EY: ‘Any successful transformation I’ve been involved in has had HR in the process from beginning to end’

AI is touching every corner of HR, promising greater productivity, efficiency, and opening the door to entirely new ways of working.

But these changes call for a substantial amount of adaptability – for both businesses and leaders, alike.

EY – a $51.2 billion company – is showing that effective AI adoption requires more than technology – employees need to be on board, too. 

To understand more about EY’s approach to this, UNLEASH spoke exclusively to the company’s Global Deputy Talent Leader, Scott Schmidt.

Using AI to build trust and curiosity

For EY’s Schmidt, the most important aspect talent function should focus on achieving with AI, is fostering the right culture and environment to boost curiosity and trust. 

“It’s important not to chase AI for AI’s sake,” he warns, “which isn’t practical from a usage or cost perspective. 

“While the most widespread use cases of AI today tend to be in HR service delivery, there’s also a desire to focus on awareness and upskilling for our day-to-day jobs. 

“Talent functions that don’t keep pace with the change will not only be left behind, but organizations will suffer without their contributions to broader AI planning and rollout.”

On the Talent side of the business, EY has reported seeing huge benefits from AI – especially when it comes to service delivery. 

“As HR professionals, it’s all too easy to spend most of the day on processes that need to be done, but then we’re not really driving value or differentiation for the business or employees,” Schmidt adds. 

AI creates an opportunity to automate those more time-consuming tasks and refocus HR on the strategic aspects of the function that really do matter, which gives us the potential to have a meaningful impact on the lives and careers of the people we work with.”

To ensure these opportunities are met, HR leaders need to decide which AI tools will have the most significant impact – and are therefore worth investing in.

As the market and vendors are evolving so quickly, one of the biggest challenges Schmidt foresees is deciding where to invest in maximizing quality, innovation and to meet evolving expectations.

For example, EY has decided to “bet” on a few of our big strategic partners – Microsoft, SAP, and ServiceNow. 

“There is still room for new and creative tools from smaller companies, but if future success depends on having access to data, the problems caused by a disjointed system landscape are becoming more serious,” he explains.

“We have also asked our people what’s most important to them. They told us they wanted more time to focus on personal fulfilment and building essential skills – prioritizing learning, wellbeing or engaging with the community. 

“So, we’ve invested in tools to help them do those things. For example, EYQ, our internal, proprietary Gen AI conversational assistant tool – which supports innovation and helps people save time – has a user adoption rate of over 81%.”

“Shaping the future with confidence”

As technology is being integrated at a rapid rate, leaders must keep pace with the developments. 

In HR especially, new tools are reshaping decision-making – from hiring to performance management and beyond – meaning leaders must embrace and understand how to apply these technologies.

Schmidt notes: “The fundamentals of leadership development aren’t changing. We will always need leaders who inspire their teams, are focused on the business, and able to successfully build and execute a strategy. It’s the tools they use to do those things that may change. 

If anything, technology disruption, economic uncertainty and the rapid pace of change are making it more important to properly develop and empower our leaders.”

To support this idea, leading-edge technologies have been embedded into EY’s leadership development, focusing on upskilling for future-proofed skills. 

For example, EY Badges is a program that offers free, digital credentials to all its people, regardless of rank or geographic location. Since the program’s inception, EY has awarded more than half a million EY Badges, with more than 30,000 of them in AI.

“Good leadership is also about modelling the behaviours you want to see in an organization – and this includes AI adoption,” Schmids adds. “The more leaders can show the practical uses, the more people will touch the tools and realize their value.”

Likewise, HR leaders may want to start moving towards modernizing their teams – which can be a daunting task.

For Schmidt, this starts with one fundamental skill: Listening.

“One meaningful first step is to listen – really listen – to your people. 

“At EY, we talk about shaping the future with confidence to build a workforce that’s both engaged and future ready. 

“How do we get there? Through the small but powerful first step of looking at how well our current people strategy aligns with the way work is changing and more importantly, what our people are looking for.”

Schmidt shares that EY employees tend to stay with the company because of the growth and learning opportunities, the teams, and the flexibility to carve out a personalized career path that can align with their aspirations and different stages of life. 

He also explains that having access to “leading-edge technology is a critical part of the modernization puzzle”, but likewise, so is cultivating a deeper understanding of evolving employee expectations.

To achieve this, EY is set on building an agile organization that can respond to future needs and grow sustainably – which involves focusing on speeding up its delivery, simplifying processes, and organizing data.

Any successful transformation I’ve been involved in has had HR in the process from beginning to end,” he shares.

“You can’t just implement a new software or pull one lever and hope for change, you must focus on all the various elements together.”

As a result, Schmidt urges other HR leaders to focus on encouraging a curious mindset and continuous learning. 

“HR has a vital role to play in the continued transformation of the workforce, and the ever-increasing focus on technology only makes getting the human aspects right that much more important,” he concludes.

“Success isn’t just about deploying the latest tools, it’s about helping people see technologies like AI as a partner in their work. Transformation itself must be human-centric. 

“Our goal is to change mindsets, ensuring professionals can use AI to augment their expertise, improve efficiency and ultimately deliver better career experiences and more innovative solutions for clients.”