AI in HR
TL;DR
- 3 in 4 U.S. workers are using AI for work; 2 in 3 are using AI for help with HR-related tasks.
- Employees report preferring using an AI assistant over a human HR admin because its quicker response, seems easier, and also because of privacy concerns.
- Younger generations report adopting AI faster than older ones, but it might surprise you which generations are more concerned about the lack of data privacy.
Methodology
TriNet, a leader in HR services and technology, recently surveyed over 1,218 full-time US workers from small and midsize businesses (defined as companies with 5-500 employees). Conducted from May 30-June 11, 2024. The survey featured around 50 questions addressing various workplace issues, including employee engagement, remote work, AI adoption, and generational shifts in workforce expectations. The survey was not targeted at TriNet clients.
3 in 4 U.S. workers in small and midsize businesses are using AI at work.
In a tech takeover like no other, it’s clear AI is reshaping the U.S. workforce—and not just in individuals’ professions, but in HR. A staggering 75% of full-time employees in small and medium-size businesses are now harnessing AI on the job. Even when it comes to HR-specific tasks—tasks like payroll processing, benefits administration and interpersonal questions (like how best to deal with a difficult coworker)—which have traditionally been very human-to-human in nature, 66% of U.S. employees are using AI for help.
Employers aren’t afraid of AI, they want more of it.
Employers are more all-in on AI than their employees. For example, our report shows that when it comes to benefits-related questions, 59% of employers approve of AI use at a moderate or extremely acceptable level, but just 41% of employees use it “almost every time” or more. Even for personal HR questions (like something health related), often confidential in nature, 49% of employers back AI, while only 35% of employees use it.
AI has “quicker responses,” “privacy concerns,” and seems “easier” than talking to a human, U.S. workers say.
One in three U.S. employees would prefer to consult an AI assistant over a real human interaction on employment issues, citing quicker response (45% of employers, 50% of employees), seems easier (41% of employers, 39% of employees) and privacy concerns (42% of employers, 36% of employees). Additional reasons for choosing AI include greater reliability (41% of employers, 34% of employees), avoiding office politics (30% of employers, 34% of employees) and bypassing personal bias (33% of employers, 33% of employees).
AI gets the job done.
U.S. employees trust AI to excel in specific duties. Employees specifically pinpointed benefits administration as a top task where AI performance outshines human HR admins, followed by payroll, PTO balance updates and managing payroll requests (44%, 37%, 34%, 33% of respondents respectively). Employees ranked AI assistant’s performance on issues of office culture and performance management lowest (17% and 18% respectively).
AI is equally trusted for both personal and interpersonal HR questions.
AI isn’t just for tactical queries—it’s trusted for personal and interpersonal issues, too. The workforce is turning to AI in near equal measure for administrative questions (such as benefits and pay) and handling peer-to-peer questions (like conflict resolution or group dynamics). Employers are slightly more likely than employees to use AI in general (36% vs. 30%). This is consistent with employers’ high acceptance of AI , as reported within this survey.
Millennials embrace AI more; Gen Z is more concerned about its overall use.
About a third of employees (regardless of age) prefer AI for HR tasks, but Millennials are using it the most. Surprisingly, Gen Z employers, while quick adopters are tied as most worried about AI privacy concerns with Boomers. Both Gen Z and Boomers share equal concern about AI's overall use.
Technology and financial services industries are adopting AI faster than bricks and mortar, non-profit.
Only 3% of financial services employers and 4% of technology employers now “never” use AI. Over a third in each category use it multiple times per week (finance: 32%; technology: 36%), with nearly 70% of employers using AI more than one to two times per week. However, employees are lagging behind their higher-ups, with 23% of financial employees and 13% of tech workers never using AI.
The “younger” the company, the more its employees are using AI.
Startup workers are 40% more likely, on average, to harness the power of AI compared to those in mature firms. The biggest gap is seen in performance reviews: while employees at established companies use AI 'rarely' to 'occasionally,' startup staffers lean on it 'occasionally' to 'almost every time.’
AI is booming, but the human touch still counts.
AI is on the rise, but humans aren’t out of the picture—yet. While we're still (somewhat) debating which tasks are best suited for AI versus human input, such as employee onboarding (173 people say AI, 191 say humans), AI has clearly established itself in the workplace. It offers employees quicker responses, and seems easier, according to our survey respondents. A majority of employers accept AI in the workplace, and roughly 40% are optimistic that predictive workplace analytics could help boost employee morale, retention, engagement and development. Ultimately, whether through AI or human touch, the goal is to ensure employees are happy, productive and healthy.
Future research
This research is just the beginning of exploring AI's impact on the workforce. Our dedicated team of researchers is committed to diving deeper. The current findings raise further questions:
Why is Gen Z less concerned about data privacy in AI compared to other generations, yet more concerned about data privacy overall?
When will sectors like nonprofits or Main Street adopt AI at rates comparable to tech and financial services?
Will benefits administration and plan communication be fully automated by AI assistants in the next year?
Download the Full Report
Get more data around AI. Explore workplace trends across AI, employee engagement, remote work, and more in the full State of Workplace report by TriNet.
The State of the Workplace report aimed to accurately reflect the small business economy as best as possible, with respondents across company sizes, industries and age groups.
Qualtrics, a third-party provider, administered the survey and offered respondents incentives based on factors such as survey length, their panelist profile, and target acquisition difficulty.
The findings in this online report highlight trends within the small and midsize business community. This document contains a summarized version of the full report, which you can download in its entirety here. You can use filters to narrow the data by company maturity level, industry, and generation. As strong advocates for data democratization, we aim to make it easy for you to transform the data into meaningful insights.
Furthermore, this document is live and continuously updated. Our researchers are actively analyzing numbers, validating statistical significance, and publishing relevant insights. We prioritize timely updates, understanding the importance of speed, as highlighted by our data on AI usage. So, bookmark this page, or better yet, subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Instagram to stay updated with new data and insights related to this work.
© 2024 TriNet Group, Inc. All rights reserved. This communication is for informational purposes only, is not legal, tax or accounting advice, and is not an offer to sell, buy or procure insurance. TriNet is the single-employer sponsor of all its benefit plans, which does not include voluntary benefits that are not ERISA-covered group health insurance plans and enrollment is voluntary. Official plan documents always control and TriNet reserves the right to amend the benefit plans or change the offerings and deadlines.
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