Will AI remove the 'people' from people analytics?

Right now, you could be forgiven for thinking that human resources professionals – particularly those working in data and people analytics – only seem to talking about one thing: how their lives are/could/will be impacted by AI

“I was at a CPO event only last night, where this was the number one topic of conversation,” says Lindsay Gallard, Chief People Officer at cloud-based security firm, Six Degrees. Says Dr Aaron Taylor, Head of HRM at Arden University: “I was only very recently talking to two HR VPs about this exact subject.” He continues: “It’s very much of the moment.”

And let’s just say there are two very different camps developing in terms of people’s opinions of it.

“The fact each VP I spoke to took a polar opposite position to the other neatly reveals the current diversity of thought around AI infiltrating people analytics,” continues Taylor. “While one was incredibly positive about the power of bots to do basic people analytics tasks; the other, working at a huge international business, admitted they’d just invested heavily in it – almost because they felt they had to – but they were still skeptical, confused and unclear about what it could accomplish.” He continues: “Can AI do stuff better? In certain cases yes. But there’s deep suspicion of it too from data professionals – key amongst which is the fear it will replace them.”

Change is unsettling

While the spectre of AI replacing people’s jobs is often dismissed by those that say AI will create more roles that it replaces – there is no hiding from the fact that those working in people analytics – people who interrogate data for a living – feel the undertaker’s wind more keenly than most. So what should they be – frightened or actually grateful that there’s something that could actually elevate what they do? Perhaps it’s time to go back to Gallard:

“We’ve definitely started looking into all things HR-systems and data related,” he says. “And although we’re a long way off being a leader in this, we’ve certainly started using AI to start improving data accuracy, to automate repetitive tasks, and generate real-time reporting. We’re using it for trend analysis, for things like wellbeing – and linking it to engagement scores and turnover – which is great for our managers.”

He continues: “But what we’re not yet there with, is introducing more unstructured data – such as exit interviews. Tools we’re starting to use do record meetings, and this picks up on sentiment analysis, so I’m excited to see how we can apply this to our people data.”

So what does this spell for those in data? Gallard says: “As a profession, I think we do need to rapidly up-skill ourselves in our use of data, and while AI probably isn’t a panacea just yet, I think there’s interesting times ahead – around how we can apply pay-gap data to rates of promotion, for example. Our ability to use data to create inclusive atmospheres for employees is really within reach.”

Although Gallard also says the use of AI in analytics still needs to be treated with caution (he says he worries that new entrants into people analytics will not know their craft if AI is too dominant, too quickly) – he is clearly very much on the advocate’s side of the pendulum, and suggests that others need to transition to this too – to a ‘how AI can help HR’ rather than AI is threatens analytics’ camp.

“We all know there is a general uneasiness about it, and this is shown by our own research,” says Sheila Attwood, Senior Content Manager, Data and HR Insights at Brightmine.

“We found 72% of organisations we surveyed revealed HR needs up-skilling in data analytics, but at the same time, there was a marked lack of tech adoption that can bring about this, with just 3.6% organisations saying they’ve formally adopted AI in their HR functions.” She continues: “My own sense is that there is so much more AI can do – without it impacting the role of people analytics – but people analytics folks don’t know it yet.”