The trend toward AI adoption in HR is clear, with over half (54.99%) of our respondents stating that they trust AI more than human HR professionals. This speaks to two things: a great trust in AI's capabilities and perhaps a lack of trust in human professionals. 

When asked what HR tasks workers would be comfortable with AI performing, 67.21% said they’re comfortable with AI handling onboarding and training, demonstrating trust in the technology's ability to prepare new hires for their roles. In addition, nearly 60% would choose AI-generated performance feedback over human reviews, reflecting confidence in AI’s impartiality and consistency. 

These are two traditionally significant areas of focus for human resources, in which workers are overwhelmingly voting for AI usage instead. These results demonstrate that trust in action—not only are workers ready to trust AI, but they would trust it with specific and critical tasks in relatively large percentages. 

The issue of AI bias frequently comes up in conversations about AI—and for good reason, especially in a particularly sensitive area like HR. However, human reviews are also not without bias concerns. According to a 2023 report by Syndio, 25% of workers believe their performance reviews were negatively affected by their supervisor's personal biases.

So, while there’s always a concern about bias, AI may actually be more likely to provide a solution than not.

In fact, we found that 64.75%of respondents were confident that AI-powered HR tools will be used fairly— 38.9% were very confident and 25.85% were somewhat confident. This strong majority reflects a significant level of trust in the AI’s capability of managing HR processes without significant bias.

Similarly, 20.45% of respondents stated that they believe that AI-powered tools can offer unbiased performance evaluations, indicating a substantial belief that these tools can mitigate human subjectivity and provide fair assessments based on objective data. Respondents also trust AI to be fair in critical HR functions such as onboarding (38.31%), performance reviews (39.13%), and even salary negotiation (33.25%).

This data suggests that regardless of how an AI tool may be trained, a machine’s data-driven approach to handling HR-related issues is widely perceived as more equitable. Humans may not be able to analyze all factors with an unbiased eye, either—so it makes sense that many workers might prefer to work with AI or generative AI designed for HR on certain critical issues.

Does the preference for AI-guided human resources extend to professional growth and career development? Our research says yes. Over 64% of workers across industries stated that they find AI-generated performance goals useful, with 40.78% rating them as very useful and 23.38% as somewhat useful.

This preference for AI in career development could be linked to a preference for highly personalized experiences. For example, an AI tool designed specifically for HR could generate performance goals based on individual performance, company goals, and industry benchmarks. This could go a long way in helping meet employee needs and increasing performance.

These results correlate with the data we collected in a separate question, where we found that 26.44% of employees trust AI in aiding career development—aligning with this optimistic view of AI-generated performance goals.

If 64% of employees would choose to receive performance goals from AI, what about performance reviews? Again, the data shows that an overwhelming number of workers would vastly prefer to receive performance feedback from AI.

In fact, over 75% of workers would choose AI performance reviews over traditional manager feedback. This could be true for several reasons—getting difficult feedback can be hard, human managers may not be entirely honest or transparent, or maybe workers are simply more comfortable with AI. Or, it could be something else entirely.

We also found that a quarter of workers believe an AI-powered HR service or tool could outperform a human manager, particularly in availability, so these facts may be connected. Workers might trust AI to thoroughly analyze their performance and provide accurate feedback, whereas a human manager might not be able to do so in some cases. Workers might simply feel a human is more prone to error.

But again, the preference isn’t just limited to performance reviews: 67.21% of workers are comfortable with AI guiding them through their first days at a job, and 36.19% feel that onboarding and training would be improved with generative AI. Employees would consistently choose AI to handle these tasks critical to their long-term success.

Finally, we asked workers what area they would most trust AI in the employee experience. We found that 39.13% of respondents would trust AI for performance reviews and training, while 26.44% see it as beneficial in career development. Overall, many respondents selected multiple options, indicating a wide range of applicability and trust.

The numbers are even higher for HR professionals specifically. When we narrowed the findings, we saw that more than 50% trust AI with performance reviews. This shows that not only do workers trust AI, but human resource professionals also trust AI for these critical tasks. For anyone still on the fence, this vote of confidence from human resources may help increase trust in AI as well.

The overall message of this data is clear: Using AI in HR actually builds trust with employees, not the other way around. This is a startling finding that contradicts many common biases against AI and should be encouraging for human resources departments.

People trust AI. So, if you’re not investing in AI, you may be missing out on opportunities to build trust.

Here are some action items you can implement in your human resources department to take advantage of this trend toward AI in HR:

• Invest in AI onboarding tools: HR departments should consider investing in AI-powered onboarding and training tools at the very least. You can run pilot programs to gather feedback and fine-tune the offerings before wide-scale implementation. Some popular tools include Rippling, TriNet, and of course, ServiceNow’s employee journey management solution.
• Try a hybrid approach: If you’re not ready to commit fully to AI, you can adopt a hybrid approach, leveraging AI for tasks where it excels (like data analysis and consistent feedback) but retaining human oversight for nuanced judgment decisions. Keep track of how this hybrid approach helps you reach common HR KPIs using this common HR KPIs resource.
• Experiment with AI for performance reviews: Implement AI tools like Campbell, DeepReview, or ServiceNow’s performance review template that assist in performance reviews when planning for next year. Of course, you’ll want to supplement them with human interaction, but you can start to rely on AI for data analysis to increase employee trust.
• Train your HR department to work with AI: HR professionals must develop new skills to work effectively with AI tools, including data interpretation, ethical AI practices, and change management. Make sure you train your team so everyone can navigate the transition seamlessly.

If you’re interested in exploring the possibilities of utilizing AI in your HR department, we can help. ServiceNow offers a comprehensive HR Service Delivery (HRSD) solution that can bolster your current processes and tools with the power of artificial intelligence.