A New Employee Experience In A World Of AI
In today’s competitive labor market, offering an exceptional employee experience is no longer optional. It’s a business imperative. As nearly 83% of HR leaders report challenges finding talent with the right skills (Gartner), organizations must rethink how they attract, engage, and retain people.
The stakes are high: voluntary turnover costs businesses at least $1 trillion annually (Gallup), with low engagement costing even more. And, as the pace of technological change accelerates, employees expect more tailored, consumer-like experiences.
Delivering on these expectations requires a smarter, more connected approach – one that uses the power of AI to personalize and optimize every stage of the employee journey.
1. Personalization from “Day One”
The employee experience doesn’t start with onboarding – the whole experience of recruitment comes first, of course – but it’s still a critical place to make a good impression.
By analyzing someone’s skills, interests, and role requirements, AI can deliver tailored onboarding plans that set employees up for success – boosting productivity, and making employees feel valued from day one.
- Customized Learning Paths: AI recommends training modules based on an employee’s specific role and future goals.
- Mentorship Matching: AI identifies potential mentors whose expertise aligns with a new hire’s aspirations.
- Automated Support: AI-powered chatbots address common onboarding questions, freeing up HR teams to focus on strategic work.
2. AI-Powered Career Pathing & Mobility
One of the biggest drivers of employee retention is the ability to visualize a future within the organization. AI helps employees (or even candidates considering your organization!) identify career paths they might not have considered, showing how their current skills align with adjacent roles and what they need to learn to advance.
AI-powered talent marketplace platforms can connect employees with internal job opportunities tailored to their skills and interests, or targeted training programs that align personal goals with organizational needs.
“We are connecting skills to roles, skills to people, and leveraging HR tech to help open doors… elevating where the employee comes into the conversation about how they even think about themselves and what they might want to pursue.” – Ash Walvoord, Associate Vice President of Talent Management, Verizon
3. Enhancing Manager-Employee Relationships
AI can empower managers with insights to strengthen relationships with their teams. By surfacing data on individual skills, aspirations, and performance trends, managers can provide more tailored support. Stronger relationships between managers and employees improve satisfaction, engagement, and productivity.
In a new era of AI, where we go beyond simply surfacing information to enhancing how we work, we might see AI recommend conversation topics or development plans based on employee data, proactively nudging managers within the day-to-day tools they use.
With real-time insights into team engagement and performance, and in a world where 51% of employees are looking at job boards (Gartner), managers can make timely interventions to boost engagement and reduce churn.
4. Continuous Engagement Through Real-Time Feedback
89% of workers surveyed by Deloitte said that being happier and more satisfied at work would allow them to be more productive.
AI tools can analyze engagement data from surveys, sentiment analysis, and productivity trends to provide actionable insights in real time – allowing organizations to act proactively, maintaining a positive employee experience throughout the journey.
5. AI for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I)
AI plays a crucial role in reducing bias and creating fair, equitable experiences for all employees. This fosters a sense of belonging and ensures every employee has the opportunity to thrive.
When it evaluates talent based on skills, not demographic data, AI can reduce bias and improve diversity in recruitment, mobility, performance and promotion. Ensure you work with a vendor who can explain any recommendations made by their AI – transparency is key across every use case.
AI can also uncover gaps in leadership or workforce diversity and provide actionable insights to address them.
Data Foundations: The Key to Personalization
The foundation of a personalized employee experience is clean, dynamic skills data. AI is helpless without good data, but AI can also help organizations collect, standardize, and analyze this data .... creating a unified language of skills across systems, teams and the talent lifecycle.
- Skills-Based Job Descriptions: Break down roles into specific skills and tasks.
- Skills-Based Profiles: Identify and infer adjacent skills and analyse development needs.
- Skills Mapping: Quickly match people to opportunities based on known and potential skills.
- Skills Ecosystem: Connect skills data across HR platforms to create a seamless employee experience.
“Skills intelligence is an evolution of core HR data. We see skills as the next layer of maturity in our talent acquisition function, driving the evolution of how we identify and attract talent.” – Art Lokerson, HR Product Management Director – Talent Acquisition, Wells Fargo