Preparing for an AI-powered workplace

Artificial Intelligence.

Or “AI”, for those of us who like to throw another acronym into the mix. There’s been a stack of press coverage of this in recent months.  In preparation for the International HR Forum session about AI in the workplace, I thought I would stop being a luddite, live a bit, and give Chat GPT a go and ask “it” how to structure the forthcoming session. Blow me down, it came up with a page worth of goodness, which could basically be summarised as:

  • Start with a captivating opening that creates curiosity and engagement.

  • Define AI, to ensure participants are on the same page with the basic concept.

  • Highlight the potentially revolutionary impact of AI in various walks of working life.

  • Discuss current real-world AI applications.

  • Address the benefits and challenges of AI.

  • Outline the session agenda, learning objectives and desired outcomes.

  • At the end, summarise the main points and conclude with a call to action.


Not bad, huh?


But it’s still, well, artificial, so thank goodness we had the rather amazing Benoit Hardy-Vallée along to add a human element to the discussion. 


As MD of the Digital HR practice at Accenture, and as the force behind the Abrupt Future podcast which covers future of work topics, Benoit has built up a strong reputation in this field.


He facilitated what turned out to be a lively session on practical applications for AI in the HR field, strategies organisations should adopt as they consider the potential use of AI-powered solutions, and the change management implications relating to the adoption of AI.


First off, Benoit started with a working definition of AI and a run-through of the key historical milestones. 


Benoit stressed the need to put the employee experience at the centre of any AI innovation, make “moments that matter”. This could embrace the breadth of the employee lifecycle, by using AI to (for example):

  • Match candidates to opportunities.

  • Automate a lot of the onboarding tasks.

  • Provide proactive rewards.

  • Identify potential career paths.

  • Personalise learning tracks and deliver these via Learning Experience Platforms.

  • Exploring new methods of development, such as avatar-based virtual reality training.

  • Create an internal talent marketplace. 

  • Deliver routine HR services through chatbots, etc.


Naturally there are challenges associated with the adoption of AI, cost, the lack of in-house knowledge and expertise, the availability or quality of data on which to base key decisions, concerns around bias, privacy and security issues, and the potential impact any adoption may have on the culture of the organisation. 


Benoit outlined a 10-point plan to maximise the success of any AI deployment:

  1. Identify and understand the needs.

  2. Define clear objectives.

  3. Research and learn.

  4. Involve all the right stakeholders.

  5. Choose the right tech.

  6. Partner with the right vendor, who will manage the heavy lifting.

  7. Pilot before you implement.

  8. Train your people.

  9. Monitor and evaluate.

  10. Continuously review and improve.


Benoit’s top tips were to be clear on where you are now and where you need to get to, to assess whether AI is actually part of any solution, keeping the business goals in mind, prioritising the needs of individuals, ensure that there is rich data, allocating sufficient resources to any project, and to have an eye to ethics all the way along.


Within the context of global organisations, there was rich discussion around a number of areas, including:

  • The potential impact of any legislation or regulation on a country-by-country basis.

  • Protecting company-confidential information (IP, personal data, etc) on open AI platforms.

  • Being clear on the biases that need guarding against. 


I’ll leave you with a call-to-action that Peter Cheese, CEO of the CIPD, made in his editorial of the latest People Management mag: 

“Now is the time for HR practitioners to learn more about the power of AI and to engage in the debate about how it gets used in organisations, understanding the risks and helping to ensure fairness and benefit to all.”


Couldn’t have put it better myself, and what better way to start doing this than having Benoit’s insights?


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