Employee turnover is a costly issue that impacts many businesses annually. Recent stats show that one third of new employees quit after about six months. The average business shells out thousands to hire and onboard a new employee. Over time, this eats away significantly at businesses’ financial and operational viability.
One of the most effective ways to retain employees is by making them feel like they’re an essential part of the organization they work for. When employees don’t feel valued or engaged, they’re likely to look for work elsewhere.
As the current workforce ages, Gen Z and Millennials signal a high enthusiasm for AI according to a recent survey on sentiment towards AI in the workplace. Younger generations bring about excitement for AI, with 22% of Gen Z and 19% of Millennial respondents saying people are more excited than fearful about AI–a staggeringly high percentage compared to the only 7% of Gen X and 5% of Baby Boomers who say the same. This indicates an opportunity to use AI and digital transformation as a retention tool for the workforce of the future.
AI can offer some solutions to the multifaceted problem of employee retention. While some apprehensions around AI’s potential to displace jobs still persist, many businesses might be surprised to find that AI can actually strengthen their workforce, deepen job satisfaction, and lead to lower rates of employee turnover.
Let’s take it from the top: AI in recruiting and onboarding
Employee retention starts before you even officially hire someone, with a clearly defined role and finding the right person for that role. “Right job, right person” leads to a long-term employee. It’s important to demonstrate your company’s commitment to technology forward approaches such as leveraging automation at the hiring level to attract top talent. No prospect is looking for manual, data entry-heavy positions. AI-driven automation and workflows are attractive to talent. If they don’t see it upfront, they may look elsewhere.
Automation has played a role in hiring processes across industries for quite a while, but it’s gotten more sophisticated and nuanced thanks to AI-powered processes. AI can aid a company’s efforts to hire the right people for the right jobs in a number of ways:
- Expanding reach: AI can act like a highly attuned set of eyes and ears. It can help identify great job candidates who may have fallen through the cracks due to not using specific keywords. It can also alert recruiters to candidates who haven’t applied but who have the requisite skills and qualifications needed for a role.
- Prediction analysis: AI can help analyze candidate data, resumes, and cover letters to identify which candidates are likely to be the best fit for a role.
- Smoother onboarding: A variety of AI tools can help reduce friction during the onboarding process. AI-powered automation systems can handle tedious tasks such as filling out forms, scheduling meetings, and managing documentation. By streamlining these processes, new employees can focus on more meaningful work and feel reassured that the company values efficiency and innovation, giving them confidence that their role won’t be bogged down with busy work or manual oversight.
Employee engagement: what are finance professionals looking for in their careers today?
Retaining great employees in the finance sector is essential for maintaining a competitive edge in an environment that’s often high-pressure and given to change. Part of retaining employees in this sort of environment is making sure they feel that their voice and development matter in the long-term goals of an organization. This can be achieved with AI helping to automate a portion of their workload, so finance professionals can focus on more strategic, high-value items.
Automating some of the mind-numbing parts of the job can make employees feel more engaged in the overall health of an organization, and it provides exciting opportunities to dig into AI-driven analytics. Spending time on strategy and analyzation versus reviewing invoices and making payments can provide new motivation for finance teams. In the accounts payable department, AI can benefit payment processing, invoice capture, data extraction, invoice workflow automation, and even fraud detection. Reducing the reliance on manual processes can dramatically reduce the strain of tasks. In turn, creating happier, more engaged employees along the way.
Flexibility, mental health and development opportunities matter greatly to today’s finance professionals. And, thanks to the automation capabilities it provides, AI can be an ally in the quest for fostering a work environment that makes employees want to stick around.
Learning and development
Nearly 75% of people polled in a recent study said that they would be more likely to take a new role if development opportunities were included in the role. Today, professionals across industries are looking for jobs that will allow them to develop professionally and make an impact on their organization. Naturally, spending time on manual tasks and workflows takes time away from learning and development opportunities that employees may be looking for.
Businesses can use AI-based learning and development platforms to provide these kinds of opportunities for growth, along with freeing up their time to focus on them:
- Personalized learning experiences: certain types of AI-powered software can help in the development of personalized learning/upskilling experiences. The AI creates training programs by analyzing data on an employee’s current skills, career goals, and past learning activities, then curating relevant courses, articles, and resources from a vast library of content. The AI continuously adapts these recommendations based on the employee’s progress and feedback to ensure the learning experience remains aligned with their evolving needs and interests.
- Bridging talent gaps: the personalized learning experiences just described help bridge talent gaps in a workforce that is increasingly being called upon to learn new technologies and adapt to shifts in their usual workflow. AI can facilitate continuous learning by providing employees with current resources and materials on emerging tools and technologies. For example, AI-driven platforms can automatically aggregate and present the latest industry research, webinars, and technical documentation, ensuring employees have access to up-to-date information and training opportunities.
- Data literacy: Data has always been essential in finance, but especially so now that many financial processes have gone fully digital. AI-based analytics tools can help employees become more adept with handling and categorizing complex data.
The way forward
Now more than ever before, people want to find jobs that will allow them to build a meaningful career for themselves – they’re not settling for roles that leave them feeling unfulfilled or overlooked. It’s important to consider the benefits of AI not only for an organization’s bottom line, but on employee retention as well. This strategic integration of AI not only improves operational efficiency but also boosts employee morale and retention, making it a critical move for finance companies who want to thrive in today’s market and retain top talent.
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