Everyday Use Cases for AI in Enterprise HR
While we’re still in the early innings, AI already has the potential to transform entire businesses.
And HR is uniquely positioned to lead the way. HR can leverage AI to offload manual tasks, personalize and polish communication, and gain insights on planning and resourcing, setting a powerful example of what’s possible across the organization.
How can I start using generative AI in my HR role?
Let’s cut through the AI jargon and get straight to the good stuff: nine ways AI can support you and your HR team. From improving employee engagement to automating processes, this list is designed to get you thinking, “Oh, I could definitely use that!”
Let's dive into how AI can help HR teams tackle everyday tasks.
1. Clarify workforce planning and forecasting
We know outcomes are so much better when workforce planning is used. Talent, HR and business outcomes benefit.
Because workforce planning involves multiple data sources and collaboration across departments, it can yield multiple options and new questions rather than a single answer. Many organizations don’t have manual strategic workforce planning (SWP) processes in place. AI—with its ability to analyze hiring trends, productivity data and market conditions—can give you a leg up, helping you plan for workforce needs in a proactive, data-driven way. AI can be your thought partner as you think about when you should hire, the roles you should hire for, and much more. Try prompting a GenAI platform with the following:
“My team is ramping up for [share specific information around the initiative, your goals and timeline for the project]. My team consists of [share team structure and roles]. Which additional roles should I consider for this project, and which ones are better suited for temporary contractors versus full-time hires?”
2. Polish your employee onboarding flow by creating content
AI can improve existing materials or help you build entirely new content for a variety of uses, including employee onboarding. Try using GenAI to draft a personalized welcome note for a new hire, or to build or refresh your entire onboarding journey. Ask a GenAI platform for recommendations on an ideal onboarding flow, and it will provide prescriptive guidance on everything that should be shared in the days before the employee starts through their first days, weeks and months. AI can also help craft introductions between team members and translate content for teams in different geographies.
With AI, you can use best practices in onboarding—some you’ve wanted to try but never had time for, and perhaps others you hadn’t considered—and help your company benefit from a more tailored, professionalized onboarding experience.
3. Boost retention with personalized learning paths
Continuous learning is of critical importance to employees. People want to join organizations where they can better themselves. Companies know this, which is why 90% of organizations say learning opportunities are their top retention strategy. To that end, you can use AI to curate tailored learning and development paths for employees.
AI can help you build tailored learning paths that align individual growth with company goals. Try prompting a GenAI platform with a specific question like, “What content is ideal for a person in [role] on [team] at [company name]? This person has [X] years of experience. Include courses, conferences, and trainings that align with this employee’s goal of [insert employee career goal].”You can add additional parameters like learning format (for example, self-paced, interactive, etc.) or a request for industry-specific content.
4. Analyze data to address issues as they come up
AI can offer insight into your company’s culture by analyzing data and showing areas where engagement, inclusivity, or team connectivity might need a boost—so you can address potential issues before they escalate.
For instance, survey data over time might show a particular team’s engagement rate is dropping quarter-over-quarter. By identifying burnout in a particular team earlier on, leaders can take action like redistributing workload or encouraging employees to take PTO.
Try this prompt while including anonymized survey data: “Can you analyze the below employee feedback to spot common themes in sentiment, collaboration patterns, and any signs of burnout or engagement challenges in [specific teams]?”
5. Streamline and accelerate your recruitment process
More than two-thirds of talent professionals say AI will play a major role in talent strategies next year. Yet, 40% are cautious about AI compromising the human side of recruitment, and 25% worry that AI introduces an increased risk of bias.
Initial screening of resumes and ranking candidates might be best completed with human oversight for now, but there are many aspects of the recruitment process where AI can remove manual tasks and cut down on overall time to hire. Try using AI to write job descriptions with a prompt that encourages a diverse candidate pool, and research chatbots that can handle initial questions from candidates, inform candidates about the process, and schedule interviews.
6. Synthesize meetings to keep everyone on the same page
It’s no small feat that AI can now attend every meeting and synthesize conversations. That means you can spend more time being present for your conversations as a strategic leader, and less on taking notes.
AI notetakers can be especially helpful for HR pros who frequently collaborate with managers, employees, and external stakeholders. Keep everyone in the loop on process and action items, and reduce your administrative load.
7. Answer employee FAQs
Some HR teams constantly field questions about payroll, benefits and days off. These teams can use AI tools to address questions in real-time, allowing employees to get the support they need without requiring HR and the employee to be online at the same time.
It’s a win-win: employees enjoy a smoother experience, and HR can focus on strategic work that moves the needle for the business.
8. Simplify complex policies so employees can better understand them.
Bring your complicated policy phrasings and legalese and ask a GenAI platform for more accessible language that your employees can easily understand. You can also ask for a summary of a policy with key points so employees don’t have to dig through content to get the most important information.
Try something like, “Here’s my company’s time off policy. Could you streamline it with an emphasis on simplicity and clarity? I want to call out the following areas [areas of specific importance.]
9. Improve performance management and feedback systems
For many, the performance feedback loop is broken. The process is time consuming, and reviews aren’t easy to write. For managers, sharing feedback to both high and low performers is difficult. There’s a general lack of clarity around the process and how to best conduct a review.
AI can level-up the entire performance review process, making it more specific, actionable and professional, whether you’re an employee conducting a self-review or a manager giving constructive feedback.
Wisq, an AI platform for enterprise HR that automates and augments time-consuming and costly HR activities, can help with that and many of the other use cases described above (without all the privacy and security risks from general purpose AI tools). Learn more about the use cases Wisq can address here.
Conclusion: How to Get Started with AI in HR
There are so many potential applications for AI in the life of a human resources professional. This list is just the beginning.
HR teams can automate tasks, personalize communications, and gain valuable insights to improve workforce planning and employee engagement. As AI continues to evolve, HR professionals can lead their company’s AI initiatives, using the technology to drive efficiency, foster a more engaged and productive workforce, and support their business’s objectives.
