ChatGPT has been hitting the headlines recently showcasing some amazing capabilities. With the ability to write blogs, carry out research, create graphics and provide great entertainment, ChatGPT has the potential to change the world of work. Whilst we're partially nervous of a Terminator Skynet-type situation (we've got Arnie on speed dial!), it's undeniable that ChatGPT has the potential to be a game-changer.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an AI language model developed by OpenAI. It is a pre-trained artificial intelligence model that uses deep learning algorithms to generate human-like text based on prompts. In its purest form, think of it as a chatbot where you can ask any question with the answers being generated by AI.
If you want to have a look at ChatGPT you can sign-up here; https://openai.com/product/gpt-4
How can ChatGPT help HR professionals?
As an AI language model, ChatGPT can offer multiple benefits to human resources professionals and HR departments. In this blog, we will discuss how ChatGPT can assist HR and whether the HR function should be worried about the capabilities of ChatGPT.
Recruitment: ChatGPT can be used to write job descriptions and interview questions. Whilst the system comes up with comprehensive documents it's important that job descriptions, and interview questions, reflect what organisations need, as well as an organisation's values, which requires some human intervention. ChatGPT does, however, give a great framework for HR professionals to work from which can be tweaked and made their own. ChatGPT could also be integrated into the recruitment process to assist with things like CV screening.
Employee Onboarding: ChatGPT can help assist with the employee onboarding process. Once you've spent time and money finding the right candidates to join your organisation, it's incredibly important that they have a seamless onboarding experience and feel secure in starting their new role. ChatGPT can provide relevant information about the company, answering common questions and giving information about its policies and procedures. This can help streamline the onboarding process and ensure that new employees are up to speed quickly.
Employee Engagement and Communication: ChatGPT can assist with employee engagement and communication by creating and managing a chatbot that can answer employee questions, provide information about company benefits, and even offer advice on work-related issues. Potentially, it has the ability to pick up first-line HR queries freeing up teams to focus on more value-added services and activities. It's also really important that any communication with employees is authentic, solely using ChatGPT might leave employees feeling slightly disconnected and some monitoring of any advice given by chatbots would also be required to make sure it's accurate and relevant.
Compliance and Legal Issues: ChatGPT can assist HR teams by providing them with the latest legal and regulatory information, answering questions about policies and procedures, and offering guidance on compliance issues. Whilst ChatGPT definitely isn't a substitute for an employment lawyer, or the experience that comes with being in HR for a considerable period of time, having a resource that can be used for research or when support is needed will most definitely be of benefit to some in the profession. We asked ChatGPT, "What law governs dismissal in the UK?" and it responded with a really comprehensive answer;
"In the UK, the law governing dismissal is primarily governed by the Employment Rights Act 1996. This law sets out the minimum notice period that an employer must give an employee before terminating their employment, as well as the circumstances in which an employer can dismiss an employee fairly.
The law also provides protection against unfair dismissal, which means that an employee can challenge their dismissal if they believe that it was unfair or not carried out in accordance with the law. Additionally, other laws such as the Equality Act 2010 provide protection against discrimination in the workplace, which may be relevant in cases of dismissal.
It's worth noting that employment law in the UK is complex and can be affected by various factors, including the size of the employer and the length of service of the employee. As such, it's advisable to seek legal advice if you are concerned about a dismissal or believe that your rights may have been infringed".
ChatGPT could be used to assist with writing policies and procedures. Again, whilst this could be incredibly useful there's no substitute for years of experience and some of the nuances that go into writing an HR policy that only come from having been there and done it. That said though, ChatGPT definitely has the ability to provide good baseline policies which can be worked on by HR professionals. We'd expect its capability to adapt and create more advanced policies will only grow with time. You can see an example of ChatGPT writing a policy here; https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1816027/chatgpt-write-hr-policy Our advice would definitely be to approach using ChatGPT to write complete HR policies with caution but it definitely has the potential to save time for HR professionals.
Should HR be worried about ChatGPT?
Whilst ChatGPT offers amazing possibilities for the HR profession we don't think it's about to replace HR professionals just yet. It 100% is a brilliant enabling tool and can assist HR professionals but in its current form it's not something that threatens what HR professionals do.
What will be more interesting with time, however, is how ChatGPT influences the way that we work. As an example, where organisations employ people who have roles centred around writing copy, are organisations going to be able to tell if those people have used ChatGPT to carry out their roles and does it even matter if they have? If an individual's role is to get the work done does it matter if that's been achieved using AI and does it matter if AI is used to compile some if not all of the work? Whilst ChatGPT is great at providing information, in some instances it lacks the creative flair which comes from being human and our lived experience. Equally, if departments are continually double-checking to make sure someone isn't using ChatGPT that somehow feels like trust has been eroded in our employees which equally doesn't make for a great situation. Food for thought as whilst ChatGPT is a new entity now, it definitely has the potential to change the way we work.
We can expect ChatGPT to become an increasingly important tool for HR professionals in the years to come with advances in the tool being able to assist with things such as recruitment and interviewing and performance management.
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Disclaimer
All information within the post is provided for guidance only; always seek your own legal advice.
The information with this post was correct at the time of publishing, March 2023 but may be subject to change.