The Post-AI Workplace
SAP SuccessFactors' new product offers the most comprehensive insight yet into the post-AI workplace & workforce
One of the questions I've been asked most in the last few weeks is: what will AI mean for my role?
Yesterday, SAP SuccessFactors - a multinational company which provides cloud-based software for human capital management - offered us perhaps the clearest and most concrete vision yet of what the post-AI workplace might look like for those who work in medium-to-large sized enterprises.
Today, at its annual SuccessConnect event, SAP’s leadership will share how AI will span its entire product suite, impacting almost every part of the employee experience in order to, “ignite the true potential within the workforce”.
Here’s a sneak peak, from an insider source.
Process Automation for Recruitment
Generative AI will be used to assist people leaders and recruiters in creating job descriptions & sourcing best-fit employees.
Roles Impacted: People Leaders, Recruiters
Post-AI Job Description:
Responsibilities: People leaders and recruiters will shift from drafting to reviewing and refining AI-generated content. Employees will have a more proactive role in their career development.
Tasks: Emphasis on data input and ensuring AI training for better outputs.
Performance Metrics: Quality and relevance of AI-generated content, employee engagement with recommended resources.
Required Knowledge and Skills: Understanding of AI capabilities, ability to refine AI outputs, and familiarity with data-driven decision-making.
AI Copilots
AI copilots which use natural language processing will be used to help people to complete work more quickly and achieve better business outcomes. Copilots have the potential to impact the employee experience by:
Making it easier and faster for employees to find information.
Answering questions.
Completing HR-related tasks such as approving or rejecting time-off requests.
Changing names, locations, or personal pronouns.
(Future functionalities for 2024) Clocking in and out, viewing pay statements, and writing unbiased job descriptions.
Roles Impacted: All Employees, HR Professionals
Post-AI Job Description:
Responsibilities: Employees will rely on AI copilots for routine tasks, allowing them to focus on more complex activities. HR will oversee AI operations.
Tasks: More strategic and less administrative.
Performance Metrics: Speed and accuracy of AI assistance, employee satisfaction.
Required Knowledge and Skills: Familiarity with AI interfaces, ability to train and refine AI outputs.
AI-Powered Talent Intelligence
AI will be used to empower learning and talent development teams to:
Create a skills portfolio for each employee.
Infer skills & attributes based on data from performance feedback and dynamic teams.
Allow employees to build and store data about themselves, including aspirations, motivations, styles, and preferences.
Enable managers to view, add, and update skills and other attribute types for their direct reports.
Provide organisations with visibility into skills coverage and gaps across teams for future workforce planning.
Create an org-wide skills framework that uses AI to categorise, track, and analyse employee skills and competencies.
Roles Impacted: Learning & Development Professionals, Managers, HR
Post-AI Job Description:
Responsibilities: Managers will have a more active role in updating and validating employee skills. HR strategists will use data for workforce planning.
Tasks: Emphasis on data validation and strategic planning.
Performance Metrics: Accuracy of skills data, alignment with workforce needs & training design.
Required Knowledge and Skills: Data analysis, understanding of AI capabilities, strategic planning.
Saliency Maps
Saliency Maps use AI to pinpoint where our attention is directed when we engage with online content. In the context of HR and learning, this technology will be used to understand user engagement with digital learning platforms or other HR tools in more detail thane ever before.
Roles Impacted: Learning & Development Professionals, HR
Post-AI Job Description:
Responsibilities: Use of saliency maps to refine learning content and tools.
Tasks: Content optimisation based on visual engagement data.
Performance Metrics: User engagement levels, content effectiveness.
Required Knowledge and Skills: Interpretation of saliency maps, content creation and refinement.
Skills Maps
AI will be used to categorise, track and analyse employee skills and competencies. This will enable orgs to build a clear idea of pockets of talent and areas in need of focus, providing HR, L&D professionals & managers with the opportunity to take a data-driven approach to talent development and capability building.
Roles Impacted: HR Analysts, Managers, Learning & Development Professionals
Post-AI Job Description:
Responsibilities: Overseeing AI-driven skills tracking, refining categorizations.
Tasks: Data validation, strategic use of skills data.
Performance Metrics: Accuracy and relevance of skills data.
Required Knowledge and Skills: Understanding of AI-driven skills frameworks, data analysis.
Key Take Aways for the Workplace & Workforce
Based on the changes and trends we’re already starting to see, here are some principles for assessing how the workforce might be impacted by AI:
Shift from Creation to Review & Refinement: Jobs that previously required manual input or creation, such as drafting job descriptions, will shift towards reviewing and refining AI-generated content.
Emphasis on Data: As AI relies heavily on data, there will be an increased emphasis on data input, validation and ensuring AI training for better outputs.
Enhanced Employee Experience: AI will be used to make routine, structured tasks, such as finding information or doing admin, easier and faster for employees.
Strategic Over Administrative: With AI handling routine tasks, employees can focus more on strategic activities rather than administrative ones.
AI as a Basic Skill: There will be a new focus on building AI capabilities, ensuring the workforce can source data using AI, refine outputs generated by AI & make data-driven decisions based on AI.
L&D & HR Revolution: There will be a new focus on building AI capabilities, ensuring the workforce can source data for AI, refine AI outputs and make data-driven decisions. AI will empower HR and L&D leads by providing insights into skills, attributes, and other employee-related data. This will aid in strategic planning and workforce optimisation.
As AI continues to permeate more and more areas of the employee experience, from recruitment to performance management, it's clear that the integration of AI is not just about automation, but about enhancing and optimising the human elements of work.
This is the future we're stepping into and, if we want it to be, it's a future where AI and human potential combine to ignite new possibilities.
Happy innovating!
Phil 👋
PS: If you lead or work as part of an L&D team and want to stay ahead of the AI curve, you can apply to take part in the pilot (or just sign up to learn more about it) here.
PPS: If you design learning experiences and want to get hands on and experiment with AI supported by me, you can apply for a place on an upcoming cohort of my AI-Powered Learning Science Bootcamp here.