As artificial intelligence expands its footprint in the workplace, it might remove the "human" from some human resources decisions.
Capterra, a technology review platform, surveyed 300 human resources professionals in the U.S. regarding their outlooks on a potential recession. They asked respondents about their plans for conducting layoffs if a recession strikes and cuts become necessary.
Ninety-eight percent of human resources leaders said they "at least somewhat" rely on HR software and algorithms when making decisions to cut labor costs. Seventy percent said they would use performance data to make layoff decisions.
These algorithms commonly assess performance data to build skills inventories, which can be useful when deciding who to lay off based on more than gut instinct.
However, although the majority of respondents shared plans to use artificial intelligence programs for decision making, only 47 percent are completely comfortable relying on algorithmic recommendations to make layoff decisions.
"The danger here is using bad data, [and] coming to a decision based on something an algorithm says and just following it blindly," Brian Westfall, a senior HR analyst at Capterra, told The Washington Post in a Feb. 20 article.