How AI can open opportunities across the employee lifecycle – Improbable’s Aga Tatusko

AI can seem scary, but playing with it open minds to what is possible, Aga Tatusko, Head of Reward at Improbable, told REBA’s Drivers of employee benefits trends for 2024 webinar, run with strategic partner Workhuman, on 17 January.

Improbable’s approach to AI is to let people play with it. “If you break something it just means that something is wrong with the AI, not necessarily what you are doing,” Tatusko said. “Once I tried it, I didn’t want to give it up. And from here it’s one step towards bigger adoption because people take to technology when they see others around them using it.”

A poll conducted during the webinar found that 54% of attendees have started using generative AI such as ChatGPT in pockets within their organisations, and 7% widely use it. Just over one-tenth (11%) said their organisation does not allow use of generative AI and 29% don’t use it, but there is nothing preventing them from doing so.

“AI complements the day-to-day tasks – from drafting communication to analysing data on salaries, engagement, and benefits,” Tatusko said. The company is also looking into building chatbots that can help employees to navigate benefits packages, answering questions in real time. 

But having high quality and accurate data is crucial for AI to be effective. “We are a small business and don’t have one solution for everything. We have a lot of systems, so how can we make sure they speak to each other and that we have meaningful integrations that enable efficient flow of data,” Tatusko said. 

The application of AI across the employee lifecycle, including reward and benefits, will play an important role in the company in 2024. "We will look to streamline our activities and become more efficient by complementing our goals with use of AI," Tatusko added. "This should hopefully result in freeing valuable time for more human interactions, innovation and those projects that can’t necessarily be outsourced to AI."