Promoting Better Business Practices And Addressing Bias In HR With AI

New HR Tech maximizes blind recruiting, onboarding, offboarding, engagement, retention, and more

Bias is prevalent in everyone, varying in severity depending on individual interests and personal backgrounds. A biased AI system can negatively affect people because it can discriminate against certain groups, perpetuate and reinforce harmful stereotypes, and compromise individuals' privacy, all of which can be done unconsciously. Isaac E. Dixon, Associate Vice President of Human Resources at Portland State University, explained that unconscious bias occurs when a stranger makes assumptions about someone's character, intelligence, or capabilities based on how they look, speak, or behave. This is especially concerning in the HR industry as those professionals are responsible for judging candidates based on specific information from a resume rather than their superficial appearance or personality.
 

Artificial Intelligence has existed for some time, but its recent technological advancements have made its capabilities have a revolutionary impact across industries. It enables task automation, garners data analytics and insights, leverages NLP technology, provides image and speech recognition, and powers cybersecurity and human resources (HR) management. Many of these features are used to manage and optimize HR systems and are changing how HR professionals approach their tasks. It has helped mitigate issues of bias within this industry, but if not used correctly, it can be weaponized to enact unfair bias. Using this technology accurately and appropriately is important to reap its many benefits and ensure it isn't being used in a discriminatory manner.

Blind Recruiting

AI can help companies find the right talent by analyzing resumes and matching them with job descriptions. To help avoid some bias, AI can anonymize resumes by removing personally identifiable information, such as names and addresses. It ensures that the initial screening is based solely on skills and qualifications, minimizing unconscious bias.

Additionally, AI algorithms identify diverse sources for candidate recruitment by broadening the pool of applicants. Organizations increase the chances of hiring a more diverse workforce.

Employee Onboarding & Offboarding

An AI-driven onboarding platform will guide new hires through the process, easing some of the stress and complications found in traditional onboarding settings. It walks the new hire through the necessary forms, introduces them to company policies, and even sets up initial training sessions. AI can recommend personalized training and development programs based on individual skills and career aspirations. AI can recommend specific training courses, webinars, or workshops. It ensures equal opportunities for professional growth for all employees.

Similarly, when an employee leaves the company, AI can manage exit surveys, return of company property, and other offboarding procedures, ensuring a seamless transition for both parties. This consistent service ensures that all employees are addressed similarly to avoid potential or unconscious bias.

Employee Engagement & Retention

AI can predict factors contributing to employee turnover. It identifies potential issues so HR can proactively improve employee engagement and retention. AI-powered survey tools can automate the gauging of employee sentiment. It automates a short engagement survey that asks for honest and anonymous feedback that AI will then analyze. HR professionals can take these insights and improve employee satisfaction and engagement.

AI-Powered Chatbots & Virtual Assistants

AI-powered chatbots become 24/7 assistants that employees can ask about leave policies, benefits, and more. It gives more time to the HR team to focus on strategic tasks, while employees can have their questions and concerns answered quickly, boosting the overall experience for everyone.

Additionally, these chatbots conduct initial interview questions, ask all candidates standardized questions, and ensure equal treatment for all potential applicants.

What is Fair to AI?

While AI can significantly streamline and optimize the process for many organizations and even help mitigate the chances of bias, it comes with its own set of biases originating from humans. AI will only be as good as its human trainers, those tasked with developing AI systems. Researchers at IBM and Microsoft developed and tested a face-analysis service to identify gender by simply looking at photos of people. The results determined that the algorithms were nearly perfect at identifying men with lighter skin but made many errors when analyzing images of dark-skinned women. This example is just one of many that indicate a problem with AI's intelligence—it is only as smart as human bias allows it to be.

Performance Metrics

The AI-based performance appraisal score is being discontinued in many HR departments because it gives a skewed view of how good a potential candidate might be. The metrics have validity problems because they are based on previous data that could be incomplete or include faulty datasets.

Lack of "Big Data"

HR lacks massive structured data sets to perform professional historical checks on employees. It can become challenging as most companies have many employees, so analysis tools are only sometimes useful. AI does not capture a person's true character and abilities.

Conquering AI-Based Bias

AI should be used in a manner where it is doing more good than harm. It can be implemented in HR, which is useful to human employees. Many aspects of the hiring process require a leader who can oversee and monitor AI's performance, as this technology cannot add a human touch to the process. AI cannot employ different perspectives for problems and might not reflect a person's final decision. AI lacks qualitative abilities, like a candidate's perspective and attitude toward the company's missions. It can also reject psychological and emotional traits that affect an employee's work behavior.

A way to actively address the bias found in AI is to ensure a diverse team works to develop AI and program algorithms. Addressing the root of the problem with AI in HR will create more long-term solutions. Integrating DE&I principles into an organization's AI algorithm policies can help deal with the issue.

Companies should promote a culture of AI responsibility and ethics as AI may catch the bias of a trainer. There should be a culture that understands the gravity of their approach to training. When collaborating with AI, the HR department should run regular data checks to ensure that the existing and new data have no biases and are inclusive to benefit everyone.

AI's transformative potential lies in streamlining operations and empowering key workflows and processes through conscientious implementation, constantly wary against biases, and fostering a culture of responsibility and diversity.

Author Bio

Gaurav Sharma is a Director of Operations at Chetu Inc., a world-class software development and support services provider, overseeing Chetu’s Artificial Intelligence and Human Capital Management portfolios. With a proven track record of leading successful teams and projects, Gaurav has driven innovation in many industries for more than a decade. He has established himself as a prominent technology industry leader and an AI development and implementation expert.