FEATURE : ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE participates in discussions and who is left out . It can also reveal how often employees interact with one another , and whether certain groups are operating in silos . But organic , real-time communications data has not been used to mine for employee sentiment , at least not until Erudit moved to the go-to-market phase early this year .
“ Anonymity is key and has been used time immemorial to oppose power and even topple regimes . Why can ’ t employees use anonymity to their advantage as well ? Anonymous metrics and even conversation topics inform leaders while protecting the identity of workers . It can reduce bias while enriching management decisions ,” said Agenjo .
With the shift to remote and hybrid work setups and with corporate communications moving to the digital world , it ’ s only a matter of time before solutions that can mine this data for actionable insights become the norm .
“ We see the engagement levels of each team change every day . How can an annual survey truly capture this metric ? Not to mention , the biased answers that may arise and the less-than-ideal survey participation rates ,” described Agenjo . “ We could have spent millions filming a new movie , but instead we decided to liberate organizations from internal engagement surveys forever .”
The importance of listening and of anonymity
With voluntary turnover costing U . S . companies one trillion dollars a year and with the recent turnover tsunami , the race to retain talent is even more competitive . Organizations cannot rely on compensation alone and are going to great lengths to improve work culture and employee experience . According to Agenjo , this process starts with understanding the workforce , through listening .
“ Everyone is talking about how employees are important ; how they are the core of the business , but the reality is companies are not listening enough ,” Agenjo shares .
“ Listening is a silent action . It is best performed when you are quiet . If you are asking or posting surveys the whole day , that ’ s not listening , that ’ s interrupting and bothering people . The remote world is a game changer for everyone . As a manager , you have to give up the control that you normally have when you are in the same space and the same room . Management needs to mature and delegate more efficiently . As we give workers more autonomy , the focus should be on creating better tools to listen and understand their needs and motivations ,” he added .
While it ’ s difficult to debate the benefits of getting daily workforce metrics in decision-making and tracking the success of wellbeing programs , the question of privacy pops up . Agenjo stresses that Erudit is against surveillance and that spying on employees is bad for business .
“ Many tech companies are already working with Google , Microsoft or Slack . Companies are using two or more of these internal communications . These companies are already storing your aggregate conversations by default ,” he stated .
“ Companies already possess this information but must learn how to better process it so that the insights are unbiased and anonymous , but still actionable .”
“ With Erudit , all the people analytics are anonymized by the AI so you can make unbiased decisions based on organic , instead of survey data . Managers never see messages or names , they only see the insights that will help them improve their management style and better support their team members . HR can use this tool to design initiatives based on their unique workforce , plus they can track the impact through the metrics ,” he added .
Conclusion
AI is a technology that has the potential to make people ’ s lives better . It provides us with more control over our environment and automates repetitive tasks . AI is now used to diagnose medical conditions , predict financial outcomes and even spot fraud . For businesses , AI can help improve workplace productivity and drive sales .
With all of these benefits there are also challenges , such as privacy concerns and the need for regulation . In order to harness the full potential of AI , it ’ s important for businesses to understand both the benefits and the challenges so that they can make informed decisions about how best to use this technology .
“ At the end of the day , it ’ s about building and earning trust . When a manager trusts their team to do their best at work , they focus on empowering rather than spying on them ,” concluded Agenjo . “ When an employee trusts that their HR department and leaders care about their wellbeing , they may be more open to trying out new solutions for workforce analytics ,” he said .
“ Technology , in the wrong hands , is a weapon . In the hands of compassionate leaders and teams that have earned each other ’ s trust , it ’ s an empowering tool .” p
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