82% of businesses are already using AI. That may not be news to you! However, do you know what the biggest AI use case is in a corporate setting?
You might be thinking it’s probably some kind of cost-cutting, or maybe automating human tasks. Prepare to be surprised! It’s true, there’s a lot of fear that AI is a workplace rival and even threatens your job security. While some tasks are being replaced or augmented by AI, in reality, AI can be a valuable ally. In fact, when used correctly and efficiently, artificial intelligence could enhance employee satisfaction (and productivity, too!).
How to use AI to boost employee engagement
Okay, so if you’ve been online recently, you probably know that AI is proven to be useful when it comes to increasing productivity and efficacy, but, could it also be used to build workspaces that are healthier, more cohesive and growth-friendly? Could we be using AI in employee engagement?
The short answer is, unsurprisingly, yes!
There’s a lot to unpack for this proposed synergy, because artificial intelligence and employee engagement are closer than you’d think.
1. Employee support
Say an employee has a question. It might even be a simple question, but they get stuck in a loop of chats and redirects and unanswered emails, like a horrible game of telephone tag. What if they could ask an AI-powered chatbot or virtual assistant? AI that’s specifically trained on your company data and info isn’t as unapproachable as you’d think. These tools could help with frequently asked questions and provide on-demand guidance, alleviating employee questions sooner and with confidence. In fact, AI can also take care of a bunch of those tedious and repetitive administrative tasks for your employees, freeing them up for more important work.
And we’re just getting started – keep scrolling!
2. Sentiment mapping
One of the important things that differentiates AI from basic automation is a kind of ‘intuition’. Every time AI interacts with your team, be it via chat box, virtual assistant, quizzes, or forms, it can also map out their change in tone, brevity or detail of answers, moods, and more. This helps your HR get deep real-time insights on how the employee is feeling, and this valuable input can then be used to alleviate their pain points.
Once you identify the area where employees feel disconnected, you can formulate strategies to promote their growth.
3. Personalized learning and development
Because it’s pretty good at sentiment mapping and monitoring, AI can also help you assess your employees. Sure, there are your standard performance assessments, but however, you can also use broader assessments that take into account an employee’s interests, talents, and improvement areas. This is where AI can help! It’s probably not a great idea to ask ChatGPT to perform your employee evaluations for you just yet, but you can use AI tools (especially HR ones) to help organize your thoughts, collect info, and design surveys.
You can use these outcomes to have AI also recommend personalized direction and training modules to help your employees on their individual goals, which aids career pathing within the organization. This has a whole host of benefits, like higher retention and higher employee satisfaction.
4. Onboarding
The employee experience starts well before the employee becomes an employee, and the onboarding stage is certainly a huge part! So, if you want to use AI in employee engagement, don’t skip the onboarding process. (Psst: we would also say that AI plays an important role in all HR processes for the foreseeable future…like recruiting)
For starters, AI can help make the communication seamless between the new employee, the onboarding buddy, and the HR contact involved. You can also have AI assist with automating documentation, sending out check lists, and updating them in real time, making onboarding super transparent for everyone involved.
5. Personalized communication and collaboration
AI can be used to create templated responses for standard queries and to expedite queries that are new, as well as send out reminders and task updates. AI can also become an important tool for projects that require multiple stakeholders and impeccable coordination. Everyone gets accessible visibility of the project and status when you utilize a smart tool to help you stay on track.
The best part? AI allows each user to customize what they need!
6. Automation
Saving the best for the last? Well…maybe second last. Perhaps the most obvious entry on the list, automation might be what AI is best known for. By removing a bunch of time-consuming tasks via automated commands, you can directly increase employee productivity and encourage them to take on bigger challenges with the support they need.
7. Predictive analytics
Attrition is, unfortunately, a recurring problem. 3 out of 10 employees are not happy where they work and looking to switch companies. Employers are (hopefully) ready to use every tool and technology available to ensure that employees are heard, understood, and prioritized. AI could help you do that better!
Need help identifying when your employees are unhappy? To directly measure employee engagement, artificial intelligence can be used to conduct regular surveys and feedback solicitation, which shall help your HR come to an engagement score. Once you identify their pain points, you can counter the problem by offering them the support or the guidance they need.
Using AI in the workplace
Now that you know what artificial intelligence can mean for employee engagement, how do we up the game? We start with the best AI tools for the job.
Some of our recommendations include:
- Udemy Business, Adonify for personalized learning and development modules
- FlexOS AI Icebreaker Generator, Leapsome for effortless collaboration
- 15Five and Culture Amp for performance management
These are just a few ways you could incorporate AI in employee engagement strategies. Businesses that care for their employees are often also the businesses that last volatile times and market fluctuations. Top-talent wants to work with top-employers, so why not use the power of AI to attract the best?
Want to see what this looks like? Check out our recap of Rao Surapaneni’s seminar on Transforming today's workplace: AI at work.
AI is the future as well as the present, however, as is with everything that man made, artificial intelligence also requires a little human touch from time to time.
When we use AI in employee engagement, we should be using these tools to make the process easier for our employees. And hey, we know that the learning curve feels steep. Need help making that transition? We’ve got you! Check out PTF services for employee engagement.
