There’s ongoing debate over the impact of artificial intelligence on diversity initiatives. For HR leaders, it is mostly concern over whether AI will inadvertently add bias to the hiring process or other aspects of HR policy. There are two key issues to consider here – How to minimize the risk of bias in your process and how to leverage the technology to strengthen your DEI initiatives across the organization. The bottom line is that the AI technology leveraged in the right stage of HR processes, can be an advantage if the right guidelines are established.
Minimizing the Risk of Bias in the Hiring Process
There is no doubt that AI technology can develop bias based on behaviors and input over time. We have seen this happen across the headlines this past year as various industry leaders have tried and failed to leverage AI to drive innovation and growth. There have also been a number of lawsuits stemming from organizations allowing AI to make hiring decisions or establish which candidates would move forward in the process etc… First, the key to the hiring process is your Recruiter. Just because AI could, in theory, replace every aspect of the hiring process, doesn’t mean that it should. Decision making, candidate selection, compensation negotiation, defaulting to the technology for hiring decisions, ensure human interaction at key stages of the process, and use the AI tools to drive productivity and efficiency rather than to replace an actual recruiter.
At its core, AI is an enablement tool. Where we are seeing the best application of this enablement is in areas to drive productivity and efficiency. Within the hiring process, the most time consuming steps are the sourcing and screening of candidates prior to selection. It is these two components of the hiring process where AI can add the most value and reduce the most inefficiencies. Leveraging artificial intelligence to scan vast amounts of data, scrape professional networks, and quickly tap into a targeted list of candidates immediately frees up a recruiter to spend their time on more strategic conversations that will facilitate the hiring process. Once identified, an AI recruiter can provide a consistent 1st interview experience that allows for the screening of an exponentially larger pool of candidates than any one recruiter could screen on their own over the course of a few hours or days.
As long as the AI technology is used to target and screen candidates without providing input into the selection process, it achieves maximum visibility for the largest number of candidates possible, providing a more robust and potentially diverse pool of candidates to be considered for a given opportunity. From there, the Recruiter can select those screened candidates that have the greatest hiring potential. This approach to technically enabled recruitment provides additional protection against candidate bias by increasing the number of screened candidates that are considered for the role.
Strengthen Your DEI Initiatives with Artificial Intelligence
When integrated properly into DEI strategies, it can help identify, measure, and monitor diversity trends, provide alerts for any emerging bias, and better enable rewards, recognition, and transparency within organizations. By analyzing vast datasets, AI can uncover patterns and trends that might otherwise go unnoticed, shedding light on areas where diversity and inclusion efforts need to be amplified or need to be addressed.
In addition, AI has the capacity to personalize experiences in ways that were previously unimaginable. From adaptive learning platforms to tailored career development programs, AI can empower individuals from diverse backgrounds to thrive in the workplace by providing tailored support and opportunities for growth.
Obviously, AI technology providers have to continue to be proactive about biases within algorithms and data sets, constantly refining and reevaluating the approach to ensure fairness and equity. Transparency and accountability are key.
