AI in the workplace: A new take on old challenges

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AI is only as good as the solutions that harness it. At its best, the technology can be a reliable and ethical sidekick that strengthens your organizational culture. Overall, AI should be seen not as a threat but as an opportunity – and it’s one you should take advantage of

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is taking Canadian workplaces by storm. According to Statistics Canada, in the first quarter of 2024, approximately 1 in 7 Canadian businesses were already using (9.3 percent) or had plans to use (4.6 percent) generative AI in their workplace. That number is expected only to rise – and people’s reactions are mixed. But whether you’re hailing it as a revolutionary force for good or concerned that it will take away jobs, it’s clear that AI is here and here to stay. So, how can you leverage its best qualities to give your workforce a competitive edge? The truth is that AI is only as good as the solutions that harness it. At its best, the technology can be a reliable and ethical sidekick that strengthens your organizational culture. Overall, AI should be seen not as a threat but as an opportunity – and it’s one you should take advantage of.

At UKG, our purpose is people. We are on a mission to inspire every organization to become a great place to work through HCM technology built for all. More than 80,000 customers across all sizes, industries, and geographies trust UKG HR, payroll, workforce management, and culture cloud solutions to drive great workplace experiences and make better, more confident people and business decisions. With the world’s largest collection of people data, work data, and culture data combined with rich experience using artificial intelligence in the service of people, we connect culture insights with business outcomes to show what’s possible when organizations invest in their people. To learn more, visit ukg.ca.

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AI use case: conversational assistant

a chatbot accessible by employees at all times, enabling them to ask questions in plain language, find the right info, and get things done quickly

“With this robust, flexible, and evolving data foundation, smart use of AI can put organizations in a better place relative to the long-unattainable goal of uber-optimization”

Rahul Kamdar, UKG

organizations (those with over 1,000 employees) report using AI as part of business operations, and early adopters are leading the way: 35 percent of those already working with AI intend to accelerate its use, increasing investment in the technology. Enterprises have both a pressing need for automation at scale and the rich datasets to feed AI solutions the information required to produce outcomes unique to their workplaces. This makes them ideally situated to leverage the true power of AI. While disruption to the status quo is inevitable, generative AI is expected to fuel employment growth overall as a complement to, not a substitute for, an employee’s role. A large part of that prediction stems from AI’s capacity to fully automate labour-intensive, repetitive tasks that offer low strategic value but consume a lot of time – a common challenge across industries. One example is scheduling. With an AI-driven platform like UKG Pro, built-in algorithms provide organization-wide visibility into available labour resources to generate fiscally appropriate, data-driven schedules based on anticipated customer or patient volumes, employee preferences, and relevant skills, licenses, and certifications.

“By leveraging those numerous data points and providing ways to understand typical scheduling patterns, the system is able to better inform our customers as simply and intuitively as possible about how they can plan for the staff that they have,” says Rahul Kamdar, UKG vice president, product management, adding that one of the perks of AI is that it allows for value-added information. “A GenAI-enabled HCM platform includes capabilities outside of traditional scheduling, such as insights from patterns across the industry, and leveraging data, that are then surfaced into actionable recommendations for supervisors, managers, and leaders.”

Far from being limited to automating mundane day-to-day tasks, generative AI goes beyond enhancing someone’s productivity in current roles. It can also assist with upskilling and cross-skilling, expanding the employee’s opportunities within your organization. Rather than replacing the human element, AI boosts it to new heights, and that benefit is seen at all levels of the workplace. A good example is contextual AI, which offers a wealth of potential when applied to the recruitment process. Above and beyond streamlining the steps involved, it also enriches the exchange between those hiring and the potential hires. Take UKG Bryte, an AI-powered assistant that provides a proactive, personalized, and intuitive experience. It helps guide employees, people managers, and HR leaders by highlighting important insights that support great workplace experiences. In the context of hiring, this powerful tool can, in real time, offer details on the role, essential skills and competencies, and typical candidate experience level. “By providing relevant information in real time, the interviewers are now equipped with timely tips and ideas about what to ask their candidates in an interview,” Kamdar explains. “AI makes a considerable positive impact on every facet of the workplace by providing meaningful insights when they’re needed most.”

fullest, steer away from the one-size-fits-all approach; instead, source solutions that can meet your organization's unique needs. Finding a platform that hits the sweet spot between focusing on specific use cases and delivering holistic views of workforce data is key to success. AI’s power lies in empowerment: It anticipates and provides insights at key moments, giving you what you need to thrive. Though it’s always available regardless of your location or device, it’s never overbearing. Choosing an HCM platform that integrates conversational and contextual AI capabilities addresses these points and can further enrich the employee experience on the ground level.

If we look back to our scheduling example, some employees may be looking for more work and may be able to attend shifts in different locations. They might have a mobile app to indicate those preferences, request shift swaps, or accept shifts on the go, but “a conversational AI assistant makes that even easier,” Kamdar says. “The workers won’t have to navigate through the app to communicate their interests; it will nudge them in the direction they want to go. It becomes an experience where employees are in charge of opportunities aligned with their preferences.” UKG’s approach to AI in the workplace crafts the technology

into a trusted sidekick for employees and managers, delivering solutions that are always there to answer questions, boost efficiencies, and optimize outputs. Understanding that the most effective form of AI companion is one that takes advantage of valuable people data (skills, training, turnover, performance) in addition to traditional work data (absenteeism, overtime, coverage), best-in-class solutions can even leverage complex culture data (sentiment, survey results, messaging). The impact of considering employee sentiment analysis, survey results, benchmarks, and best practices can’t be understated – it paints a much more comprehensive picture of your workforce and its needs and operates as a great equalizer. Even smaller organizations – perhaps especially smaller organizations – benefit from the boost that HCM-focused AI delivers. “AI ensures employees at every level are empowered and have the tools they need to make impactful, data-driven decisions both personally and professionally,” Kamdar says. “With this robust, flexible, and evolving data foundation, smart use of AI can put organizations in a better place relative to the long-unattainable goal of uber-optimization,” he continues. “Organizations that invest in AI and educate their workers today will become the great workplaces of tomorrow.” Want to unleash the power of people-centric AI solutions that are built for better business? Find out more today.

Embracing the future now

Keeping a human-centric approach

Published June 3, 2024

“AI ensures employees at every level are empowered and have the tools that they need to make impactful, data-driven decisions both personally and professionally”

Rahul Kamdar, UKG

Functionality

Compared to dialogue tree-driven chatbots of the past with canned responses, conversational AI can generate dynamic responses based on the specific questions employees ask and the appropriate corporate information.

Advantage

An employee still new to their HR software needs to make a direct deposit change and name a beneficiary. After they ask the conversational assistant, it not only guides them to correct forms but it also walks them through the changes in real time – meaning the request never makes it to a manager or HR.

Example

AI use case: conversational reporting

analysis of vast quantities of data to be repurposed into reports via questions posed in natural language

Functionality

Traditional reporting can take hours of manual data collection, analysis, and trial and error to deliver the correct information in a readable format.

Advantage

A manager looking to compare turnover information quarter by quarter across all retail locations in a certain region can simply ask a chatbot to create a bar graph of this information and be presented with an accurate, viable report in seconds.

Example

New market research found that while AI adoption globally has remained steady at 42 percent since early 2023, the use of AI, specifically within Canadian companies, is accelerating rapidly. Approximately 37 percent of enterprise-scale

In short, AI is a game changer with unprecedented potential to make work life easier for stakeholders throughout an organization – and is powerful enough to put persistent workplace challenges to bed for good. To achieve an engaged, innovative workforce and better decision-making for everyone, AI should be used to connect your employees to your organization’s strategic goals and enable them to perform more purposeful, impactful work. This is where keeping technology human-centric is critical to driving its full potential.

It’s no secret that human capital is the true value of an organization. Hiring, retaining, and empowering your people is the true goal of integrating any technology. While investing in an AI-driven solution is a great first step to keeping your workforce informed and equipped with the tools they need to be effective in an evolving world, it’s important to recognize that not all AI is created equal. To leverage AI to the

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