HR Bulletin Volume 148

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IIM ROHTAK P re s e n ts humane.r@iimrohtak.ac.in HUMANE-R CLUB HR BULLETIN VOLUME 148

WillAI transform HR Into IRA?

There is frenzied and growing speculation on the unimaginable benefits and cataclysmic dangers AI can bring. What can HR do to harness and develop this Promethean power for the benefit of organisations and their people?

"[I]n the future all the important decisions governing the lives of humans will be made by machines or humans whose intelligence is augmented by machines. When? Many think this will take place within their lifetimes."1

A decade has elapsed since James Barrat wrote those chilling words. Since then, Artificial Intelligence has made phenomenal progress and concerns about its calamitous consequences have been getting more dire by the day – their pessimism proportional to the proficiency of the predicting expert. Few (outside the ostrich species) now doubt that the unguarded arrival of superintelligence will be less than catastrophic for the human race " [T]he first superintelligence [to] shape the future of Earth-originating life, could easily have nonanthropomorphic final goals, and would likely have instrumental reasons to pursue open-ended resource acquisition [T]he outcome could

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Fortunately, the task of this column is not to imagine post-superintelligence HRM One imagines there will be no such need or, if one arises, pointers will be available from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s grim novel.3 We shall limit our examination to the pre-superintelligence period when floods of AI applications will continue creeping into corporate portals, their ingress unmoderated, bar some perfunctory financial analysis of ROI and the predilections of the business or functional leader whose domain provides the landing ground for the new nostrums. By all accounts, the entry of AI is likely to disrupt the way we do business even more than the previous three industrial revolutions. According to Klaus Schwab: "The first industrial revolution spanned from about 1760 to around 1840 [I]t ushered in mechanical production The second industrial revolution, which started in the late 19th century and into the early 20th century, made mass production possible The third industrial revolution began in the 1960s It is usually called the computer or digital revolution [T]oday we are at the beginning of a fourth industrial revolution It is characterised by a much more ubiquitous and mobile internet, by smaller and more powerful sensors that have become cheaper, and by artificial intelligence and machine learning "4 HR has very good reasons for missing the first and second industrial revolutions: the discipline didn’t exist when they took place. HR missed midwifing the third revolution, not because it was absent from the organisation but because it was not allowed a seat at the table where strategic decisions were being taken. Those days are long past, or so we’d like to believe in HR. Proving it will require us to be obstetricians for the fourth industrial revolution – the one that brings Artificial Intelligence in its wake. That change will be so transformational that we should consider renaming HR itself. If HR is to champion all intelligence adding value to the organisation, it should call itself Intelligent Resource Assets (IRA). The older established siblings would be IRA-N (Natural) while the new AI kid on the block would be called IRA-C (Created) This column will be about IRA-Cs and how they can be integrated safely and productively with IRA-Ns This is not about using AI in HR but how HR (IRA) should manage this new category of productive asset Many of the ideas here may appear outlandish However, even if every one of the suggestions in this column proves to be impractical, its purpose will have been served if it starts a dialogue leading HR to rapidly build its competencies in the choice, introduction and controlled use of AI What would be unacceptable would be for HR to wait for events to happen and be edged out of influencing the most significant transformation business faces. There can be many approaches to managing IRA-Cs. We shall focus here on three aspects that need the most urgent attention from HR:

• Preparing forAI, including selection and onboarding.

• Productivity ofAI and the management of ideas and emotions in its deployment.

• Partnership between people and AI, including the challenges of teaching and supervising these entities. A few readers may object that my descriptors are misleadingly anthropomorphic. I believe my usage is more easily understood by my audience which, when I checked last, was predominantly human

Preparation

Assuming HR (aka IRA) maintains its place at the top table, it must first demonstrate its beneficial presence in the choice of IRA-Cs Readers of this column will be well aware of my distaste for technologies (like automation) or processes (such as contractualisation) which endanger durable employment 5 Hence, it should come as no surprise that the prime choice criterion proposed is for IRA-Cs to be capability and quality extending rather than substituting IRA-Ns (unless it is for distasteful jobs that are impossible to redesign). There will remain a very real possibility that capability extension will be swamped by people substitution over a period of time but that should not prevent HR from putting up a relentless fight against the latter. In any case, the entire problem of technological unemployment will require new economic thinking that will be the subject of a subsequent column. Since sophisticated IRA-Cs will be custom-built (or at least custom-configured) their specifications should be governed and limited by the kind of principles set out by Stuart Russell " … as a guide to AI researchers and developers in thinking about how to create beneficial AI systems "Bostrom provides us with another approach to making IRA-Cs safer He classifies AI into " four types or 'castes' – oracles, genies, sovereigns, and tools An oracle is a question-answering system A genie is a command-executing system A sovereign is a system that has an open-ended mandate to operate in the world in pursuit of broad and possibly very long-range objectives [A tool] simply does what it is programmed to do [With various caveats it appears] the oracle caste is obviously

Read more at : https://www.peoplematters.in/article/technology/will-aitransform-hr-into-ira-38035

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Is burnout a problem that just won't go away?

Nearly 4 in 10 professionals report rising burnout highlighting the need for essential work breaks to restore energy and focus, reveals new research from Robert Half

Burnout remains an ongoing and challenging issue in the workplace, reveals new research from global talent solutions and business consulting firm Robert Half. According to a survey of over 2,400 professionals in the US, 38 per cent of respondents reported experiencing higher levels of burnout compared to a year ago. The study identified the following top factors contributing to burnout among workers today:

• Heavy workloads: A staggering 56 per cent of respondents cited heavy workloads as a significant contributor to burnout.

• Lack of communication and support from management: 32 per cent of professionals highlighted the lack of communication and support from their managers as a leading cause of burnout

• Insufficient tools and resources: 27 per cent of respondents reported that insufficient tools and resources to perform effectively contribute to burnout

The groups experiencing the highest levels of burnout are:

• Individuals belonging to the millennial generation (between the age of 27 and 42 years)

• Working parents who juggle professional and family responsibilities

• Employees who have been working at their current company for a period of 2 to 4 years.

Combating burnout culture

The research indicates that there is a need for greater efforts in fostering a healthy workplace culture. Nearly four in 10 professionals (37 per cent) feel hesitant to discuss their feelings of burnout with their boss. Further, one in five…

Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/employee-engagement/isburnout-a-problem-that-just-wont-go-away-38052

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Is remote work good for your career?

Majority of Indian employees view remote work as hindrance to pay rises, bonuses, and promotions, finds Unispace study

A significant majority of Indian employees (81 per cent) believe that remote work hinders their career prospects, including opportunities for pay raises, bonuses, and promotions, reveals a new study by Unispace. This sentiment was echoed by employers, with a staggering 96 per cent indicating that career limitations exist for those who are not physically present in the workplace. Furthermore, the study revealed that Indian workers show a stronger preference for office-based work with 92 per cent of employees expecting to be in the office for at least four days a week in the near future, surpassing the global average.

According to the findings of the 'Returning for Good' report by Unispace Global Workplace Insights a lack of access to an office space is the main driver of job changes in India in the past two years. More than a quarter (28 per cent) of Indian workers have switched companies in the past two years due to a lack of access to office space in their previous employment The study compiled data from a comprehensive survey involving 9,500 employees and 6,650 business leaders across 17 countries, including 500 employees and 500 senior decision makers from companies with over 50 employees in India The survey also delves into the impact of the hybrid work model on India's workforce 27 per cent of Indian employees consider their affinity for the office as a top reason for staying with their current employer, underscoring the significance they place on the physical workspace.

Interestingly, Indian employees demonstrate a higher willingness compared to their global counterparts to accept a pay reduction in exchange for the option to work from home. Nearly a third of respondents (31 per cent) have already taken a pay cut, almost double the global average of 16 per cent…

Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/employee-engagement/isremote-work-good-for-your-career-38048

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