Ways Human Resource Chatbots Can Improve
Your HR Operational Efficiency
When it comes to improving customer interactions, many business owners are recognizing the importance of chatbots. These AI for contact centers can handle the tasks usually taken care of by customer service representatives and answer many of the queries customers have.
However, chatbots aren’t only limited to customer-serving platforms. Through the use of website and app technologies, business owners are now using chatbots for many other purposes, including tasks related to HR operational efficiency.
What Is An HR Chatbot?
Think of an HR chatbot as a virtual assistant. It can handle conversations that take place between your HR team and other employees and answer questions that come from prospective hires.
Chatbots can be used on any of your conversational interfaces, such as your website, apps, and messaging applications like Whatsapp. With the ability to streamline tasks related to employee queries, candidate screening, and employee onboarding, they make the life of your HR team much easier.
This leaves them with more time to focus on their other duties, which is good for them and good for the overall running of your business too.
By now, you will understand the usefulness of this type of HR automation, but let's go into a little more detail on how chatbots can benefit the efficiency of your team.
#1: Chatbots Streamline Routine HR Processes
As we mentioned, chatbots can streamline many of the tasks related to your HR department. These include routine processes that take up much of your employees' time. Chatbots can schedule interviews, deal with queries, gain feedback from candidates and employees, and more besides.
Such tasks ordinarily require a lot of time and effort from your HR team, but if you implement an easy-to-use automation platform, their jobs become a lot easier thanks to the chatbots aiding them in their work.
#2: Chatbots Answer Questions at Lighting Speed
As knowledgeable as your HR team is, it’s important to remember they’re human. When candidates or employees raise a query, the staff in your team are unlikely to know every answer from memory.
They’ll need to check contracts, policies, and other relevant pieces of text to gain the info they need, which can be time-intensive and laborious. The situation becomes more complicated when they have numerous requests to deal with.
HR chatbots can process several questions at once at lightning speed. They can also retrieve the information they need automatically. In this regard, they’re more efficient than their human counterparts, although there might still be a need to transfer to an agent for more complicated questions.
#3: Chatbots Are Always Available
HR teams don't have the ability to always be on-call. Other than occasional periods of overtime, you can't expect them to work longer than is normal. This creates problems for employees who need support after hours. It can also be inconvenient for new hires needing urgent advice during the onboarding process.
This is why chatbots are so useful. If you’ve uploaded your FAQs onto your automation platform, your chatbots can handle any queries thrown at them after your business has shut for the day.
As a result, those people needing help out of work hours don't have to wait until the next morning to get answers. Your HR team won't be bombarded with a high number of emails at the start of their working day either.
#4: Chatbots Ensure Better Quality Applicants
During the hiring process, your HR team spends a lot of time wading through application forms and resumes sent by applicants. This is essential when shortlisting but can take up a lot of time.
With the implementation of chatbots, the lives of your hiring team can be made much easier. Chatbots can communicate with potential candidates at an early stage and ask them questions before they start the process. They can then determine who is and isn't right for the vacancies available and alert interested parties before their application.
Chatbots can also direct potential applicants to the right jobs in your career portal, ensuring they only apply to the roles they’re qualified for. As a consequence, your HR team will have fewer - but better quality - applications to deal with.
#5: Chatbots Collect Real-Time Analytics
Chatbots do more than answer employee and candidate questions. They can also collect real-time analytics that can be used by your HR team.
Chatbots can compile data based on the issues your employees are having, for example, giving your HR team the information needed to solve any problems.
Because chatbots can compile this sort of data, your HR team doesn't need to spend as much time manually collecting feedback.
#6: Chatbots Are Less Likely To Make Mistakes
Human beings get tired but chatbots don't. Provided a customer interactions tester has been used during the development process, your chatbots should work efficiently. So, unlike your human employees - who are prone to making errors when tired - they should always function at an optimal level.
This means they will be less likely to make mistakes during HR processes and will continue to work hard for you no matter the time of day or night, with no drop in speed or efficiency.
#7: Chatbots Support Remote Working
Remote work solutions can positively affect the quality of work-life as there is scope for an improved work-life balance and fewer instances of workplace stress. Chatbots accommodate this, as employees don't have to be on-site to gain access to their HR department.
For your employees, this means they can get the information they need from chatbots rather than your HR team. For your HR team, this means they can work with fewer interruptions during the day as there will be fewer knocks at the door when they’re working.
Final Word
The more you can do to improve HR operational efficiency, the better, for the sake of your HR team and the people who rely on them. As we’ve discussed, one way to do this is to implement chatbots into your business.
These have many uses, not least the ability to automate tasks your team considers time-consuming and laborious.
So, if your HR team is currently stretched and in need of extra help, chatbots might be the cost-effective way to support both them and the people who rely on their services.
Bio: Jenna Bunnell
Jenna Bunnell is the Senior Manager for Content Marketing at Dialpad, an AI-incorporated cloud-hosted enterprise voip phone system that provides valuable call details for business owners and sales representatives. She is driven and passionate about communicating a brand’s design sensibility and visualizing how content can be presented in creative and comprehensive ways. Check out her LinkedIn profile.