How leaders can benefit from gen AI - EY GDS’ Global Talent Acquisition leader shares tips

It has become increasingly common for leaders and managers today to find themselves navigating through a myriad of challenges and complexities. As revealed by research conducted by Oracle and Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, the pressure on decision-makers has intensified, with a staggering 85% reporting experiencing decision stress. Moreover, the daily volume of decisions has seen a remarkable tenfold increase over the past three years, further highlighting the immense burden placed on leaders in making critical choices that drive organisational success.

However, amidst these formidable challenges, Generative AI emerges as a beacon of hope and innovation, offering a plethora of capabilities to enhance strategic decision-making processes. By leveraging advanced Generative AI tools, leaders gain access to a wealth of invaluable insights and data-driven analyses, enabling them to gain a deeper understanding of market trends, risk assessments, and growth strategies. Armed with this comprehensive knowledge, decision-makers can meticulously assess potential outcomes before implementation, thus minimising risks and maximising opportunities for organisational growth and success.

One of the most compelling aspects of Generative AI is its remarkable ability to simulate multiple scenarios, providing leaders and managers with the opportunity to explore various possibilities and evaluate their potential impact on different facets of the organisation. This predictive capability not only enhances decision-making effectiveness but also empowers leaders to proactively address challenges and seise opportunities in the dynamic and rapidly evolving business landscape. By leveraging Generative AI technologies, leaders can gain invaluable foresight into potential outcomes, allowing them to make informed decisions that drive the organisation forward with confidence and clarity.

Moreover, the transformative power of Generative AI extends beyond strategic decision-making processes and permeates into the realm of project management. Project managers, tasked with overseeing project execution and ensuring the timely delivery of outcomes, often grapple with a myriad of challenges, including scope creep, communication gaps, and resource allocation issues. However, Generative AI tools offer a lifeline to project managers, providing them with invaluable resources to streamline project management processes, automate repetitive tasks, and enhance decision-making capabilities.

For leaders like Sreesukhi Sudarshan, Global Leader Talent Acquisition at EY GDS, Generative AI represents a transformative opportunity. By integrating the tool into their workflows, they can drive operational efficiency, mitigate risks, and foster innovation within their teams. Real-time feedback and recommendations provided by Generative AI tools enable project managers to identify potential bottlenecks and areas for improvement, thereby ensuring the successful completion of projects and the attainment of organisational objectives.

In an exclusive interview with People Matters, Sudarshan discussed Generative AI and its potential to serve as a catalyst for organisational excellence. She emphasised how Generative AI empowers leaders and managers to make informed decisions that drive sustainable growth and success.

Excerpts from the interview: 

What are the primary objectives or goals of using Generative AI for inclusive hiring from a leadership perspective?

Much like the impact of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), even in the recruitment space this technology is revolutionising the process given its potential to make it faster, better and more inclusive. From a leadership perspective, I believe GenAI can help leaders make better-informed decisions. HR leaders are looking to use GenAI to cultivate a fair, equitable and diverse workforce, which will drive innovation, foster growth and positively impact the organisational culture. 

There are tools that can collate large sums of data in minutes, and they can also mitigate unconscious biases while scanning candidate information, focusing solely on skills and qualifications. This is the foundation of inclusive hiring. I see that the industry is shifting toward skills-based hiring and GenAI can be utilised not only to upskill and reskill professionals but also to map the right candidates to the right jobs. This in turn reduces the manual tasks typically performed by recruiters. It will enable the teams to focus more on strategic and creative work.

How can the use of Generative AI align with the overall strategic objectives of the organisation's diversity and inclusion efforts?

At EY GDS, we believe diverse perspectives, combined with an inclusive culture and equitable opportunities, drive better decision-making, stimulate innovation, increase organisational agility, and strengthen resilience to disruption. GenAI can act as an enabler that helps achieve the strategic objectives of an organisation's diversity and inclusion efforts. The first step is to identify disparities and collect data points using GenAI to address these challenges and support the organisation's Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness DE&I goals. AI algorithms can be trained and evolved to recognise and address concerns; this can greatly improve efforts while reducing the time required to address issues. 

Implementing technology should be complemented by training resources who can help implement the system and further expand its potential. It is also crucial to continuously monitor and evaluate the performance of GenAI systems in supporting DE&I objectives. GenAI can be used to collect and analyse feedback from candidates and employees to identify areas for improvement and refinement. Additionally, it can help prioritise programs and initiatives that need more focus, create training materials, foster inclusive hiring practices and remove any potential biases from performance management systems.

How Generative AI algorithms and models used in hiring are designed to minimise bias and promote diversity in organisations?

I believe unconscious biases can hinder the recruitment process and AI has the capacity to step in and help reduce the potential impact of these biases. There are AI algorithms and models designed to evaluate candidates based on their skills and qualifications instead of their gender or ability at the screening stage itself, which can help us attain a more diverse pool of applicants. There are AI tools that even help us at the assessment stages to minimise biases. AI can help eliminate potential biases in job descriptions by using gender-neutral terms such as” research expert” and ”sales associate,” rather than phrases like ”he must be good at research” or ”salesgirl,” etc.

It's critical to have a diverse team involved throughout the design, testing, and implementation of these algorithms to minimise any potential bias that could infiltrate into them. 

AI can also of great assistance during the employee lifecycle in analysing data and providing insights into the employee experience. This data can be used to identify any biases in the talent lifecycle and address them accordingly. Overall, AI has the potential to foster diversity and social equity at the workplace.

Are there any emerging trends or innovations in Generative AI for hiring that you find particularly exciting or promising?

The business landscape is evolving rapidly and GenAI has become a vital component of our work environment. We are just scratching the surface and have yet to fully harness the potential of this technology. Currently, we are incorporating it into nearly every facet of the employee lifecycle, from crafting gender-neutral job descriptions to analysing employee feedback.

I am eager to witness its further integration into our systems to boost efficiency, streamline operations and enhance the employee experience. From my observations, the utilisation of AI has been predominantly text-based. I look forward to a transition toward embracing various content mediums including images, videos and 3D representations. Expanding into these formats will enable us to develop materials that are accessible and adaptable across the board.

Skills have indeed become the new currency and with the advent of AI technologies for resume scanning, there is a noticeable shift toward skill-based evaluations facilitated by GenAI. These assessments are aimed at gauging candidates' proficiencies, capabilities and potential to succeed in specific roles.

GenAI technology is also revolutionising the personalisation of the candidate experience throughout the recruitment process. Whether it's creating tailored job descriptions or offering real-time feedback and guidance to applicants, AI-driven customisation is increasing engagement and elevating the overall quality of the candidate journey.

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What steps do you plan to take to stay ahead of the curve to ensure that your organisation leverages inclusive hiring?

To stay ahead of the curve, one must establish a solid foundation, achievable by harnessing technology to its fullest potential. At EY GDS, we proudly offer EY.ai, a comprehensive platform that not only understands the nuances of business and industry but also integrates a robust ecosystem, enabling seamless AI capability connections to propel AI-driven business transformations. Our professionals are adept at leveraging this solution to address the complex challenges faced by our clients. And this is just the start — we're committed to continuously enhancing our professionals' ability to maximise the benefits of this platform.

Another key to remaining at the forefront is the commitment to ethical conduct. By adopting ethical AI frameworks and guidelines, we ascertain that GenAI systems are implemented responsibly, reflecting our organisation’s values, conforming to legal standards and upholding ethical norms.

AI acts as a catalyst, complementing rather than supplementing human expertise and ingenuity. The synergy of human intelligence with AI leads to extraordinary outcomes not only in recruitment but also across the industry spectrum. I am optimistic about its prospects.