Carolynn Ryan, Karen Bateh discuss strategic workforce planning, changing skills for HR, real-use cases and AI agents
For Carolynn Ryan, one of the most appealing uses of AI is for strategic workforce planning.
“If there was a tool that could help us understand those emerging skill gaps, attrition risks and capability needs a little bit earlier — instead of pulling my hair out like I'm always doing — I [think] that would be fantastic,” says the senior vice-president of people and CHRO at BC Hydro.
“I would love to see that in a way that still doesn't turn people into data points — there's a lot of nuances there.”
It’s not just about prediction for its own sake, she says, but being able to give leaders better foresight so they can invest earlier in skills and mobility and reskilling.
“I think it can really support us in performance and fairness as well. But getting ahead of the curve on that, it's sort of a nut that I haven't totally been able to crack yet. We've got lots of tools available to us, but it feels like they're always a little bit off and we do our best.”
Karen Bateh, vice-president of people and culture at CBC/Radio-Canada, agrees with this strong desire for AI help with strategic workforce planning, and says it’s about going beyond traditional HR planning that’s position-based and looking at skills as the currency of the future.
“And how can we leverage AI? I mean, we'd love to start with a more robust data architecture to be able to help us get there.”
Also key? Testing out the HR agents to see what they can do, she says.
“[It’s about] making sure that we safeguard because there are so many areas in HR that are complex, that are sensitive. And I think it's [up to] us to really take the time to make sure that the human experience and the value we bring to support workplace and workforce issues continue to be of high quality and, if anything, we're leveraging AI to help us from the productivity angle on the back end.”
Changing skills for HR
With AI tools changing rapidly, with new formats, offerings and costs, there’s a lot for HR to take in in deciding what will work best for the workforce.
At the CBC, Bateh says she works closely with partners such as the CIO and CTO, and there’s a team with “extensive expertise” in research and AI, looking globally at what’s happening.
“HR has to stay close to what is happening because the change is happening very quickly. Our folks are people and culture folks, right?” she says, which is leading to “open conversations” about the changing skills needed in HR.
“How do we stay at least on track with how quickly things are changing? We can't do it alone.”
It’s also important to embrace the HR community to hear insights from colleagues on lessons learned, pitfalls to avoid and how to navigate the new tech, says Bateh.
“It is changing so drastically, and I just can't understate the importance of, as a community, really continuing to pipe up and say, ‘Hey, I tried this, this is something to look for.’ So, that's one of the ways I think we're trying to stay ahead or at least on par with the change.”
Ryan echoes the sentiments of Bateh, by staying in close partnership with the CIO and the community. Also important? Hiring HR business partners who have more analytic skills than may have been required in the past, she says.
“The leaders throughout the company have so much more access to data, but we really need someone to look at the ‘So what?’ of it and make sure that we're interpreting it properly in a way that takes into account that human element.”
Real-use cases for HR training
When it comes to the much-needed training required for AI adoption and integration, Ryan says BC Hydro is taking a practical approach.
The company is focusing on real use cases; for example, how an HR business partner can use AI to prepare for a difficult employee conversation, or how a people manager can use it to help with performance management or developing clear goals.
“One of the key things is that air of experimentation and knowing that just like people can make mistakes, AI can make mistakes too. So, being open with that idea that it’s not going to be perfect, but try different things and talk about it,” she says.
“I think confidence comes from that critical thinking and experimentation — not necessarily in trying to master or take a course in it.”
Data literacy training for HR
Similarly, Bateh says the CBC has been rolling out data literacy training for its HR business partners.
“We've taken a lot of time to really, with use cases, show ‘Here's a people or a workplace issue or challenge; historically, we would have approached it this way. Let's unpack how we use data to inform us better on some of the root challenges or opportunities that we haven't looked at.’
“So, it's really bringing to life the role of business partners… continues to evolve because we really are now solutioning and data is just such a crucial part of that.”
For example, using Google sheets to assess the data, and maybe suggesting that HR use a pivot table, for example.
“It’s bringing to life the importance of being comfortable with data and being able to translate into that ‘Hey, hiring manager, hey, leader, this is what the data is telling us, how do we work through this now and understand how we can solve for it?’” she says.
“It really is changing how we recruit and how we continue to develop our HR professionals.”
AI 'productivity amplifier’
When it comes to AI, it's been interesting to see how positive the tech has been in taking the “friction” out of low-value work, says Ryan, “like drafting, summarizing, pattern spotting to a certain extent — and really freeing people up for things like judgment and coaching and decision-making.
“It's really been a bit of a productivity amplifier rather than a replacement tool that people are worried about.”
The utility is also looking at processes that are high volume, rules-based and text-heavy when it comes to embracing AI components, she says. That can include drafting job descriptions, screening for minimum qualifications, analyzing survey themes and responding to standard HR questions.
“We haven't gotten to the stage where we have an HR bot, but we're working on a new HRIS system and we think that that technology will come with it,” says Ryan.
“It's not about replacing [people]; it's freeing up time for HR practitioners to serve better, to get in deeper and provide more insights.”
She says she’s excited about experimenting with AI in job evaluations, because the ability to benchmark across jobs is such a labour-intensive task — with guardrails.
“Anything involving judgement, trust, impact on someone’s livelihood, hiring decisions, performance conversations, discipline— anything like that — our principle is really focused on ‘AI can inform but not decide,’” says Ryan.
“So, a human needs to remain accountable in those.”
CBC: ‘Positively impressed’
Bateh also agrees about the value of using AI to simplify the way they work, providing more time to focus on value-added elements of work.
“It really is exponentially helping us look at how we roll out programs at scale, at different speeds… we’ve been positively impressed.”
For example, CBC has been experimenting with AI when it comes to survey comments to look for common themes.
“It’s work that would have taken us weeks in the past, to analyze and to sift through all this data. And within seconds now, we’ve got available tools that help us do this,” she says.
The same is true with recruitment, where it’s about figuring out where AI makes sense, and how to layer it in, says Bateh.
“Equity continues to be a really important aspect of everything that we do. So, how do we incorporate that with a sense of AI supporting that as well even further in terms of that accessibility and equity by design and things that we do?”
Governance and AI
On governance, Bateh stresses that the CBC is taking foundational steps, with guardrails, policies, parameters and an AI council.
“It’s obviously within HR but there’s a lot of experimentation in our field. It’s really important that we safeguard journalistic standards.”
Those guidelines were done in collaboration with various functions, including employee resource groups (ERGs), unions and bargaining agents. Similar to BC Hydro, it’s about “that safe space of experimentation where we want to celebrate failures,” she says.
“Let us share openly things that didn’t work because, for us, part of our people strategy as part of our broader corporate strategy is… change is this constant that we need to continue to build this resilience and comfort with. And with failure comes learning.”
Ryan said BC Hydro’s guidelines have been largely led by IT, which has “worked for us so far,” she says.
“We have a lot of confidential and cyber secure work here at BC Hydro, so we’re really clear about what can go into certain AI tools and which can’t.”
And the company has made a point to use values-based guardrails, she says, so employees know the AI is used with that element of human oversight.
“AI is not making employment decisions or those decisions that affect people’s livelihoods, accountability, and making sure that a human is always responsible for the outcomes and the decisions that flow from it.”
AI agents in spotlight
Making sure that confidence in AI stays strong is important for the CBC and part of the next stage, says Bateh.
“We are starting to sense that the potential is there, but more and more [it’s about] awareness around the importance of making sure we've got clear, values-based parameters and decision-making.”
That includes being open about how data is being safeguarded, such as the confidential elements of employee surveys, she says.
AI agents are also part of the next phase, says Bateh, in looking at what that means in the context of business models.
“The costing models are starting to change. So, for us, it's opening up questions… It's important from a stewardship perspective, as much as it is important that we look at it from that safeguarding information,” she says.
“What are the additional safeguards and potential policies that we need to put in place as we start working with agents? And what does that actually mean for us? So we're starting to turn our ear to that.”
For BC Hydro, AI agents are not yet in play, says Ryan.
“I know it’ll be about that operational literacy, really understanding how they function, how prompts can shape the outcomes, developing some functional expertise in that area… and strengthening that change resilience to get there.”
The company is also experimenting with major projects, such as using AI-based equipment to track and distinguish between equipment types and productivity monitoring, and providing reliable data, she says: “It’s early days and we’re looking forward to see where it takes us.”
