The future of work is now as employers adapt to AI-driven technology. Examine what happens when AI meets HR with this Workforce Newsroom Spotlight.
Mercer’s Jess Von Bank joins ADP’s Ted Kopta and Naomi Lariviere to discuss how HCM data paired with AI insights are unlocking new possibilities.
For more, visit ADP.com/AI
Transcript:
Ted Kopta:
Hello. I'm Ted Kopta in the Workforce Newsroom. Today we're talking about the power of AI and human resources. Joining me are global leader, HR, technology and transformation practice at Mercer Jess Von Bank and chief product owner, vice president of product management at ADP, Naomi Lariviere. Thank you both for joining us.
Naomi, the excitement around AI has hit a fever pitch. Can you help us level set for how organizations are approaching it today, specifically from an HR point of view?
Naomi Lariviere:
We're still in this, you know, investing and experimenting stage. So, across the broad spectrum, whether you're small or large sized organization, you know, whether, like for a small business, what they might be looking at is, you know, what are the off the shelf tools that I can use.
And, in AI that actually helps them do their job. Whereas the large organizations, you know, they're the ones that are investing in the actual tech talent and bring them in to their organization, and they're focusing on more custom solutions, but they're also wanting to co-innovate with a lot of the players. So what you're seeing in the space is different levels of experimentation and adaptation to the technology.
Ted:
Jess, I know you spend a lot of time in your role at Mercer thinking about the future. Where do you see things going next?
Jess Von Bank:
Well, I love that Naomi just used the word adaptation and not adoption. Unfortunately, we mix the two up a lot when it comes to technology. And I am seeing the same shift from awareness and excitement.
But the more exciting questions come in actually changing how we do work and how we think about talent models and what work we should be doing. And sort of, you know, getting rid of what no longer serves us and designing for the future workforce and for the future enterprise, which is an intelligent enterprise.
Ted:
So, as fast as general innovation is happening, this really does feel like a long game. Where do you see this going? Naomi?
Naomi:
It really should be, you know, a very thoughtful and curated understanding of how employees are actually working and where I can influence what the work that they are doing.
As you know, you think through the long run, it's not going to be the quick wins. it's going to be the really thoughtful curation of experiences.
Ted:
Jess, you're advising business leaders all the time. How are you advising that they integrate AI?
Jess:
It does start with a general level of understanding and education around what it is and what it isn't, so that you know what you're working with, which is a big toolbox, really. And it's changing so fast. It's changing every day. So just as soon as you feel like you have a handle on things, there's a new model released. There are new risks to be considered.
Then we've got regulation coming at us. So, do I stop and wait and figure out the regulations? No, you don't stop. You consider and you mitigate risks in a with proper governance. And you develop some innovation structures around this so that you can experiment safely so you can find, you know, sort of the highest impact, lowest risk. There's a lot of high impact you can have early on where the risks aren't as high, where you can start building value and reporting outcomes, and you can find traction, and then you keep going around the business and looking for additional stakeholders and use cases where you can have impact.
Ted:
Naomi, as a technology leader, how can organizations keep humans in the loop when it comes to AI?
Naomi:
Yeah. So this technology, you know, I just said it's changing all the time. And so we have to really be, thinking through how can this technology earn people's trust? If you think about chatbots, about, you know, five, six years ago, you know, most of the time people didn't use it because it didn't give you a good answer.
So now as people are rolling out this technology, what we're trying to do is actually get them to go. Yes, it's a reliable answer and it's going to give me the information I need. But until you use it over and over again, that's when you start to feel comfortable. So we have spent a lot of time with any of the technology that we've been deploying.
Ensuring that whether it's a subject matter expert here at ADP or it's actually the client, they always have that opportunity to go, do I want to use it or, you know, yes, I agree with this information. And it can go back to my employees or the managers of the organization.
Ted:
Jess, where do you see the greatest opportunity for organizations to tap into the potential of generative AI?
Jess:
To simplify this conversation, I like to give AI a little bit of a persona. Just like we talk about the workforce. Who do you have? What key jobs do they perform? How do they work? Give AI a persona for a second.
And I think one of the you know, we've already seen this with Gen AI. The first persona it wears really well is as a knowledge partner. It literally helps produce knowledge more efficiently than we could get at, you know, think about organizational knowledge Depending on how you design it, how you integrate it into workflows and experiences, it can really easily become, more of a strategy and creator partner. By producing insights, by helping me think through critical thinking scenarios, scenario planning, so it can play a more strategic role.
And so think about all the places you would embed that type of support almost as an assistant. Everybody has an analyst now. Everybody has a supporting analyst sitting on their desktop open in a tab if you create it that way, if you design it that way. So what roles what things do we do every day that could be better supported with that type of analyst at our fingertips?
Ted:
The persona based approach makes a lot of sense. Design thinking is really a core principle at ADP. It's definitely how we approach things.
All right. Last question for both of you. What excites you the most about the future of HR right now? Jess do you want to go first?
Jess:
Oh, I would love to. So when I think about the people function of business, HR, by the way, is the only C-level title with human in its title. So let's remember that for a second. You're the only C-suite executive with human in your title. Now insert AI into each of those conversations. How can we better connect people and their purpose to the work and impact they do and that they have? How can we make them feel safe and cared for? How can we personalize and humanize everything to do with the experience of work? Literally, Gen AI is exciting because it does a better job of content and knowledge management and data like it's a wizard at those things.
AI is good at personalization. Like every experience I have should be personalized. You should know me. You should sense what I need and want to do. Next, you should prompt and suggest and nudge and complete. Think about how human transactions become. They're no longer transactions, their interactions and their experiences. And they're like, that's the part that I get most excited about.
I mean, it sounds very altruistic, but that's how we should be thinking. I think we're sort of the new guardians of the workforce experience, and we have the best tools we've ever had at our fingertips to deliver on it.
Naomi:
Yeah, I agree with everything you said there, Jess. There's a lot of, you know, times in my career where people have come to us and said, hey, we want this. But, you know, the technology didn't always match. So now we actually have the tools and capabilities to actually go, oh, you want you want that?
We can give it to you.
We're making them smarter by how they understand and those nudges and insights that they're getting. And to Jess’s point, you're bringing home more human connectivity with our workers.
Ted:
Well, it's definitely very exciting time to be in HR. I'd like to thank you both for being here with us today. This has been a great conversation. For more insights, head to ADP.com/AI.
