this resistance.

Listen to the full episode here.

5. LinkedIn's first CHRO on why every company needs an AI ethics advisory board ⚖️

"Just like anything new, we don't know what we don't know," Steve Cadigan said, capturing the uncertainty that comes with innovation.

He shared a pivotal moment from LinkedIn's early days. "Google called and said they were going to pay us $4 million. We'd never had a million-dollar sale," he explained.

Google wanted all the data their employees had given LinkedIn, an offer that left their sales team eager to close the deal.

But Reid Hoffman refused, prioritizing trust over profit. "If we give Google the data without our members' permission, we're breaking a covenant of trust," Steve recalled. This moment was crucial in shaping LinkedIn's identity.

He emphasized the need for AI ethics advisory boards, composed of diverse stakeholders like investors, board members, community leaders, and AI experts. "We need to vet AI against our culture, our impact on jobs, compensation, and customers," he said, comparing it to a food label for AI.

Highlighting the insights of AI leaders like Sam Altman and Mustafa Suleyman, Steve underscored the collective student mindset everyone must adopt. "It doesn't mean don't do it. It just means proceed with caution," he advised.

He compared the current state of AI to his experience with laser eye surgery. "I was terrified to get it because I didn't know the long-term effects," he said. Eventually, he took the risk, and it paid off. "That's where we are with some of this technology," Steve concluded, advocating for careful, informed risk-taking in the face of innovation.

Listen to the full episode here.

6. What's next on the AI front for this CHRO's team 🛣️

Here's a glimpse into what the People Team at Exabeam have cooking up on the AI front:

1️⃣ Performance Reviews:

Exabeam is not about replacing human input with AI. Instead, they're enhancing the process.

AI steps in to synthesize feedback during performance reviews, providing managers with a preliminary analysis.

Managers then use this as a starting point, adding their personal touch and insights to the reviews.

2️⃣ Open Enrollment AI:

Imagine having a personal advisor during open enrollment.

That's what Exabeam is aiming to create—a chatbot, much like ChatGPT, tailored to help employees choose the best healthcare plan based on their personal situations, like getting married or expecting a child.

This tool aims to handle repetitive queries that flood HR every year during enrollment.

3️⃣ Bespoke Learning & Development (L&D):

Gianna Driver also highlighted their initiative to craft personalized learning journeys for employees.

Using AI, they plan to develop unique L&D experiences that align with an individual's career aspirations and development needs.

Listen to the full episode here.

Good news from Tilt: Stop managing leave in spreadsheets 📰

Are you still managing leaves of absence with spreadsheets?

If so, our friends over at Tilt have some good news for you.

Whether it's FMLA tracking, applying for state benefits, or supporting intermittent leaves, Tilt takes all that admin work off your plate.

They also provide your employees with one-on-one human support and ensure compliance no matter the leave type or state.

Tilt is the perfect blend of technology and human support.

Check them out and let them know that we sent you!

See you next week!

P.S. If you like MPL, help us grow the show by giving us a 5 star rating on Apple or Spotify ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.