IBM can predict when employees are planning to quit

IBM claims that it has artificial intelligence that can detect with 95 percent accuracy whether a worker is planning to leave their job.

The tech giant uses its “predictive attrition program” to identify current employees who are unhappy in their positions and would benefit from additional engagement efforts. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Your pretend enthusiasm for the job may fool an HR manager, but it can’t fool Big Blue. IBM claims that it has artificial intelligence that can detect with 95 percent accuracy whether a worker is planning to leave their job.

The tech giant uses its “predictive attrition program” to identify current employees who are unhappy in their positions and would benefit from additional engagement efforts. The company has remained largely silent about how the technology works, but it has been open about how the program has transformed its HR processes.

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Since introducing the technology, the company has cut its global HR force by nearly a third. The company claims the program has saved it more than $300 million due to increased worker retention.

IBM has made dramatic changes to its HR system in other ways. It recently eliminated annual performance reviews, shifting instead to quarterly assessments of how employees’ skills are growing.

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty is unabashed in her belief that AI will radically transform the future of work. She says that AI will impact 100 percent of jobs in the next 5-7 years.

AI can be used to identify employees who are unsatisfied in their jobs or are underperforming, but it can also uncover potential in a worker that a manager may not have noticed. The technology will be able to put employees to better use or find jobs for them they might excel in, says Rometty.

More than a quarter of IBM employees who got new jobs or promotions last year have Blue Match, another one of the company’s AI programs, to thank.

“AI will change all jobs once it is in the workflow, and that is the most meaningful kind of AI. Yes, some jobs will be replaced, but that is a red herring,” Rometty said in an interview with CNBC. “It is about getting people to work at the intersection of this.”

Other companies have integrated AI into their HR processes, notably in recruitment. DBS Bank introduced an AI recruiting tool that has reduced the time for screening job candidates from 32 minutes to eight minutes and increased the percentage of applications completed from 85 percent to 97 percent.

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