Artificial intelligence may be the next great thing in most aspects of running your company. But, when it comes to the time- and labor-intensive task of doing employee performance reviews, there are a number of reasons why AI can help—and why it won’t.
“While I use AI a great deal, I never rely on it as a substitute for my own thoughts,” says Wendy Wollner, CEO of Balancing Life Issues, a provider of customized corporate training programs in Ossining. “Even if an employee is fairly new to the team, I start with what I am feeling about this employee and AI cannot help with that.”
That said, there are some benefits to using AI to do performance reviews, says Kathy D’Agostino, founder and AI trainer at Win at Business. AI, a firm in White Plains that helps individuals and organizations navigate technology.
Trust the Process
For starters, it will ultimately save you time. AI can turn notes and drafts into a comprehensive document, D’Agostino points out. Consider this sequence: You speak with an employee about performance. Then you access ChatGPT on your phone, click microphone, and record a two-minute recap of the meeting. Down the road, when it comes time to do the review, you’ll have all of your notes in one place.
AI can also help reduce bias. “A lot of times when employers do reviews, they’re only thinking of what the employee has accomplished over the past couple of weeks,” she says. “By having AI pull stored notes, you can look at everything, not just recent projects. You can see a longer history and see the bigger picture.”
“Even if an employee is fairly new to the team, I start with what I am feeling about this employee and AI cannot help with that.”
—Wendy Wollner, CEO and Corporate Trainer
And finally, AI can improve on the language you might otherwise use, especially when it comes to tough feedback. “The wording AI is able to access can be really helpful,” she says. “It can end up being way more constructive and professional.”
Think Bigger Picture
For Wollner, AI has prompted her to think about qualities of the employees on her team that she may not have otherwise considered. “AI will think of many facets about an employee that I would have forgotten,” she says. “It adds dimension and makes sure I am thorough and have added the points that I might otherwise have neglected.”
In addition, she likes that AI can compare her performance reviews to those that have been done at thousands of other companies. “This helps me make sure I am on the right path with what I am evaluating,” she says.
D’Agostino agrees, with the proviso that AI is only effective if you’ve continuously recorded data about an employee into ChatGPT. “You can’t put lousy notes, no notes, or no data into ChatGPT, and ask AI to write a review,” she says. “If you’re not tracking things through the months and weeks, you’ll get something generic back.”
AI should also never be considered the final word on how an employee is performing during a given year. “It’s only a tool,” she says. “AI will assist, but you’re still making the ultimate decision about the employee.” In the end, it‘s best to use AI in combination with individual, human-delivered feedback, adds Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester. “Even if AI is used as an initial tool in a performance review, there needs to be some personal feedback and discussion to establish an effective appraisal,” she says.
Related: Inside Westchester’s Technology and Artificial Intelligence Job Industry
