Artificial intelligence in recruitment and HR

Employees should be able to have a say in the use of algorithmic systems in the workplace. To this end, the Swiss trade union Syndicom and AlgorithmWatch are now launching a joint initiative. (Source: Tim Gouw / Unsplash.com) Algorithms and automated decision support systems can now be used in the field of human resource management. However, employees should have a say in this. This is the opinion of the Syndicom union and AlgorithmWatch Switzerland. The two organizations are launching a joint initiative to encourage employee participation in the adoption of these types of tools by companies. The aim is to enable employees to stand up for their rights when using algorithmic systems in the workplace and to derive concrete options for action, according to a statement. Algorithmic systems often make decisions that have far-reaching consequences for employees: This ranges from the evaluation of CVs to the individualized recommendation of suitable further training offers to the monitoring of the individual productivity of employees, the organizations continue to write. So far, however, the opportunities and risks of such systems have remained very abstract and there has been a lack of guidelines that can be applied in practice and an analysis of legal gaps and gray areas. Work on the joint project is scheduled to run from November 2022 to February 2024. "If algorithms decide instead of HR employees, then the employer must also be held accountable for the effects of the decisions on the employees. Therefore, the rights of participation for trade unions and employee representatives need to be further developed, which in turn leads to greater acceptance for can lead to digital change," says Daniel Hügli from the Syndicom trade union. A few weeks ago, Algorithmwatch Switzerland published a report on the use of recruitment AIs in Switzerland. According to the study, these tools are officially still very rarely used in Switzerland.