AR against skills shortage, remote work thanks to Metaverse and AI in recruiting

Augmented Reality, metaverse and artificial intelligence have been on everyone’s lips for quite some time – the topics have been fuelled even more by Facebook’s name change to Meta as well as the emergence of the AI text platform ChatGPT. And the influence of new technologies on our lives was also a big topic at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Which technologies are useful for human resources management? What opportunities arise in recruiting? How are new technologies changing the way we work?

Especially in the HR sector, there are already sensible and well-functioning use cases that can be a model for implementation. In our podcast Digital4Leaders, we asked three experts for their assessments and summarised the tech trends for HR departments in 2023 here.

Augmented Reality:
Augmented reality (AR) is the real-time use of information in the form of text, graphics, audio and other virtual augmentations that are integrated into objects in the real world. Integration into the physical world is also the difference to virtual reality, which exists in a purely fictional space.
Metaverse:
For many in the computer industry, it is the next iteration of the internet: a virtual and persistent world of its own where people experience life in ways they could not in the physical world. It is characterised by users being able to interact with a computer-generated environment and other users.
Artificial Intelligence:
AI uses computer systems that are capable of performing tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making and translation between languages. This attempts to mimic the problem-solving and decision-making abilities of humans.

Examples from HR and the education sector

1. Augmented reality against the shortage of skilled workers and demographic change

Augmented reality can be used to address current challenges such as the shortage of skilled workers and demographic change, as Christian Klerner explains in the podcast (in German):

“I can counteract the shortage of skilled workers to a certain extent with these technologies. I can do this directly by being an attractive employer because I offer a modern workplace. I can also do it indirectly by transferring knowledge and keeping demographic change in mind: If I now conserve the knowledge I already have and make it available with AR on the object, directly where I need it.”
Christian Klerner

Even for those cases where employees have to travel from one company location to another to solve problems on site, AR creates climate-friendly and time-saving possibilities.

2. Metaverse for location-independent education

In the Metaverse, virtual classrooms can be created in which pupils, students and learners move around independently as avatars, meet and exchange with each other, as Metaverse expert Dr Ulrich Franke explains in the podcast episode. Thus, educational life can take place completely in this virtual world, so that participation in education is also possible for disadvantaged people, e.g., from developing countries, as they do not have to be on site. The Metaverse thus also offers companies that have remote employees or are active in different locations the possibility of enabling location-independent education in a shared virtual setting.

3. AI for diversity and recruiting automation

To support the recruitment of new employees and the application process, technical solutions that work with artificial intelligence are increasingly being used. If artificial intelligence is trained correctly, says the founder and CEO of Themis Foresight, Jan Berger, in the podcast, it can sort out the application pool in such a way that company values and hiring criteria are optimally taken into account. This also enables diversity without prejudice and bias. However, Berger points out that HR departments must be very clear in advance about the ideas and values according to which employees are to be selected. This may require so-called ethics boards that train unbiased algorithms. Otherwise, there is a risk that the AI will become a reflection of the prejudices of individual recruiters, says Jan Berger.

Using new technologies in HR management – What to look out for?

If you are now inspired to exploit the possibilities of the new trending technologies in your field of HR management, we have a few more tips on how you can best get active now and what you should consider when moving into implementation:

Better to act now than to understand all the technical details

As far as the Metaverse is concerned, according to Dr Ulrich Franke, it is now important to understand that this technology is not only – as is often conveyed in current reports – about the sale of B2C products on a virtual platform, but that there are also numerous opportunities for brand presentation and marketing for B2B companies here, e.g., advertising in the Champions League stadiums depicted in the Metaverse.

“The corporations and the large SMEs need to think carefully about how they can use this technology to their advantage. There are different playing fields to look at in the company and you have to look at the use cases. It’s not about understanding the technology down to the last bit and byte, but knowing: What can I do with it?”
Dr. Ulrich Franke

Lowering the inhibition threshold for implementation

Christian Klerner sees the biggest challenge in implementing AR as being to involve those people who will be affected by the technology in the process. However, the use of AR often means a completely new way of working. Just imagine, suddenly employees are walking around with AR devices, seeing things that others don’t see – for this, the inhibition threshold must first be lowered.

As far as the inhibition threshold of companies themselves to tackle augmented reality is concerned, Christian Klerner has two tips:
1. Don’t buy the AR solution first and then look for the benefit in the company, but always start from the use case: Ask yourself “What do I need to solve this problem? Can AR help me with this?”
2. Implementing AR is often easier than you think, because the hardware is already there: you don’t always need AR devices or new devices, AR can also be used with a smartphone or tablet. In this way, you avoid the fear of contact that arises when using AR devices, for example, and also have lower investments to make.

Transparency about the company’s ethics policy

According to Jan Berger, it is of enormous importance for the use of AI in talent management to know what set of values the organisation lives by and how to translate this into decision-making patterns so that the AI follows these patterns:

“I have to cook the data with which the AI is trained in a certain way so that I get the desired results: Along what fairness criteria does an AI decide? To do this, I have to decide for myself: What are my fairness criteria? Is performance more important to me than diversity or gender balance? The important thing is: I have to make it transparent.”
Jan Berger

Transparency in the use of AI in HR is so relevant because these processes are high-risk systems. The adopted EU draft law on the Artificial Intelligence Act forces companies to make their criteria for AI transparent. Jan Berger recommends already considering which ethics guidelines would make sense in the company and also sharing them publicly.

Implementation takes time and it takes the whole team

Christian Klerner got to the heart of it in the podcast: The phrase “day-to-day business has the right of way” comes up again and again as an argument against implementation. According to the experts, one must not forget: Implementation – regardless of the technology – is initially time- and resource-intensive before the desired reduction in workload becomes apparent. Employees have to learn how to use the technology, establish new processes and use the tools in their daily work. According to Jan Berger, it is important to demystify the technologies and shift the focus away from the hardware to the interaction between human and machine.

If companies have an open culture of error and employees are given the opportunity to actively participate in decisions, processes and implementation, then nothing will stand in the way of a successful implementation of tech trends 2023 in HR.

To tackle the tech trends, you need qualified employees in your company. For reskilling and upskilling, we are your right training partner.