How chatbots improve human resource operations

Today’s HR departments struggle to efficiently manage human resource operations and routine tasks, wasting time daily answering employees’ FAQs in the absence of a self-service system. When HR professionals are forced to allocate their time on these routine questions and repetitive tasks, they can’t focus on valuable work such as recruitment, retention and motivation, leadership development, and corporate culture. As HR departments move to a more strategic role, addressing these issues has become a necessity.

Conversational AI can be used as a powerful tool to improve HR operations. Over the past several years, artificial intelligence has transformed HR and improved functions for new hires and current employees. Artificial intelligence (AI) can automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, allowing HR professionals to focus on other strategies. Moreover, AI-driven HR analytics can also improve decision-making to enhance hiring efficiency and streamline the screening and selection process.

An HR Chatbot that leverages natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning can understand, communicate, and even automate actions to support candidates and employees. For example, an intelligent HR bot can guide new employees through the onboarding process, answer FAQs, suggest learning resources, and assist employees with requesting days off or checking their remaining leave balances. Chatbot solutions can also provide reminders, conduct surveys, and collect feedback to enhance employees’ experiences.

Chatbots for employee support

Powerful AI chatbots can help employees 24/7. They leverage conversational search and can analyze large amounts of business documents, such as company policies, to provide accurate answers to employees’ questions. HR chatbots can allow employees to allot their time and energy to higher value work.

For general HR processes, chatbots aid HR teams’ operations by managing leaves, hiring processes, reimbursements for employee expenses, and internal communications. Also, providing payroll and policy information, chatbots collect and store data that can be retrieved as and when required. Instead of depending on long feedback surveys, chatbots request real-time employee feedback proactively. The chatbot is trained to ask for feedback while communicating with employees and analyzing the information. Furthermore, conversational AI solutions suggest strategies and solutions to improve employees’ work lives. These actions promote employee engagement while also collecting valuable insights for the organization.

Recruitment

HR chatbots digitize the recruitment process by collecting and filtering out resumes, assessing applicants, tracking applicants’ recruitment processes, scheduling interviews, providing personalized career growth for employees, and collecting feedback. AI-powered chatbots automatically collect applicant data and provide relevant insights based on personalized engagement and frequently asked questions, improving the overall quality of the recruitment processes.

By using AI-powered Waston Assistant, HR leaders have experienced significant improvements in operations and workflows. Specifically, watsonx Assistant has reduced the time employees spent on common HR tasks by 75%.

IBM watsonx Assistant empowers workforces with personalized chatbots and automation. watsonx Assistant can be integrated with platforms such as phone, SMS, webchat, messaging apps including Slack, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp, and the HR systems that companies use. Once watsonx Assistant is integrated, it can respond to questions in direct messages or channels.

The watsonx Assistant virtual agent provides aid with insurance, retirement, health and wellness, disability coverage, family benefits, and even life insurance. Australia’s largest telco, Telstra, used watsonx Assistant to build a chatbot named Codi which handles multiple internal and external tasks, saving an estimated AUD 10 million.

In China, watsonx Assistant enabled ENN Group employees to receive status updates on internal processes, such as expense reports, without performing manual queries.

watsonx Assistant helps HR professionals listen and understand what their employees need, enabling proactive instead of reactive responses and promoting employee satisfaction. By identifying gaps and supporting employees where and when they need them, watsonx Assistant chatbots make HR professionals more effective and efficient, improving overall business operations and processes.