By Maggie Mancini
HR is rapidly investing in AI as the technology continues to reshape the way people work. Research from Boston Consulting Group finds that 70% of skills are being disrupted by AI. Some jobs focus on skills that are 90% disrupted, such as marketing managers and copyright editors. This has created the most momentous workplace skilling opportunity in a generation, says Julie Bedard, managing director and partner at BCG.
AI is creating tremendous change in job expectations, and thus the skills needed to be successful. While efforts have been underway to use AI to bridge the skills gap, the number of use cases appears to be growing, Bedard says.
HR leaders have leveraged AI to predict which skills—and which jobs—will be disrupted based on job descriptions; to create employee profiles to infer existing skills within their workforce; identify the employees who are prepared for upskilling; and analyze work behaviors that lead to more confident AI adoption.
Additionally, AI can help HR leaders understand which skills gaps are impacting business operations and craft personalized learning journeys for employees based on their learning preferences.
AI-driven sourcing plays an essential role in uncovering overlooked candidates and accelerating hiring for critical roles, Bedard says. For example, AI can screen for critical role requirements quickly across a wider set of candidates, removing the human-only volume restriction on screening and allowing firms to open vacancies to a broader pool of candidates.
"AI can help make connections across related skills that might not be apparent in a human-based view, inferring skill transferability and sizing upskilling to identify new categories of profiles to consider," Bedard adds.
Because of its ability to screen across large numbers of candidates, AI can keep a wide talent pool engaged even before hiring starts. This makes it easier for the right candidate to make it into the process by the time the organization has an active requisition, she explains.
"Like any use of AI, caution is warranted when it comes to something as important as selecting which candidates enter your recruiting funnel," she says. "Leading companies are constantly guiding their use of AI and providing guidelines on how AI is used in their processes with both users and candidates."
The introduction of AI into BCG's hiring process began with the knowledge that the organization needed to embed transparency and accountability into any introduction of AI into the talent selection process, Bedard says. Two years into this initiative, the company is leveraging an AI-driven talent intelligence platform that has improved the recruiting experience for candidates and recruiters.
Research from Boston Consulting Group finds that 70% of skills are being disrupted by AI.
"Skills-based talent management strategies have been heralded for their promise over the last five years, while on-the-ground results have been more mixed," Bedard says. "Recently, we've heard from many companies who are looking for a change management strategy to complement their skills strategy because of lack of proper uptake after infrastructure investments."
For HR leaders looking to leverage AI as part of a broader shift to a skills-based hiring strategy, Bedard suggests the following.
Focus intently on business strategy and anchor on real business problems that need to be solved. Figure out the top two or three talent issues of key business leaders and determine how hiring for skills can fix those challenges, Bedard explains. For example, many HR leaders have had success by starting this process focused on key gaps in technology roles.
Account for the pace of change. "Balance the benefits of identifying new skills with the stability that a more constant skill taxonomy provides," she says.
Plan ahead for a clear governance process. Create a common language that both business leaders and HR leaders will use, Bedard adds.
Learn by doing. "Pilot, capture learnings, and use smaller scale experiments to build trust, confidence, and experience within the organization," she says.
"Leading HR leaders are staying nimble and business-relevant with a dynamic understanding of the skills they need and the skills they have," Bedard says. "That means thinking of skills as an evolving framework, not a dictionary you put on the shelf."
Research from BCG finds that 67% of Gen Z and millennial workers will use AI even if it's not authorized by their company. Bedard explains that BCG consistently finds that workers are more advanced in their personal use of AI than their professional or workplace use of AI. Around 35% of the workforce is more advanced in their personal use of AI than in their on-the-job use, and those users tend to trust AI's capabilities and seek a greater impact, she says.
"With this in mind, it's unsurprising that significant 'shadow' use is happening at work, meaning use of AI outside official or approved processes," Bedard explains. "This is true of Gen Z and millennials, as well as younger workers. This often happens when executive teams lag in using and providing AI tools to their employees."
Even when tools are provided, Bedard says, these organizations drop the ball in other ways by failing to appropriately invest in the enablement required to create "AI fluency" and not developing and communicating a framework to guide safe and responsible use. As a result, adoption lags.
"Navigating a world where AI is evermore present, and doing it responsibly, is a new skill that future workers need to have," she says. "HR needs to make sure they are developing a plan to close this and other key skill gaps. Our work shows that critical skill gaps include AI ethics, system design with AI, and orchestration and work review. HR has a role to play in closing those gaps within HR and within the larger enterprise."
HR leaders who are spearheading these efforts within their organizations have recognized that building AI into the business will require workforce transformation, not simply tool adoption, Bedard adds. Specifically, these leaders are:
identifying new skills required to be successful in an AI-driven world;
creating responsible AI policies and employee promises to guide use;
creating strong business cases for investing in AI fluency programs; and
ensuring there are guidelines for workflow transformation that include a human in the loop.
Successful integration of AI into the way that work gets done needs to consider the desired interplay between the human and AI components of the process, Bedard says. "Too many companies are still starting their AI transformations in the technology organization and only pulling in the CHRO when they aren’t getting the expected value from the investment," she says.
While the CTO plays an important role in this process, they should work hand-in-hand with the CHRO because any work transformation needs to consider the skills, understanding, and motivation that employees have to work differently.
"It won't be a one-and-done change," Bedard adds. "Investing in the human side of the human-AI equation, and building adaptability and learning agility into our workforce, will be an essential skill for successful transitions to AI-enabled organizations. CHROs have a key role to play as a thought partner across the C-suite to guide the coming evolution."