I wanted to share with our readers an interesting blog post by Winning Workplaces titled Could Artificial Intelligence Replace Human Intuition in Assessing Unsatisfied Employees?
Like everyone, I'm a huge fan of using technology to simplify my life and make more informed business decisions. CRM's are a great example. Since we switched to SalesForce.com managing customer and prospect relations has improved dramatically. In fact, I'd like to think that our own product HRmarketer.com has helped simplified the lives of marketing departments in the human capital marketplace and allowed them to make better marketing decisions.
But can technology, specifically artificial intelligence, help employers measure employee engagement and/or predict which of their employees are most likely to quit?
That is exactly what Google is reportably now doing with a new algorithm that will help them calculate which of their employees are most likely to quit.
As the blog referenced above points out, this may be useful for large employers who have to track the engagement of thousands of employees where HR departments are "strapped keeping track of everyone's needs and trying to satisfy them".
But in smaller firms the author of the blog Winning Workplaces suggests that this is the responsibility of management where "leadership and HR are better equipped to know not only if people are not satisfied, but if they're going to bail". He writes:
"I think that small and midsize businesses can save money and have a pulse on their workplace cultures by continuing the proven, decidedly 20th century practices of MBWA (managing by walking around), having an open door policy, and continually seeking ways to solicit and benefit from employee feedback."
But why can't large businesses do the same, without the use of artificial intelligence by using their existing talent management platforms and/or by using affordable surveys and assessments already available by a host of leadership development firms? I think they can.
And HR's role?
Ultimately, measuring employee engagement and performance is the responsibility of managers regardless of company size. Only a manager can effectively monitor the engagement of their direct reports on a day-to-day basis. Technology certainly can and does play a role. At it's core, HR is a "people" department and regardless of the size of the organization HR can and should equip their managers with the tools to help them identify engagement - not necessarily do the job entirely by themselves.
And there are plenty of these tools available already.
And as the author of the blog referenced above suggests, "maybe Google will enter this space if it wanted to go into that as a new business model :-)Labels: artificial intelligence, employee engagement, Employee Loyalty