6 queries for potential HR tech partners

Here are some questions to ask of HR tech providers when investigating the potential for hidden bias in their systems:
·         How does your technology team ensure that the development process includes diverse experiences, perspectives and cultural backgrounds? Reviewing a provider's diversity and inclusion policies can be a good way to evaluate how well an HR tech vendor prioritizes diversity within their developer workforce.
·         Does your development team use any empathy-based or anti-bias approaches to train its AI systems, such as blending machine learning, linguistic expertise, and generative AI to engage with people in increasingly human ways? Taking such an approach improves a technology's ability to interpret and react to an individual's specific situations and emotional states so it can have personalized and compassionate (i.e. human-like) engagements with employees. Virtual assistants designed with an empathy-based approach, for example, get to an employee's "question behind the question" to further anticipate needs and quickly resolve issues.
·         Describe how you build diverse datasets and govern data for quality, accuracy, and representativeness. Asking to take a look at the vendor's data governance protocols can be a way to further ensure the data used to train AI is representative of a diverse employee population.
·         Do you conduct regular fairness testing to identify and address biases that may emerge as more employees engage with your technology? Continuous testing helps maintain the inclusivity of an AI system over time and is particularly critical with the many different generations, cultures, abilities and work styles collaborating on projects.
·         Are human teams regularly reviewing, assessing, and refining the technology and data models to create and maintain inclusive user experiences? Meeting one-on-one with the humans behind the machines can be a terrific way to assess the value an HR tech vendor places on irradicating bias from its technology.
·         Can you introduce us to clients that are as interested in unbiased, fair technology as we are? Nothing beats a first-person customer account when it comes to figuring out if a potential partnership is a good fit. For benefits technology, specifically, it may also make sense to ask to speak to an end-user employee to get a feel for their personal experience with the system. Case studies, too, can offer a glimpse into what the HR tech provider views as a successful implementation of unbiased benefits technology.

Emulate, but don't replace

There are many exciting developments on the benefits technology horizon that can make the experience of interacting with the technology incredibly personal, supportive, and human. But, the issue of addressing bias in that same technology provides an excellent example of why the goal of even very sophisticated technology should be to augment human ability, not replace it.

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Is bias hiding in your benefits technology?

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