Top Use Cases of Generative AI for HR for 2024

Generative AI has taken over the world like a storm. With ChatGPT paving the way for this AI-based revolution to Google and other top tech players developing different generative AI-based tools, the impact generative AI has created in just a few months is indeed mind-boggling.  

Before we move any further, let's look at how AI and generative AI differ from each other. Most of us often use AI and gen AI interchangeably. But, in reality, generative AI is a subset of the broad field called Artificial Intelligence. Generative AI helps create new content after it gets trained with existing data, patterns, or examples. It has touched every business function, including HR.

According to MarketResearch.Biz, the market of generative AI in HR is expected to exceed USD 1926.4 million by 2033, with a CAGR of 15.40% from 2024 to 2033. This shows the relevance gen AI will have in HR in the future. From recruitment to performance management, generative AI brings forward numerous use cases for HR professionals. In this blog, we will discuss some such use cases in detail. So, let's get right into it.

Blog Summary (TL;DR)

• Generative AI can automate repetitive tasks like screening resumes, scheduling interviews, and conducting performance evaluations.
• You can create job descriptions, HR policies, and other useful documents once you have trained the generative AI tool. These documents would be free of biases, mistakes, and prejudices.
• Generative AI can help build a skills-first organization by assisting in your company's talent acquisition processes.
• You can provide real-time feedback and improve engagement and communication with generative AI. These aspects are critical in enhancing employee and candidate experience.
• Generative AI can help you and your managers conduct performance reviews, create performance review templates, and KPIs, etc.
• You can conduct online training programs and create learning plans and career development plans with generative AI.

Automate repetitive tasks

Performing repetitive and monotonous tasks can hamper your productivity. These tasks range from resume screening to scheduling interviews for candidates. However, you can automate these repetitive tasks by training generative AI tools with the right data set. By doing so, you can improve your productivity and focus on more critical tasks. Some of the functions that can be easily automated with generative AI include:  

1. Conducting employee performance evaluations
2. Identifying key skills and experience required for each job role
3. Assessing candidate profiles based on skills, language proficiency, academic achievements, and experience (however, for this to work unbiasedly and error-free, you will have to train the generative AI tool with the right data)
4. Assisting compliance processes, including recording and reporting on employee data by basing them on labor rules and regulations

HR professionals can easily automate these tasks while removing mistakes, biases, and other concerns.

Create better job descriptions, guides, training materials, policies, and more

Drafting, editing, and working on job descriptions, guides, and HR policies can be time-consuming and rigorous. Generative AI can help perform these activities efficiently, thereby improving the quality and speed of creating these documents.

One of the issues that HR professionals, especially recruiters, face is the prevalence of hiring prejudices and biases. You can reduce these issues and make your hiring process inclusive by taking the very first step towards it by drafting inclusive job descriptions with generative AI. These descriptions can remove racial and gender-specific language and job titles. It can further prepare the required job description based on company standards and needed skills which a gen AI tool can gather by analyzing skills profiles, work histories, and other external sources. Based on this, a gen AI tool can create realistic job requirements.  

Along with job descriptions, once trained appropriately, gen AI can help create online learning guides, templates, and HR policies and even coach your employees.

Help shift towards a skill-based organization

The future of work is shifting from a "credential-based" approach to a "skills-based" approach. It is because skills are the currencies that can aid organizations in achieving sustainable business growth with future-ready talent.

A generative AI tool can help you find the right talent with the right skill set. For instance, it can sift through different data sets available on social platforms like LinkedIn and GitHub and identify talents who can efficiently perform the roles you are hiring for. This is just one aspect of the recruitment process that generative AI tools can automate and streamline.  

These candidate-matching algorithms on generative AI tools can reduce hiring time, hiring expenses, biases, etc. Further, it can also analyze job market trends and identify emerging skills that can be helpful for future-proofing your talent. These insights allow you to integrate suitable training programs to upskill your existing employees (By the way, you can learn more about AI and talent acquisition from our blog on industry leaders discussing the future of AI in talent acquisition).

As for creating a skills-first organization, another core area is opening up opportunities for internal mobility. A well-trained generative AI tool can analyze employee data and identify skills opportunities, hidden skills, adjacencies, and interests. These details can help with enhancing talent mobility pathways in your company. It can also benefit in improving your employees' skill set and prepare them to become T-shaped employees of the future.

Remember that not all generative AI tools can do these tasks. Some of them can be performed accurately only through HR-based AI tools like a skills intelligence cloud.

Improve candidate/employee experience through personalization

Candidate and employee experience are two critical areas HR professionals work on assiduously. Lack of employee engagement, communication, feedback, and career development opportunities can hamper employee experience significantly. Similarly, regarding candidates, communication and engagement can impact their decision on whether or not to pursue a job application process. It could even affect your organization's brand image.  

Therefore, you can bring in personalization by relying on generative AI tools. For candidates, this can be in communication and job recommendations offered, which can be based on your candidates' skill sets. This lets you understand their skills, career paths, and possible development opportunities.  

Regarding employee experience, here are some top ways generative AI can assist you as an HR professional:  

1. Provide training recommendations to employees based on their skills, skills gaps, interests, career goals  
2. Offer real-time feedback to employees, helping them analyze and improve themselves, especially during a learning process  
3. Create personalized development programs for employees  
4. Evaluate and analyze employee engagement and productivity  
5. Answer employee questions and offer clarifications via a chatbot  
6. Draft customized benefits packages for employees

Assist with performance reviews and evaluations

Conducting performance reviews and working on them can be challenging for HR professionals and managers. This is a process that requires a lot of time and effort. Most managers won’t have the time to conduct a comprehensive analysis of each employee. This is when generative AI can come as a helping hand. Gen AI can provide information to managers based on employees’ work and performance that can assist managers in completing performance reviews and evaluations efficiently.  

Generative AI can further assist in creating performance review templates, and KPIs, conducting real-time performance monitoring, identifying talent gaps, guiding in dealing with performance issues, etc. Currently, the adoption of generative AI for performance management is increasing. Many organizations in business sectors, from IT to finance, rely on generative AI-based performance reviews and evaluations.

Improve talent development and talent management activities

Talent development and management are two other HR functions in which generative AI can offer support. Coming to talent development, sharing and maintaining institutional knowledge is one of the critical areas in which generative AI can assist HR professionals.

Training AI with insights into institutional knowledge can help conduct employee training programs. Employees could ask questions and gain responses from the AI tool, improving their understanding of the organization in depth. This can help in dramatically improving productivity and employee performance.  

Additionally, talent development leaders and professionals can rely on generative AI to create lesson plans and learning objectives and even coach employees.  

Moving forward to talent management, you can train generative AI to help you create succession plans, which can be beneficial in identifying potential leaders within your company. It can also aid you in creating personalized career development plans for your employees. Besides, you can rely on generative AI tools for improving employee mental health and well-being. However, you will have to find the right generative AI tool that can assist your employees in enhancing their well-being. One such tool that can come in handy is skills intelligence.

Final Thoughts

These are some of the top use cases of generative AI for HR. Remember that generative AI isn’t perfect and can provide you with inaccuracies. It could even result in issues like biases based on the historical data used to train the tool. Therefore, HR professionals must ensure fair standards and transparency in AI-based decision-making to avoid such circumstances.

Yes, there are some limitations.

But, if you use generative AI tools ethically while using the right/detailed prompts, it can improve your productivity and performance significantly.