Remember the fax machine? Life seemed much easier then. It was sandwiched between mail-in resumes and the eventual email attachments. The shiny roll of fax paper is something those familiar with will never get out of their minds. Some of us are still trying to figure out how documents got transported in real-time through a phone line. Today, HR is inundated with artificial intelligence human resource products that promise to take over most tasks in your department.
Does it sound scary? It may be, but AI may be an HR professional’s best friend. HR leaders have an amazing opportunity right now to up their AI game and become experts in this area. Future jobs in all facets of HR will require it, and all good ideas need leaders to implement.
You don’t need to spend a fortune on fancy AI chatbots or new tools to make your workday easier as you begin your AI journey. Tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are right at your fingertips and can help you tackle some of your biggest challenges without an additional line item in your budget.
Here are five fun, practical, and free ways you can use AI right now to make an impact in your department:
1. Develop Unique Stay Interview Questions
Engaging your top performers and understanding what motivates them is critical to retention. This is a perfect use of AI.
Try this: Ask ChatGPT to generate questions tailored to roles or situations. Prompt: “Create five stay interview questions for a senior commercial underwriter who values professional growth.” Try this with ANY job in your organization, and I promise you will be impressed.
2. Write Employee Communication Like a Pro
Communicating with your employees just got easier. AI has you covered for sending messages in your corporate tone to announce anything from a new policy to an employee’s birthday.
Try this: Ask Gemini to draft an email using this prompt, ”Write a fun email announcing a summer team-building event for a remote workforce.” You can then tweak it to fit your style. You can also ask it to create ten emails with ten different ideas. It will do this in seconds.
3. Analyze Employee Survey Results
Did you get an employee engagement survey and want to comb through all the data? AI can help in seconds. You can paste (or upload the results file) to ChatGPT.
Try this: “Analyze these survey responses and identify the top three concerns and top three suggestions employees have for improving workplace culture.” I tried this with an employer post-job fair survey and was amazed at how quickly I was able to take over 60 responses and get fantastic ideas for making these events better.
4. Create Onboarding Materials
Most companies use AI as a tool to help guide them in many situations. This is a good one.
Try this: “Create an onboarding checklist for new remote employees that covers their first week, including IT setup, introductions, and training sessions.” You can also load up your current list and ask AI to tell you what you may be missing.
5. Brainstorm Retention and Engagement Possibilities
AI is your brainstorming buddy. If you need ideas for team-building activities, rewards programs, or even ways to make hybrid work more engaging, AI will generate a list of ideas and suggestions in seconds.
Please try this: “Suggest ten low-cost ways to boost employee engagement in a hybrid workplace.” I am so impressed with some of the suggestions I got that I would have never thought about.
Endless possibilities. AI is free (or low-cost, $20.00 monthly for premium versions), so you don’t need to go through procurement or wait for budget approvals. If you try these prompts, you will understand why AI is a hot topic that is never going away, and how it will give you a tool to improve your job and become an expert!