Hello, HR Chatbots
While many people may have heard of, or experienced chatbots, it’s most commonly been in relation to one or both of the following applications.
The first, is their ability to dramatically improve customer support by being able to answer repetitive queries from multiple users instantly and offering 24/7 availability, thereby freeing up human agents to solve the more complex queries.
The other, is for improving the online searching/shopping user-experience. Chatbots help users find and buy exactly what they’re looking for in no time, through chatting with a virtual agent who asks them a series of relevant questions to find that perfect first-anniversary gift or the best-priced tickets for that getaway.
While these benefits are no-doubt awesome, these smart little virtual agents’ superpowers extend far beyond these more commonly known applications.
One such area is HR.
HR at your fingertips
HR agents are a vital organ in the healthy functioning of any business. From dealing with employee grievances, to performance reviews, employee recruitment and managing the overall welfare of employees, it’s a role that comes with one hefty dose of responsibility. To all HR agents — we take our hats off to you.
And, like many jobs, it has its own unique set of mundane daily tasks, such as repetitive requests and leave applications, that often stand in the way of getting into the thick of larger tasks. But…what if there was a way that these ‘smaller’ yet still very necessary repetitive tasks — that ultimately end up taking up a huge accumulative amount of time — could be largely removed from the daily to-do list and be handled swiftly by another resource that’s always available and never applies for leave?
Aha! Chatbots to the rescue.
HR Chatbots for the win-win
The automation of HR processes allows businesses to streamline and personalise the HR process for both HR agents and employees.
Improved productivity — Improved employee satisfaction
Increased efficiency and productivity resulting from chatbots swooping in and saving the HR team from repetitive daily operational tasks, not only frees them up to work on more ‘higher quality’ tasks, such as strategic work or pressing employee issues but ultimately leads to greater employee satisfaction. And happy employees are generally more productive employees. Now that’s a big win!
Employee queries in a flash
Rather than filling out forms, questionnaires and surveys, chatbots give employees an easy-to-use platform that makes the usually-cumbersome processes of performance reviews, leave applications or logging grievances a whole lot easier through chat. No reaching out to an HR Manager and awaiting a response. You see, chatbots are able to sift through an employee’s specific information in no time, so seeing how many leave days they qualify for, for example, is one super speedy task for a bot.
Chatbots also provide a platform for staff to ask questions or give feedback without worrying about what their colleagues might think of them. Rather than having to sit face-to-face with someone in the Human Resources department, or reach out to a colleague about something that they may feel a little embarrassed to ask, employees can get the answers or information they need from a non-judgemental, always friendly and available chatbot.
Hiring & onboarding
Job applications are often followed by a flood of questions about the job description, company or responsibilities — a pretty time-consuming task for both HR and the applicant. Well-programmed chatbots allow applicants to get their answers immediately via chat. They also allow for pre-interview screening of potential candidates by asking a series of questions and collecting valuable data before the interview even takes place.
In cases, especially where multiple newly-hired employees need to be onboarded, chatbots can take a large chunk of this time-consuming and repetitive task off the HR department’s hands through automation of the onboarding process.
The same goes for employee training, which is often similar/repetitive for staff working in the same department. Automation of the training process again, not only saves time, but gives employees a less-pressured environment to learn and ask questions. ChatbotsChatbtos are also a whole lot more patient than us humans, so can offer help as often and as long as is needed. Chatbots can even be programmed to send modules or refresher courses to specific employees according to their schedules, recognise and reward their training and initiate all sorts of additional creative interactive activities to make training a whole lot more engaging and interesting for employees. Pretty niftyniftly, right?
You’re hired!
Chatbots work hard, quickly, accurately, and never go on leave– what reason is there not to hire a chatbot to join your business’s team?
Want to find out more about how we can build a fully customised chatbot to support your HR team? Reach out to us at chat@feersum.io and let’s chat.
