Chat bots ! Can they replace HR ?
So much has been written,said and heard about chat bots that the topic has almost started to bore me now . However if you dig deeper and study the types of bots out there you have to appluad the genious thought behind it .
First of all the idea is great second of all its what the world demands. When I talk about the world among the group that I normally deal with on a daily basis is employees(They should be renamed employeezillas..but any how )…
What are bots ? The dictionary definition is as follows
A computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, especially over the Internet.
So basically to cut the long story short they are so form a a robot who has pre recorded answers to probable set of questions. When a user types a question -this program searches for the answer in its preloaded question bank and throws up an answer . Simplest example of this — Siri .
Famous HR bots
DRAFTED — This bot tracks Facebook , linked in / other social website usage of employees and gives them personalized suggestions on who they can use as referral in their organisations (Yes bots a sneaky as hell!)
ARI -The recruitment Bot . This bot sends out job openings to prospective joiners, collects their information and schedules interviews . So that the recruiter can focus on making the best hire for the job .Other bots doing the same functions are Jobo and Gobe.
Saberr — This is an interesting one . This bot checks the cultural fit of a potential hire by first collating information on the existing team members and then comparing that with the details collected from the potential hire . This helps in eliminating potential hires which may be technically genius however may be a misfit to the current team setting .
Captain Feedback — The biggest task on any Hr’s hands is to collect feedback . The more you collect the better you know whats going wrong or whats going right and can be encouraged. This bot helps in doing exactly that however there is a slight difference. What Hr’s normally do is to collect feedback at a particular time of the year (mostly year end) and by the time the feedback is analysed and presented to the people who matter its already time for the next yearly feedback . Captain Feedback collects feedback all year round though a structured thread of questions to get meaningful recommendations .The method used is informal chat at any time of the day or month .
OBIEE-This bot helps by collating data from the team and then throws up regular suggestions on the training's’ they can do, the videos or articles they can read by sharing links .
After reading the above you might ask — why is the HR needed then . I would rather deal with this than have a dumb HR person up my thought at all times . If you were thinking just that — hold your horses my friend .
Why Bots cant’s replace HR ?
- Lack of Human touch — Bots are programs not people. They work on logic and not feelings.They can’t gauge emotions of the speaker unless the user specifically uses a few words or a particular style of writing.They can give answers to the questions asked but they will not shy away from calling a spade a spade even if that makes them comes across as direct and close to rude(lets not forget -they are literally heartless)
2. Yet to get there — Even though the world has seen very advanced bots however there is still a long way to go in them being able to replace humans . If the language of the question asked is even slightly different from that listed in their question bank you have to draw a blank from them. Eg — Try asking Siri — who’s your daddy ?( Yes i am wicked)
3. HR is beyond answering queries — Even though most employees feel that the only reason why HR is paid is to answer their basic queries they are wrong . HR is part of many strategic decision making instances that bots cant contribute to.
Takeaway
Bots can definitely help in creating a better employee experience however they cant be left to do that alone. The onus will ultimately lie on the HR’S shoulders to do that . So to answer the question can bots replace HR ? Maybe not but I definitely see them working side by side in the workplace of the future .
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