The Human Element

How do you scale a high-volume, frontline workforce while keeping people—employees, caregivers, and clients—at the center?

In this episode of The Human Element, Dana Rutland, Chief Human Resources Officer at Right at Home, offers one of the clearest playbooks yet for pairing AI with human judgment inside a non-desk, service-driven workforce. Leading HR across a nationwide senior home care franchise network, Dana brings a pragmatic view of how AI can eliminate low-value tasks, strengthen recruiting, and dramatically speed up the caregiver–client matching process without losing the nuance that only people can provide.

With teams across the U.S., Mexico, and Venezuela, Dana shares how her function is modernizing HR service delivery: an AI recruiting bot (“Olivia”) that schedules and screens at scale, dashboards that spotlight turnover and gaps in care, and mobile-first microlearning that builds AI literacy across a distributed workforce.

Her message is simple and urgent: Give speed and scale to AI so your HR team can stay human.

Watch the full interview below.

Key Takeaways

• Eliminate non-value work with AI. Free HR to focus on performance coaching, hiring decisions, leader support, and culture.
• Use AI bots for high-volume recruiting. Let AI handle scheduling, screening, and FAQs—while monitoring edge cases and maintaining clear guardrails.
• Accelerate caregiver–client matching. AI can shortlist based on skills, chemistry proxies, geography, and availability, saving case managers hours.
• Instrument your HR function. Track turnover, time-to-fill, and scheduling risks with Power BI/Automate dashboards.
• Design for a mobile, non-desk workforce. Build AI literacy through microlearning, mobile-first tools, and voice-to-plan workflows.
• Create safe experimentation zones. Encourage prompt iteration, clarity on bot boundaries, and shared ownership with field leaders.

Key Timestamps

[00:45] – Franchise HR model: corporate support, offshore team structure, and rapid growth
[02:35] – Human-first HR: what AI should do vs. where leaders must stay involved
[04:30] – Right at Home's recruiting bot, “Olivia”: scheduling, screening, culture reflection, and lessons learned
[07:40] – Smart matching: how AI narrows caregiver–client pairings through skills and schedule alignment
[11:50] – Dashboards that matter: turnover, time-to-fill, and preventing gaps in care
[18:46] – AI literacy for a mobile, multilingual frontline workforce
[25:45] – Voice-to-plan workflows that turn hours into minutes
[27:50] – Lightning round: misconceptions, metrics, and the tech-stack vs. best-of-breed debate

Full Transcript

Barb (00:47)
Welcome to The Human Element presented by Wisq, where we explore how AI and human insight are reshaping leadership and the future of HR. Our guest today, Dana Rutland, is Chief Human Resources Officer at Right at Home, a senior home care franchise company. Dana leads people’s strategy, talent, culture, and HR operations across a franchise network. I’m super excited to speak with you today, Dana. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

Dana Rutland (01:22)
Thanks for having me, Barb. Appreciate it. Excited to be here.

Barb (01:26)
Awesome. I love your unique background. A little bit different than some of my prior guests. I’d love to hear more about the business you work in and what makes your HR model unique, especially across a franchise network.

Dana Rutland (01:41)
Sure. It’s unique to me too. My background is telecom, engineering, and manufacturing. Moving into home care and healthcare was a steep learning curve, and the structure was very different from what I was used to.

We have our franchises set up with corporate services—the typical HR and finance functions—and I have a team that handles HR, recruiting, and talent. We’re structured both in the U.S. and offshore in Mexico and Venezuela. It gives our team a rich opportunity to learn different cultures, perspectives, and experience levels.

Because we’re growing every day, it comes with a lot of questions, but we’re learning more and more, which is exciting for my team.

Barb (02:55)
Very much so. What is one challenge that you’re focused on today that you think AI could really help your team with?

Dana Rutland (03:05)
We’re focused on eliminating non–value-add activities. I am a firm believer that human is the first word in human resources for a reason, I want to keep it that way. At the same time, I want my team focused on the things we can do as people and leaders, not the non–value-add tasks.

Anything that needs speed and scalability, let’s give that to AI. What I want my team focused on, and what I think they’re really good at, is performance coaching, working with leaders, the final decision on recruiting, and conflict management, things that require the nuance of human beings that AI can’t do.

But I do want my team equipped with AI so we can do our work faster and not spend time pulling or assembling reports. Yes, we should look at dashboards to make decisions, but anything AI can do, I’m a huge fan of putting into the robotic side of the work.

Barb (04:36)
Totally. How are you thinking about where to begin? Do you have any early pilots or experiments?

Dana Rutland (04:51)
Yes. When I arrived, the team was already using an AI bot for early-stage recruiting. More than one person has come into the office saying, “I can’t wait to meet Olivia.” They thought the bot was a real person. She was one of the reasons they applied.

Of course, Olivia isn’t real; that’s our bot. But they were surprised by how relatable she felt. AI has gotten vastly more nuanced in the last year. These bots reflect our culture and warmth, to a point. They can’t make final decisions, but they help review résumés and skills against job descriptions.

We’ve had hiccups, a human wouldn’t ask someone to drive two hours for an interview when we have an office 20 minutes away. But this is part of learning how to manage AI so it helps us.

We also have a friendly internal competition: how many prompts does it take to get exactly what you want? Someone might say, “I got it in two,” someone else in five. It’s helping us learn.

Barb (06:58)
I love that. Has Olivia been helping with scheduling, or are there other areas where you’ve operationalized AI?

Dana Rutland (07:10)
Yes — she was helping schedule initial interviews, which saved a lot of time. Now we’re working on something bigger: matching caregivers with clients.

It only works when the chemistry is right, like a mentor/mentee program. You need the right personality fit, skill set, and an easy back-and-forth. That takes a lot of time for care managers to sort through manually.

We want AI to handle the narrowing: reducing 30 potential caregivers down to three or five great matches. And also taking scheduling into account: if the client wants certain days, can the caregiver’s shift align?

Freeing up employee time is the goal, not just for HR, but everyone. We want people focused on clients, projects, and initiatives that help us grow. Demand for home care is only increasing.

Barb (10:26)
Absolutely. With such high-volume recruiting, how do you stay ahead?

Dana Rutland (11:39)
We use Power BI and Power Automate dashboards to track statistics — not just gaps, but what’s going well that we can build on. Turnover is a big one; it’s expensive and creates gaps for clients, which we never want.

Every franchise is looking for ways to create a great employee experience — recruiting well, training well, fostering a culture where people thrive. Case manager roles can be overwhelming. I’ve walked into offices where someone is in tears because they can’t find a caregiver for a client they care deeply about.

AI can help reduce that emotional burden. It can help navigate the daily “curveballs” that inevitably arise. We want our people to leave work energized, not burned out.

AI can be overwhelming, intimidating, or scary for some, especially if they fear it will take their job. My encouragement is: just try one tool. Start somewhere. Play around. That’s how I learned.

If you have an idea but aren’t sure how to execute it, AI can help build a training plan or change management plan from a few notes. Every time I use AI, I learn something new.

Some IT leaders are hesitant because of IP and data concerns, so guardrails are important. But overall, AI has been a game-changer for us.

Barb (16:12)
You told such a powerful story about the case manager. AI can help them focus their empathy on the client rather than wrestling with logistics. Their job doesn’t go away — it gets better.

How are you helping franchise owners and caregivers build AI literacy?

Dana Rutland (18:04)
I feel like I’m in a race with my CEO; he loves AI as much as I do. We’re using it now at the leadership level, but anyone can use it anytime.

We haven’t rolled out formal training yet, but we have an app that all employees use. Many don’t have laptops at home. Our app acts like an intranet. We’re teaching them in small, approachable steps: handbook online, training online, moving in-person training to virtual.

We want this to feel like walking into the ocean. Gradual, not overwhelming.

When we visit field offices, I’ll show them what I’ve learned. Often they’ll say, “I want to do these three things but don’t have time.” As they talk, I’ll type their ideas into AI and show them what comes out. It’s like giving them a square one to build from.

Their instincts and experience are essential. AI is there to take the tedious work off their plate. Ideas shouldn’t die because the execution feels too heavy.

Barb (21:48)
You can see your delight. It’s magic when AI turns a kernel of an idea into something usable instead of sitting on a long to-do list.

Given the mobile nature of your workforce, what does AI unlock for them?

Dana Rutland (23:25)
I’m excited out of my shoes. Even though I use AI, I still haven’t gotten to everything on my list, but I know I will, and that’s the difference. It takes the overwhelm and turns it into energy.

Our former CIO, Jacqueline Tangorra, gave me the best advice: she goes for a walk, turns on the AI tool, says “listen for the next five minutes,” and just talks. By the time she gets home, the work is done. Hours turned into minutes. That sold me.

Barb (25:16)
I recommend that, too. It’s great for leaders with lots of ideas floating around. Hit record, brain dump, and get a clean synthesis back.

Let’s go into the lightning round.
What’s one misconception HR leaders have about AI?

Dana Rutland (26:42)
That their jobs are going away. They’re scared because they’ve been told HR is a back-office function. AI isn’t eliminating HR — it’s freeing teams to do more strategic, impactful work.

Barb (27:08)
What’s one metric you trust most for judging an AI pilot’s success?

Dana Rutland (27:17)
Turnover — though only as good as the input data. I also trust time to fill and time to offer; those can be automated more easily. Dashboards help flag red areas and highlight what’s working well.

Barb (28:15)
If you had to pick between consolidating your HR tech stack or choosing a best-of-breed AI bot. What would you choose?

Dana Rutland (28:36)
Today, the tech stack. AI bots aren’t quite ready to replace a whole integrated system, but they’re getting close. I wouldn’t abandon AI, though.

Barb (29:39)
What’s one piece of advice you’d give HR leaders starting their AI journey?

Dana Rutland (31:45)
Stay curious. Stay open. Set safe guidelines if you’re hesitant, but stay curious. AI is a game changer. It can turn hours you don’t have into minutes.

Barb (32:26)
We’re all learning. Stay curious is a great way to end. Dana, thank you so much for joining me today.

Dana Rutland (32:49)
Thanks, Barb. I enjoyed it. Thanks for the opportunity.