What is AI employee onboarding?

AI employee onboarding encompasses a range of different tools which help to streamline and smooth out any HR processes relating to onboarding. AI is usually used to automate repetitive processes such as providing new employees with the right paperwork, instructions, tools and materials to get started during their first few days of work.

The term artificial intelligence encompasses a broad range of different tools and in the case of onboarding, we are looking at how artificial intelligence can be used for:

• Automating the sending out of paperwork;
• Getting chatbots to provide new employees with advice as well as gather feedback;
• Analysing new hire performance;
• Providing learning pathways depending on a new employee’s skill profiles;
• Creating reports on onboarding trends and outcomes.

The benefits of using AI onboarding

According to Indeed’s guide to AI in HR, we found that HR teams have begun to embrace AI in order to make their recruitment processes more competitive in a post-pandemic jobs market. In this next section, we look at some of the key benefits of introducing AI for employee onboarding. Each business can take its own approach to integrating AI with onboarding processes and so outcomes will vary.

AI onboarding can automate repetitive processes

Our guide to the future of work found that each employee usually spends about 14 hours on manual processes a week. With the help of AI, businesses can automate 90% of these workload, freeing up time for employees to work on more urgent tasks, especially those that require interpersonal interaction. As onboarding is mostly repetitive, it is likely that businesses will be able to automate much of this process.

Interactive learning for new employees

AI onboarding can be used to provide suitable training and learning courses for employees based on their skills as well as their preferred style of learning and their unique career paths. It can also be used to track the outcomes of this training and provide key insights into their progress. It can also be used to look at the success of onboarding training courses for all employees.

Not only that, AI onboarding can potentially provide real-time accessible data on employee progress. They can make key decisions on the basis of this such as suggesting appropriate onboarding mentors to help employees on specific tasks that they require help with.

Can predict future issues with onboarding

By analysing any pre-existing onboarding data, AI tools can be used to predict future outcomes and challenges to the system. It can be used to provide solutions to weaknesses in a business’s onboarding processes, which can make these processes more efficient.

Challenges of using AI onboarding

While AI onboarding has clear benefits, there may be some potential challenges for employers to consider when integrating it into HR strategy. This next section will explore some of these challenges. As Indeed’s CEO Chris Hyams explains, ‘any technology that affords extraordinary power must also be wielded with extraordinary care’. 

It can’t replace the human element of HR’s onboarding processes

One challenge for AI onboarding is getting the balance right between automating processes and retaining a friendly human face at the front of operations. Employers may do well to welcome and orient their employees in person so they feel a greater in-person connection with their team. By creating human connections, employees may also feel more engaged with their team from day one.

For employees who attend the office in person, consider the balance between automating processes and in-person orientation, training and meetings. However, for remote workers, this may not be an issue and AI onboarding may help to provide what is closer to an authentic onboarding experience. 

Employees may have concerns about data usage

Employers may benefit from considering the security of any employee data that they access, as well as be transparent with their employees about how they choose to use this data – some employees may be resistant to real-time monitoring, for example, or be concerned their data could be leaked.

For this reason, employers may strongly benefit from having security measures in place such as encrypted data storage, multifactor authentication, biometric verification and fraud detection tools to ensure that their employees’ data is not leaked. Also, creating a transparent data policy can help to foster a relationship of trust between new employees and their employers during an essential stage. By ensuring trust, businesses can potentially reduce turnover and keep morale at high levels.

Monitoring discrimination risks

Another challenge for employers is the possibility of AI tools discriminating against new hires on the basis of protected characteristics like gender, age, ethnicity or disability. As AI is trained on existing data, it can pick up any unconscious bias or cultural bias contained in the data itself. Therefore, whether an AI can be discriminatory or not depends on the datasets it has been trained on. When it comes to onboarding, this can become a concern if:

• There is an opportunity for discrimination during the check-in process, such as facial recognition for setting up biometric verification;
• There is a possibility of discrimination during career development evaluations;
• Some text or framing of subjects may use discriminatory or inappropriate language.

While not all AI tools show bias, this is a common issue with tools that are not thoroughly checked before use. Employers may therefore benefit from auditing their tools before using them, as well as being transparent about their commitment to diversity and inclusion during any onboarding, training and decisions around promotion. 

Another solution would be to use AI tools to automate more basic processes such as the sending out of paperwork, and leaving training, development and the more personalised aspects of orientation to the professionals in HR. HR professionals are not exempt from making discriminatory decisions themselves, but it is possible to hold them accountable, as well as to provide inclusivity training.

AI can be a great way of completing basic onboarding tasks such as sending employees the right documentation. This can free up valuable HR time better spent introducing employees to the team and other more urgent tasks. Remember, keeping a human face can be very useful in helping new employees feel included, but businesses can still benefit from many features of onboarding automation.