Process Overview

HR teams face large volumes of phone calls, emails, etc. for repetitive queries which employees prefer to ask directly rather than look-up by themselves. Also few employees (e.g. BPO agents) who do not have dedicated company devices have difficulty in accessing information such as company policies, roster details, manager’s contact etc. The HR function has decided to introduce a Virtual HR assistant in the form of a Chatbot to ensure active engagement of employees and to provide information on employee services through easily accessible digital medium.

Automation Need

Due to following challenges, the need for automating the process was considered:

• Repetitive task of answering employee FAQs
• Limited HR support and human dependency for information
• Lack of easily accessible common employee services
• Difficulty in managing employee engagement, issue resolution, and grievance management

About the Client

The client is IGT Solutions internal Human Resource Department. The HR team is one of the key pillars in the organization. It manages 13,500+ employees , ensures company guidelines are adhered in the work environment, and is responsible for smooth functioning of the entire organization.

Solution

• Employee Self-serving Chatbot, named ‘HR4U’ is designed and implemented for the employees to access key information and HR related queries via Natural Language enabled conversational interface. It is combined with employee backend systems in such a way that real-time information can be shared through APIs and made accessible on Facebook Messenger to allow on-the-go experience.
• Our HR support virtual assistant is continuously trained in company policies that empower human-like conversations to respond to most of the employee's requests at the workplace. It can be as simple as asking about your leave balance to raise an international travel request and share the relevant documentation.
• Employee verification is enabled via the authenticated mechanism on the Chatbot interface, which enables them to access the features provided.
• The solution complies with the information security standards of the company and the GDPR policies.
• The Chatbot understands HR vocabulary and can assist employees with more than 20 + HR tasks such as: Leave, Salary, Medical Insurance, Training Calendar, Location wise Holiday Information, Transportation, Confidential Speech and 300 + policies (e.g. Maternity / Paternity Leave, Gratuity, etc.).
• It enables employees to raise and easily track requests (leave, shift timings, etc.) from anywhere and at any time in a frictionless manner, thereby, elevating their experience. At the HR end, it helps them to track and respond to employee grievances/ concerns in an efficient and timely manner.
• It also supports a feature that is configurable basis the employee category to collect employee feedback that enables the HR team to effectively derive actionable insights from the data that can be communicated to the top management for informed decision-making and remedial measures. A feature for ‘Early Warning System’ is also available that helps mangers take appropriate actions within time.
• A roadmap with more enhanced features is planned for the full year 2020 and the Chatbot is continually being updated.

Benefits

• Frees HR professionals from the drudgery of repetitive tasks to focus more on productive activities that require their deep expertise and providing the essential human touch
• Saves time, money and resources on drudge-intensive, low-productivity, administrative grunt work
• Breaks information silos and makes internal communication
• 45% call volume reduction with more than 2000 number of active chatbot users
• 24x7 operation for enhanced customer experience
• Availability of information on the go and in written form more effective and seamless

Automation Tool Partner

• IBM Watson
• IBM Bluemix