Posted on December 15th, 2019

By Cubie Davis King, PhD. 

According to Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM, formal assessments and manager surveys being used today are not very accurate. She posits that by better understanding data patterns and adjacent skills, IBM AI is better able to zero in on an individual’s strengths.

She says that manager surveys or formal assessments are too subjective and believes managers can infer and be more accurate using data.

The problem with today’s assessments is that they display the skills the employee has now but do not show whether these skills will be in high demand in the future. And more importantly, if said skills fit into the company’s strategic plan for the future, Employees need a clearer career path, and getting a true assessment of their strengths for the future is now critical.

She believes that HR departments need to move from being problem-based (dealing with poor performers) to solution-based (helping employees update their skillsets).

AI is now being used to understand the individual better than the HR person or manager could alone. AI finds the patterns in the data, so results are not based on hypotheses and suppositions.

Rometty says, “I expect AI will change 100 percent of jobs in the next 10 years.” IBM’s HR has acquired a patent for its “predictive attrition program,” which was developed with Waton. The program is unique in that it can predict which employees are high-flight risks.

With a better understanding of an employee’s real strengths, the formal assessment, using AI technology, will play a major role in career planning and talent retention well into the future. Through data analysis, we get a better picture of employees from many facets of their work life.

Formal assessments using AI technology are another way leading companies are using predictive analytics to assist them with redesigning their workforce for the future.

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