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Employers are turning to AI tools to boost retention and address skills gaps
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AI’s role in workforce management: Artificial intelligence is emerging as a powerful tool for employers to assess worker skills, plan for future needs, and train staff, potentially boosting both corporate productivity and employee career prospects.

  • Johnson & Johnson uses an AI-driven process called “skills inference” to assess and plan across its workforce, enabling insights that would not be possible manually.
  • DHL employs AI in its “career marketplace” to match employee skills with open positions, directing staff to appropriate training and supporting managers in filling vacancies.
  • These AI applications are proving particularly useful as business needs evolve rapidly, allowing organizations to quickly identify and create training materials for new skills.

How AI assesses skills: Companies are leveraging various data sources and AI models to evaluate employee skills and proficiency levels.

  • Many organizations infer skills using data generated from across the company, including job titles, work activities, technology usage, and supervisor reports.
  • Johnson & Johnson developed a company-specific skills taxonomy with 41 “future-ready” skills and trained AI to identify where these skills existed in the organization based on workers’ experience and roles.
  • AI models are trained on data from workforce management systems to assess skills on a proficiency scale, typically ranging from zero (no skill detected) to five (thought leadership).

AI-enhanced training and development: Artificial intelligence is also being used to improve training programs and provide personalized feedback to employees.

  • Bank of America utilizes AI simulations to allow employees to practice difficult conversations, such as discussing sensitive issues with clients, in a safe environment.
  • AI-powered training enables managers to identify areas where staff are improving quickly or struggling, helping to focus educational efforts more effectively.
  • The technology can tailor learning recommendations, suggesting courses that employees should take to further their careers within the company.

Benefits of AI in workforce management: The implementation of AI in skills assessment and training offers several advantages for both employers and employees.

  • AI automation allows companies to assess a broader range of skills, potentially with greater accuracy than existing approaches.
  • The technology can provide employees with insights into how their skills compare to job requirements and guide them on how to reach desired proficiency levels.
  • AI-driven internal hiring, as implemented by DHL, can be less expensive and quicker than external recruitment, while also increasing the likelihood of finding candidates who are a good fit for the organization.

Limitations and challenges: Despite its potential, AI in workforce management is not without limitations and requires careful implementation.

  • The accuracy of AI skills assessments depends heavily on the quality and completeness of the data used to train the models.
  • Human input remains crucial for these systems to work effectively, as employees may need to update and correct their digital footprints to ensure accurate assessments.
  • Nimmi Patel of Tech UK advises that high-stakes evaluation and growth decisions should remain under human supervision, suggesting a hybrid approach.

Best practices for implementation: Organizations using AI for workforce management are adopting certain practices to maximize benefits and address potential shortcomings.

  • Johnson & Johnson allows staff to edit their skills history and add information not automatically captured in data sets, ensuring the AI has comprehensive information to work with.
  • Both J&J and DHL make participation in AI-driven skills assessments optional for employees.
  • Companies stress that AI assessments are not used for day-to-day performance management but rather for understanding the overall skills landscape and guiding learning focus.

Looking ahead: Balancing potential and caution: As AI continues to evolve in the realm of workforce management, organizations must carefully navigate its implementation.

  • While the technology shows tremendous promise in streamlining skills assessment and training, it’s crucial to recognize its current limitations and the ongoing need for human oversight.
  • The future of AI in workforce management will likely involve refining algorithms to better understand nuances in individual growth and development trajectories.
  • As these systems become more sophisticated, striking the right balance between leveraging AI’s capabilities and maintaining human judgment in critical decisions will be key to successful integration in the workplace.
Employers look to AI tools to plug skills gap and retain staff

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