HR: Why the human touch matters even more in the age of AI

Being a human-centric, but very much technologically inclined HR service provider, here is why we think your company will not be able to do without a human touch in its HR matters:

HR is, above all, a human experience

Even aided by AI, there is no replacing the human touch in human resources. Humans are social creatures by nature, always seeking each other out.

Besides, there is no substitute for a friendly face on an employee’s first day of work. There is no technology that could ever tell a newcomer to look out for a squeaky office chair or explain to them the very specific ways in which the coffee machine works.

Even more importantly, there is no replacement for the relief you feel when your HR contact person picks up the phone and you can finally explain the issue you are facing in detail – knowing that, by the end of that call, you will have a solution fully tailored to your very specific needs.

The human touch beyond borders

There is perhaps no situation better suited to show the importance of the human touch than the international HR scene.

In a foreign country, all the rules change. This applies to both local legislation and far less easily defined local customs and informal practices. The human touch is crucial to success during expansion efforts, as employees need to feel heard and understood. Who better to do that than a local expert who can pick up on the subtleties and particularities of the culture – and help you, in turn, to gracefully navigate them?

During expansion projects, good intercultural communication and understanding equals to far greater chances of success. And so far, AI cannot do that.

Lack of emotional intelligence  

AI shows a distinct lack of empathy and emotional intelligence.

It is easy enough to make rational decisions, to choose between a “Yes” and a “No”. But anything that requires more greyness, that goes beyond a black-and-white sense of logic is deeply problematic for AI.

That is because, as it is, AI has no EQ.

In matters of HR, emotional intelligence is particularly important to defuse emotionally-charged situations, to make employees feel heard and understood, and to instill a vital sense of belonging and community – the very one that keeps employees loyal to the company and lowers turnover rates.

Lack of fairness

New generative AI is trained on large data sets found all across the internet. As such, AI picks up on the biases and discriminatory behavior found in its original data sets. When put to use, AI then expresses these very same biases.

Sexist biases

Consider this example provided by UNESCO:

When searching for the term “school girl”, it is very likely that you will come across a page of ladies and girls dressed in various highly sexualised outfits. Surprisingly, the majority of the results for “school boy” will be of regular, young school boys. Almost no men, if any, wear sexualised outfits.

Now, imagine this kind of bias in a hiring context, or even within your company’s work environment.

Racist and discriminatory biases

The Washington Post reported that during a research project, researchers requested specially trained robots to examine blocks with people’s faces on them, after which a “criminal” would be chosen and placed in a box. The robots would regularly pick the block with a Black man’s face.

 The robots also repeatedly selected blocks with women and people of colour in response to terms like “homemaker” and “janitor”.

These types of biases can set your company back by decades and undo all the progress your company has made when it comes to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.