Where will AI take benefits and reward?
From AI-enabled chatbots which handle basic employee queries and update personal information, to Generative AI tools which create and disseminate benefits-related content within the workforce, AI is already re-shaping how employees engage with benefits and rewards.
But the reality is that most organisations are still only scratching the surface in realizing the full potential of new AI technologies.
We’ll soon see a shift from the tactical deployment of AI in HR to a more strategic, employee-centric approach, where AI becomes a platform for organisations to deliver personalised experiences.
Much of the recent buzz around AI has been focused on the potential introduction of AI assistants or agents within the workplace.
According to McKinsey: “We are beginning an evolution from knowledge-based, gen-AI-powered tools — say, chatbots that answer questions and generate content — to gen AI-enabled 'agents’ that use foundation models to execute complex, multistep workflows across a digital world. In short, the technology is moving from thought to action.”
The expectation is that very soon every employee will be supported by an AI-enabled agent or genuine ‘co-pilot’ providing instructions based on established use cases, mapping out workflows, executing tasks and reporting on outputs.
The imminent arrival of AI agents presents massive opportunities for organisations to transform the employee experience.
Employers will be able to deliver highly relevant and personalised experiences for every employee, based on their own individual circumstances and needs at that moment in time.
When it comes to choosing benefits, AI agents will help employees pinpoint the information they need in real-time, sifting through volumes of content and summarising key points.
Employees will have access to a co-pilot throughout their benefits journey, continually evaluating their changing needs and helping them to make informed, timely decisions.
Benifex's latest research on the topic shows that HR and reward professionals recognise the game-changing potential for AI-powered technologies to enhance every aspect of the employee experience.
HR leaders are excited about the opportunities this shift presents for them to maximize their impact.
Where do HR and reward leaders see the biggest impact?
According to the research, HR and reward professionals point to four key areas where AI is most likely to impact reward, benefits and employee experience in the next two years.
Looking ahead, AI offers organisations a path to provide total personalisation in benefits over the coming years.
And much of this will be driven by AI agents or co-pilots which can support employees at every stage of the employee journey.
There is huge potential for the use of AI agents within benefits and rewards, where the onus is traditionally on employees to consume and understand huge and often overwhelming volumes of information to make decisions.
One of the principal reasons why engagement levels around benefits have been and still remain relatively low within many organisations is a lack of accessibility.
If you take private medical insurance as an example, healthcare providers are required by regulation to provide huge amounts of information about their policies, often running to more than 40 or 50 pages.
Cutting through the noise
But for employees, trying to cut through vast swathes of content to ascertain the essential facts they need to decide whether it is the right policy for them and their family, is daunting, time consuming and off-putting.
Currently, employers aren’t curating this type of information for employees and therefore people are unable to make informed decisions.
But Generative AI could easily solve this problem.
An AI co-pilot can quickly identify and summarise the key elements for an employee.
The employee is then able to make an informed decision about whether to take out the policy or look for an alternative.
Already at Benifex we have seen the impact this kind of deployment can deliver.
We worked with our AI partner to build a proof of concept that was informed with the summary documents for our own benefits scheme.
Based on this ring-fenced content, the AI tool is able to read and analyse a wide range of benefits documentation, and then summarise key information and answer questions, with handy references to source information and no hallucinations.
Acting as an employee co-pilot, the AI tool is able to help employees to gather the essential information they need to make a decision.
Get the report
Download your copy of AI in benefits and reward to uncover what HR and reward professionals really think about AI, why people teams need to take an ethical approach to AI, explore how benefits and reward teams now have a unique opportunity to lead the way in AI deployment within the HR department.
Supplied by REBA Associate Member, Benifex
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