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Transforming Digital Employee Experience with

Artificial Intelligence

Serap Zel Elif Kongar, Ph.D.

Technology Management Mechanical Engineering and Technology Management
University of Bridgeport University of Bridgeport
Bridgeport, CT USA Bridgeport, CT USA
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract— Employee expectations are changing significantly

due to the increased digitalization and remote work in the last II. BACKGROUND
couple of years. This study emphasizes the growing role of Designing an employee experience involves both human
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Human Resources (HR) to design
and digital components. Technology is a key enabler for the
enhanced digital employee experience. A set of popular AI
applications such as chatbots and virtual assistants in recruitment, digital transformation of the user experience. Today, customers
career development, and employee engagement are provided receive customized purchase recommendations based on
along with their definitions. Considerations regarding their personal and previous preferences, which can be delivered to
organizational implementation, including related concerns and them at increased speeds. These digital features aim to make
potential benefits, are listed. consumer lives easier in a growingly complex world. In line with
this change in consumer expectations, employees also expect
Keywords— Artificial Intelligence, Human Resources, more personalized and consumer-like experiences at their
Employee Experience, Technology Management workplace, depicting digital customer-like characteristics.
I. INTRODUCTION Making available the appropriate technologies to employees is
important in improving employee experience, but it alone does
Since organizations with positive employee experiences not guarantee a high satisfaction. Integrating technology into
grow significantly faster with higher profit margins [1], critical touchpoints of employees and designing a thorough
employee experience (EX) has been a high-priority item on the employee life cycle from ‘hiring to learning’ with the right
Human Resources (HR) agenda in the past couple of years. digital steps became the essential focus of related efforts. In the
Employee experience involves a variety of factors, including literature, there is a growing focus on successful AI applications
how employees find meaning in their work as well as how they in the HR field, especially in talent acquisition field [3] [4] [5]
perceive, interact, and respond to internal practices and the [6]; however, only a limited number of studies investigate the
organizational culture during their employment. A great impact of AI in the sole context of employee experience.
employee experience creates higher employee engagement, and
highly engaged and committed employees create a better III. AI APPLICATIONS
experience for customers with who they interact with and serve. Artificial intelligence (AI) combined with human
Today, most organizations consider employee reviews as intelligence, is often employed to design an enriched employee
important as customer feedback. High performing organizations experience. AI helps to automate various repetitive tasks in HR
have adopted an ‘employee first’ approach and translated activities and to re-design processes. Contrary to the initial
customer experience principles to talent management and perception of lessening human interaction, digital automation
development areas in HR [2]. aims at providing HR teams with more time to build
The workforce has changed significantly in the last couple relationships with employees, managers, and candidates to
of years due to the increased digitalization and remote work. better address their needs. Some of the common applications of
Consequently, employees’ expectations are changing, and they AI in Human Resources depicted in Figure 1, is provided in the
are looking for easy-to-use and well-designed applications to following list.
allow them to make their jobs easier and feel more engaged in
the workplace. Therefore, it is the right time to re-think and re-
design the employee experience.

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RECRUITMENT ENGAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT assessment and needs of employees, some chatbots

even suggest personalized mindfulness practices.
Research indicated that users feel safe and comfortable
to talk to mental health chatbots [10].
Mental health Virtual HR AI-based career
chatbots chatbots development x AI-powered onboarding tools: AI manages some of the
AI-powered
onboarding tools routine manual tasks of HR, such as sending
Engagement & paperwork, scheduling onboarding meetings, and
Collaboration AI responding to some basic questions of new employees
tools Virtual coach bots
during the employee onboarding process. Through this
Figure 1. AI Applications to Enhance Employee Experience mechanism, new employees do not face any delay
during their onboarding process while obtaining timely
x Virtual HR assistants/Chatbots: These AI-based responses to their inquiries. Onboarding chatbots can
intelligent assistants are able to answer employees’ improve the onboarding experience of new employees
basic questions on HR policies regarding benefits, by providing a better communication flow and critical
vacation plans, and workplace practices as well as information on-demand [11].
being able to create standard employment letters based IV. PROS AND CONS OF AI APPLICATIONS
on requests from employees. Employees have constant
access to these assistants, which helps HR teams to Well-designed and easy-to-use AI tools help a lot to improve
improve productivity by saving a considerable amount employee experience in general. To give a broader view of some
of time, which can be utilized to focus on other value- pros and cons in using them at the workplace are listed in Table
added activities that positively impact overall 1, both perspectives from HR teams and employees.
employee experience [7].
Table 1. Pros and Cons of AI Tools from Perspectives of HR Team
x Virtual coach bots for managers: AI-based coach bot and Employees
prepares managers when they need to have difficult
conversations with their employees. Coach bots cannot Perspectives PROS CONS
replace human-human coaching sessions; however, it
helps managers to practice and prepare for their Gaining more Lack of skilled HR
discussions involving complicated employee insights about professionals in big
situations. employees' behaviors data analysis and
and engagement technology
x Personalized AI-based career development tools: AI- through AI tools management
based development portals can suggest open internal
positions suitable to employees based on their profiles The risk of having
Personalized
in addition to recommending training programs based HR TEAM biased people/HR
solutions for
on their personal development needs, passions, and decisions if AI
employees with a
interests [8]. These platforms are well integrated with tools generate
faster response time
internal talent management, performance management, biased results
and talent acquisition systems.
Saving time and
Possible data
x Engagement and collaboration AI tools: AI-based improving
confidentiality and
pulse surveys, polls, and collaboration platforms help productivity for HR
security problems
to generate real-time data regarding employees’ teams
moods, reactions, and overall engagement levels. Lack of human
These tools provide a more in-depth understanding of More streamlined,
touch might hinder
employees’ perceptions and expectations for personalized and
employee
organizations and managers, allowing them to respond modern experience
engagement in
on time if there are any issues that need to be addressed. for employees
using AI tools

x Mental health chatbots: One of the main root causes of EMPLOYEE Some employees
diseases worldwide is mental health [9]. Mental health Faster response time might not be tech-
chatbots are designed to analyze employees’ moods, to some basic savvy, and AI tools
behaviors, and stress levels by asking specific questions and might not create a
questions to assess their burnout risk. These AI- problems positive experience
powered chatbots are built based on natural language for them
processing and sentiment analysis. Depending on the

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V. IMPLEMENTATION SUCCESS AND RISK FACTORS Perceived ease of use in AI tools: When employees use AI tools
These AI-based tools considered as game-changers with without any technical difficulty, they tend to be willing to use
their ability to achieve digital transformation of employee them more [14]. AI tools should be designed as user-friendly
experience. However, there are some potential concerns and risk for better user experience.
factors in their organizational implementations.
B. Risk Factors
Both success and risk factors of AI-based tools in creating an
enhanced employee experience are analyzed, as indicated in Lack of trust and transparency: Trust and transparency in data
Table 2. management are also essential factors since employees must be
comfortable enough to use these applications [15] [16]. When
Table 2. Success and Risk Factors in Using AI Tools in Enhancing employees trust AI applications and benefits of AI applications’
Employee Experience outcome, they will be less reluctant to utilize them.

Success Factors Risks Factors Data privacy and security: AI tools have access to personal and
private employee data as they interact with metadata through
Linkage to the business and Lack of trust and communication and engagement tools. In most of the cases,
HR strategy transparency employees may not be aware of this data collection [17]. Data
security is a critical factor in building trust in AI applications
Supportive organizational Data privacy and
[18]. Organizations should build secure data governance models
culture security
based on local legal regulations.
Data management capability
Potentially biased data Potentially biased-data entry to the system: AI can learn
and expertise within HR
entry to the system continuously and use the previous data to make predictions
teams
regarding the future. In the case of biased-data entry to the AI
The feeling of less- system, the outcome from the system will be biased as well.
Perceived ease of use in AI Organizations should test their AI algorithms in real-life
human touch for
tools scenarios to ensure results from AI systems are not biased [19].
employees
The feeling of less-human touch for employees: Automation
A. Success Factors helps HR teams to save time and increase productivity.
However, there might be a negative perception among some
Linkage to the business and HR strategy: There are many AI employees about using AI-based technological solutions in HR-
tools that are used in improving employee engagement and related processes [1]. For example, virtual HR chatbots may not
experience. However, organizations should select or design answer all basic questions that employees have at once, which
appropriate AI tools based on their business strategy and needs. eventually affects employee experience negatively.
Otherwise, investing in unnecessary or nice-to-have AI tools
VI. CONCLUSION
create additional administrative burden and cost for
organizations, and they do not help to improve the employee AI tools help to improve digital employee experience in
experience. organizations. However, successful implementation of such AI-
based tools heavily relies on the compatibility with the
Supportive organizational culture: Most AI solutions are organizational culture, the right design of AI tools, and the
considered as plug-and-play technologies by organizations effectiveness of data management activities. The majority of
[12]. However, managing the change and preparing the these tools generate large volumes of people analytics data for
organization based on the corporate culture is critical for the organizations to process, understand, draw conclusions, and
successful adoption of the technology. On the other hand, AI utilize in decision making. HR teams should have the right data
solutions can also help organizations create a more inclusive management skills to analyze them and contribute to decision-
and happier internal culture. making successfully. Additional employee concerns that include
data privacy and other ethical considerations should be
Data management capability and expertise within HR teams: considered and addressed for the successful adoption of AI
AI tools that are used in enhancing employee experience technologies by organizations. Some companies got excited to
generate big data in which HR teams may not have the right implement new AI tools quickly for the sake of being
skills to analyze and make informed decisions. Therefore, HR innovative. However, this digital transformation does not
teams should create a people analytics team that consists of data happen overnight, and it requires detailed planning and
scientists, developers, and specialists who have quantitive and incremental change management. Also, companies need to
technical expertise [13]. make sure that these tools serve a purpose and are well adapted
based on organizational needs. In the future, as there will be
more organizations that adopt AI solutions in engaging and

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empowering employees, negative perceptions about AI would

end up decreasing by the time [2].

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