Jackson Hogg: Balancing technology with the human touch

ChatGPT. Copilot. Gemini. Claude.

Short words. And shorthand.

Just like searching the internet has become intuitively prefixed by the Google neologism, so too has the harnessing of artificial intelligence’s power taken on a verb-like quality.

In business, where efficiency provides a foundation stone for evolution, the platform names have quickly become widely accepted parlance for productivity.

Throughout boardrooms and across shopfloors, technology is becoming an ever more defining priority in process and performance.

From customer service support to marketing messaging, workflow management and more, artificial intelligence is rooted in the routine.

It is also increasingly trusted to oversee HR functions and manage recruitment campaigns, with the latter led by pre-programmed systems that scrutinise CVs and, in increasing numbers of cases, vet prospective employees during the interview process.

But the shift, says Lauren Bathan, associate director – HR Partnership at specialist recruitment and outsourced HR services firm Jackson Hogg, leaves many businesses risking becoming lost in translation.

The phraseology may be fresher, and the algorithms might be ever-advancing, but much of the language around recruitment and HR remains fundamentally the same: the human factor remains crucial to operations.

“We can’t pretend artificial intelligence won’t have an impact on our chosen career path, or the path of our employers,” says Lauren, who oversees Newcastle, Billingham and Leeds-based Jackson Hogg’s HR Partnership provision, which delivers tailored support to catalyse clients’ growth, nurture talent streams and empower positive cultures.

She says: “Businesses run on data, and if artificial intelligence tools can better compile and adopt that data, then HR departments should be open to its use.

“Administrative tasks like handling documents, where content is largely static, could be supported by an artificial intelligence programme, particularly those where time is of the essence – like drafting and issuing offers of employment.

“People expect an efficient and modern interface, but these could perhaps include a function that allows for the addition of a personal message, to deliver a human touch to the machine-led function.

“Companies could also use technology to create a digital version of their employee handbook.

“This would allow users to ask routine employment questions and receive a natural language response, much the same as asking their HR representative, but on matters that require information, rather than advice, for example, procedural and administrative steps to take following an absence.

“All of this would free up HR time for the real value-adding stuff.

“But businesses are also places where emotions play a significant part in day-to-day operations.

“Artificial intelligence is a machine, but employees aren’t – technology isn’t able to identify and understand if a member of staff isn’t feeling themselves in the same way their human boss would.”

“There is an underlying need for empathy and human connection in the workplace, and that is where a HR department – and the people in its team – comes into its own,” says Lauren, who has helped numerous Jackson Hogg clients across the science, manufacturing, engineering and technology sectors strengthen HR frameworks.

She adds: “Artificial intelligence presents a unique opportunity for the profession.

“We’re seeing some sceptics, some trailblazers and some who see this as disruption manifested.

“But there is also a lot to be said about getting the basics right, which principally include retaining good employee relations.

“If a business wants to strip everything back to be very efficient, is that going to suit operations, or might it erode some of their values?

“People have a psychological contract with their employer; many don’t expect their relationship to be outsourced to an avatar.

“People want – and expect – to deal with people.

“Is an artificial intelligence avatar going to sit down and listen to an employee’s grievance or chair a disciplinary hearing?

“Could an artificial intelligence avatar deliver equity, diversity and inclusion training?

“Employees, ultimately, are customers too, and businesses should treat them as such when thinking about bringing in new tools aimed at delivering greater efficiency.

“Because when people feel good, they do good work – and businesses are better places for that.”

Similarly, when organisations are rolling out recruitment plans, Lauren says they must do so with a nuanced approach, wherein artificial intelligence supports a venture, rather than explicitly leads the process.

Prioritising the latter, she says, risks removing important context from decision-making and raises potential for roles to become increasingly boxed by rigid boundaries and defined by keyword-led searches.

She says: “Artificial intelligence is seen by many companies as a way to boost efficiency.

“But the opposite argument is that using an avatar to interview someone, for example, risks creating a false economy because it doesn’t capture the nuance or human judgement that people bring to the process.

“It also risks sending a damaging message about where humans in a business are willing to spend their time, if they’re not choosing new staff.

“Furthermore, we know from research that the people who code the artificial intelligence tools used to sift CVs and interview people still tend to be tech-focused people, rather than HR experts.

“If we are using systems without knowing the formula or settings in the background, that creates concerns over unconscious bias – there needs to be transparency in seeing the working out.

“Recruitment consultants, like HR departments, are crucial pieces in the employment puzzle and the nuance that comes with designing a job.

“Artificial intelligence is, as the name suggests, artificial; it doesn’t have personality, and the logic and emotion of a human still best draws out whether a person is a suitable candidate for a job.”

And such personal insight, says Lauren, will remain the bedrock of Jackson Hogg’s provision, which she says will continue to deliver understanding, discretion and empathy across the recruitment and HR process.

She adds: “We’re real people that create long-term relationships with clients and candidates.

“And that is crucial for businesses because people are still an organisation’s competitive advantage – why surrender that prerogative and influence to a machine?

“Recruitment and HR are still best delivered by people for people, and our people will continue to drive this business – and the many client relationships we have – forward.

“The human in human resources will always remain our competitive advantage.”

 

Jackson Hogg

To find out more about Jackson Hogg and its suite of specialist recruitment and outsourced talent services support – including its HR Partnerships – visit www.jacksonhogg.com.

LinkedIn: Jackson Hogg