AI enthusiasts and entrepreneurs discussing the Future of Work with AI
On the 9th of September 2022, NAM hosted two very interesting AI enthusiasts as part of the Technology Crystal Ball series of webinars. Vinay Mahajan, NAM’s President & CEO engaged with Animesh Samuel, CEO of a fast growing AI firm, E42 who graced the occasion the platform for a second time and the Milita Datta, Co-founder of Monami. The ensuing discussion which had a packed audience discussed about how AI is Revolutionizing the Future of Work. While the intention was to restrict to 5 ways how AI is impacting but the conversation starting touching on more areas. Below is a recording of the same.
Organizations today are faced with the challenge of finding people who bring new skills and value addition to the table. Companies want to build their talent pool and, in the process, they are finding new ways to improve internal mobility, providing employees with growth opportunities, setting up training programs, and reducing biases in HR decisions.
However, companies like ‘Light’ are using AI platforms like E42 to revolutionize the future of work. This simple AI platform take in unstructured data in text format and structured data like ERP and CRM, and help in operations like creating process documents, policy manuals, and product manuals. It can also connect using API’s, define workflows, and perform multiple actions to make an organization’s working more efficient. The best thing about using AI platforms like these in workplaces is that it is customizable and easily deployable.
Post COVID-19, the future of work has been rendered unpredictable. Technology is making huge waves in workplaces, across the world. In this article, we’ll be discussing five ways in which AI is revolutionizing the future of work.
- Job Applications: A large pool of applications for any role is thrown away due to the number of applicants competing for the same job. However, platforms like LinkedIn use AI softwares to put a cap on the number of applications they receive. This makes it more efficient for recruiters, who have to sort through hundreds of applications otherwise. At the same time, a recruiter may review 10-20% of the applications they receive in a day and even those can have biases towards applicants from Ivy League campuses, passive candidates from competitors, or employee referrals. While discussing applications, diversity biases should also be considered. AI can look at the skills and competencies of the applicant by crunching the data it receives and give companies the best data to eliminate hiring biases.
- Quality of Hiring: AI uses the data it crunches and screens applicants. By doing so, AI has the power to weed out fake profiles and find particular profiles with web scrapping tools. AI can also send candidates messages on behalf of the company and take a virtual interview to see if what each candidate has written in their resume matches what they answer in the interview, before scheduling a human interview. At the same time, AI can set up platforms along with proctoring mechanisms for candidates to take technical evaluation tests while seeking jobs.
- Employee Experience: Companies can improve their employee experience by engaging with them from the moment they receive their offer acceptance. AI platforms can help with that by sending out CEO videos, compliance training sessions, benefits tutorials, and more. It will not only engage the employees with the company but also allow companies to predict a new employee’s commitment and interest towards them. AI allows organisations to manage their branding through review sites like Glassdoor and send it to new hires to enhance their understanding of the company.
- Quality of Work: What takes humans ages to complete, AI can finish up with ease. AI can be trained to complete mundane jobs quickly, freeing up space for HR to assign people to analytical and creative jobs within the company. Recruiters can also do analytical jobs to understand the nature of the candidate applying for a post instead of going through hundreds of resumes and screen them. Deploying AI platforms is a sign that companies prioritise giving their HR and employees an adequate work-life balance and essentially push humans up the value chain.
- Employee Retention: More than 47 million people resigned in 2021 and one of the biggest reasons for it was that people want better career development opportunities. AI allows companies to capture feedback and feed it into the prediction system to better understand how to retain employees and improve processes like leaves, records of employees, and more. Similarly, AI can be developed to quantify employee progress through methods like mentorships. It provides inputs on how companies can improve skill, communication, and leadership development. It can check on employee well-being efficiently, from time to time and provide confidential reports from them on how the organization can improve, while maintaining anonymity and removing personal biases. Essentially, AI gives companies a 360-degree view of retention strategy and improve the employee’s relationship with the company.
Most of us think of AI to be a fantastical kind of technology that has outer-worldly powers. Our brains conjure up images of robots taking over the world and rendering people jobless. However, current trends prove that AI is already in use all around us, from our search results to the way we shop, and to the way organizations operate. And we are just getting started. Aspiring leaders should ride the wave and use the technology at hand to foster a good working culture for their companies and accelerate their organization’s growth.
