AI in Talent Management: 5 Ways to Optimize HR Workflows

"AI is absolutely reinventing recruiting in a very exciting way. It’s the biggest game-changer I’ve seen in a long time.”

– Kristi Robinson, EVP and Head of Talent Acquisition, Citizens Bank NA.

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Recent trends in talent and technology, such as AI in talent management, are reshaping how enterprises approach human resources operations. Before diving into AI, let’s examine the current state of talent management and the challenges organizations face.

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Many talent management leaders, 61%, say their teams are stretched too thin to keep up with ever-growing demands. It's not just about hiring new talent; companies are also grappling with issues related to retaining skilled employees. A looming wave of attrition, with 40% of workers planning to leave, is making retaining critical skills more challenging than ever. This growing gap in retention is deepening the overall talent shortage. Meanwhile, nearly 4 out of 5 employers around the globe are struggling to find the skilled talent they need. There is a growing sense of urgency for innovative HR solutions.

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​​“To the extent organizations are facing challenges finding people to fill open jobs, it may be that they are having difficulty keeping pace with how rapidly change is unfolding, making it harder to seize opportunities.” - Michael Griffiths, Principal and Workforce Transformation Leader at Deloitte Consulting LLP.

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A result of these challenges is that enterprises are turning to AI for new, optimized HR workflows. This leads us to the question: How is artificial intelligence used in talent management? AI is emerging as a reliable tool to tackle these hurdles by streamlining recruitment processes, enhancing candidate matching, and even predicting retention risks. Thanks to generative AI, the future of talent management could look radically different - with employees spending 60 to 70 percent less time on administrative tasks.

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As experts see it, AI is not just about efficiency - it’s also about uncovering new opportunities in talent sourcing.

“One of the things that excites me about AI is that it’s actually going to open up our aperture for diverse talent pools that we otherwise wouldn’t even be aware of.”

— Shannon Moorman, Global Head of Talent Acquisition and Executive Search, WPP

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Building on these insights, this article will examine five key HR challenges AI in talent management can solve.

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1. How Recruitment Automation Helps HR Find the Right Talent Faster

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One of the biggest challenges in hiring today is finding the right candidates quickly and efficiently. According to Gartner, the average recruiter spends nearly 25% of their time screening applications, slowing down the process for both hiring teams and candidates. In a competitive job market, those delays can lead to missed opportunities and added pressure on already stretched HR teams.

To speed things up, many companies are turning to recruitment automation. AI-powered applicant tracking systems (ATS) and resume screening tools can analyze thousands of resumes in minutes, matching candidates to roles based on skills and experience. About 75% of large companies, including 99% of the Fortune 500, use ATS platforms to help manage their hiring process.

For example, when Starbucks Australia’s small recruitment team struggled to keep up with its fast-paced hiring needs, it didn’t add more staff. Instead, it turned to Sapia.ai’s AI-driven assessment tool, integrated with SmartRecruiters, to streamline and speed up the process. This enabled it to automate resume screening, assess candidates’ soft skills, and create a smoother hiring experience.

Due to its new ATS platform, Starbucks doubled its hiring volume, saved 1,900 hours per month on resume screening, and saw a 56% drop in early turnover. Candidates reported a positive experience, and hiring managers found they were reaching a more diverse talent pool, including people who may have been overlooked in a traditional screening process.

That said, it’s important to approach recruitment automation thoughtfully - especially regarding fairness and bias. AI systems aren’t perfect, and there have been cases where they’ve fallen short. 

In 2018, Amazon shut down an internal AI hiring tool after it was found to be biased against women. It's a good reminder that while AI can be beneficial, it still needs human oversight and thoughtful design. As Amy Garefis, Chief People Officer at ZipRecruiter, puts it:

“I think we also have the advantage of starting from scratch and building systems and making sure that the AI that we build or use does as much as we can—and potentially more—to eliminate bias from a process.”

When done right, recruitment automation can help hiring teams move faster, work smarter, and make better, fairer decisions.

2. How to Use AI HR Tools to Boost Employee Engagement

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Another key issue HR teams continue to face is keeping employees engaged and motivated, especially after ongoing workplace changes. In 2022, the American Psychological Association reported that 77% of workers experienced burnout at their current jobs, a number that has remained high since the pandemic. Meanwhile, a 2024 Gartner survey revealed that only 29% of employees feel satisfied with collaboration at work, highlighting a widespread disconnect between teams and the overall work experience.

So, what’s the business impact of low employee engagement? Studies show that highly engaged teams are linked to a 23% increase in profitability, meaning that engagement isn’t just a people issue - it’s a performance driver. As Workhuman CEO Eric Mosley notes: “With a thriving culture, businesses are more performant, they have much higher retention, and employees are willing to go above and beyond.”

To address these challenges, many companies are turning to AI HR tools to track and improve engagement. AI-powered sentiment analysis tools help organizations regularly check in with employees and act on real-time feedback. 

Unifonic, a global AI-powered customer engagement platform provider, faced a similar situation. Having grown rapidly from 120 to 500 employees amid post-COVID adjustments and IPO pressures, Unifonic's traditional, spreadsheet-based HR tools could no longer capture real-time employee feedback. 

Recognizing the urgent need for change, the company turned to Culture Amp’s continuous listening tools. With regular pulse surveys and AI sentiment analysis, managers gained timely insights into employee moods and engagement levels across their global teams. This proactive approach enabled them to quickly identify issues and implement targeted interventions, ultimately leading to a 30% boost in sustained productivity, a 6% increase in leadership trust, and a 9% improvement in overall employee satisfaction.

AI isn’t just streamlining processes - it’s helping HR teams understand what employees need, when they need it, and how to support them before problems grow.

3. Providing Personalized Training with AI HR Software

Markets constantly change; enterprises adapt to keep up regardless of the industry. As roles evolve and technology advances, employees need ongoing training and support to stay effective.

However, according to a May 2024 Gartner survey, 6 in 10 employees say they aren’t getting the on-the-job coaching they need to develop core skills. This lack of support can impact performance, engagement, and retention. Conversely, research shows that companies that invest in upskilling can improve employee performance by over 20%.

This is where AI HR software solutions can make a real difference. These tools help identify skill gaps, personalize learning experiences, and automate training delivery - making learning programs more effective and easier to scale. AI in learning has been shown to boost efficiency by up to 57%.

That was precisely the case for Ten More In, a leadership training organization in Germany. As they expanded their programs, their existing platform couldn’t keep up with the growing number of learners or the level of engagement they aimed for. 

They switched to Disco, an AI-powered learning platform that allowed them to deliver structured, community-driven training at scale. AI-enabled features like automated content delivery, private learning spaces, chat channels, and a bot to answer questions built a more connected and practical learning experience. Since adopting Disco, Ten More In has grown to more than 1,500 members, reached a 90% program completion rate, and significantly improved engagement across the board.

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‍4. Using AI in HR Analytics to Assess Employee Performance

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Quarterly reviews, annual reviews, and one-size-fits-all feedback sessions have long been the standard in performance management - but they’re no longer enough. Many HR leaders are rethinking how performance is tracked and evaluated. Only 29% of HR leaders feel confident that their current processes help employees perform at their best, and 23% believe those systems capture the full scope of an employee’s contributions. At the same time, 87% of employees think algorithms could offer fairer, more objective feedback than their managers.

That’s why AI in HR analytics is becoming a go-to solution for companies looking to improve performance management. AI in HR analytics involves using real-time data to track productivity, spot patterns, and offer unbiased insights into how people work. This helps managers make better decisions and support their teams more effectively. According to McKinsey, companies that invest in smart, more innovative performance management see real results: 30% higher revenue growth and significantly lower turnover.

FAM Brands, a wholesale apparel conglomerate, saw this firsthand. As their teams grew, they needed a better way to understand performance and identify workflow bottlenecks, especially with a hybrid workforce. To gain clearer insights into how time was spent, they rolled out ActivTrak, an AI-powered productivity tool. 

What they found was surprising: many employees were stuck in unproductive meetings or spending hours on low-value tasks, while remote employees were more productive than expected. These insights helped the company introduce automation, improve training, and confidently embrace remote work - leading to better focus, higher engagement, and improved performance across the board.

For organizations aiming to build fairer, more effective performance strategies, AI in HR analytics offers the clarity and confidence traditional methods often lack.

5. Seamless Workforce Planning with AI in Talent Management

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Workforce planning is becoming more complex as talent needs shift and organizations struggle to keep up with outdated data and limited analytics capabilities. According to Gartner, only half of HR leaders feel confident executing workforce planning effectively. As Emily Rose McRae, Director at Gartner, explains, “These initiatives are short of resources — including talent analytics skills — and awash in data that isn’t always current or accurate. So building workforce planning capabilities and maturity is vital for HR.”

Caption: AI in talent management can improve workforce planning by using data more effectively.

Source: https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/insights/workforce-planning

AI in talent management is quickly becoming a need in this area. With only 35% of HR leaders confident in their current tech strategies, adopting AI-powered workforce-planning tools is essential to staying agile and competitive.

Specifically, AI-driven predictive analytics help HR teams forecast future workforce needs, identify gaps, and make faster, more informed decisions. A great example is Unilever, which faced a massive challenge: reviewing 1.8 million applications yearly to fill just 30,000 roles. Traditional methods were slow and risked missing great candidates. 

To fix this, they turned to AI-powered predictive analytics - using gamified assessments and video interviews to evaluate traits like problem-solving and communication, then matching candidates to successful employee profiles. Ultimately, it led to a more innovative, faster hiring process that saved 70,000 hours of interview time annually and helped Unilever plan and hire at scale more effectively.

AI for HR Solutions: Rethinking How We Hire, Engage, and Grow Talent

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Today's HR teams face many challenges, from slow hiring and low engagement to skill gaps, unclear performance, and workforce planning challenges. AI in talent management helps solve these five key hurdles, offering smarter, faster, and more scalable solutions for the modern enterprise. 

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As the demand for agility grows, AI tools give HR leaders the insights they need to act confidently. Investing in AI for HR solutions isn’t just a trend - it’s a strategic move toward building a future-ready workforce.

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