This story appears in the February issue of Utah Business. Subscribe. 

As Utah’s economy continues to grow and thrive, driving unemployment to record lows, the quest for talent acquisition and management among Utah’s employers will become more competitive—pushing HR managers and executives to utilize the latest artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Companies like HireVue and Everee are leading the charge, creating new categories and systems to provide the tools businesses need to stay competitive. 

HireVue recently introduced the “Human Potential Intelligence” category to modernize the hiring process by shifting the focus from past achievements to a candidate’s potential, skills and interests, utilizing AI to predict future job performance. Based on a framework grounded in industrial organizational psychology, this new methodology hopes to make the hiring process more inclusive, dynamic and predictive of success. 

“Traditional hiring practices primarily focus on what a candidate has done in the past, what we call ‘rearview recruiting,’” says Lindsey Zuloaga, Ph.D. and chief data scientist at HireVue. “This old school methodology is based on the assumption that you can only do things you’ve already done, which is incredibly limiting and isn’t going to work with the pace of change in the workforce of today.”

Zuloaga touts HireVue’s work with Emirates Airlines as a compelling example of how AI-driven talent assessments create value. The aviation group has saved close to $500,000 by streamlining its processes, and they’ve done it despite staffing reductions and a global pandemic.

Everee recently launched Auto Payroll, an AI-powered process that eliminates manual tasks and allows for more efficient daily payments. With its advanced error-detection capabilities, the system reduces the risk of payroll discrepancies, ensuring employees are paid the correct amount on time. Auto Payroll solves payroll issues, including time-consuming manual processing, human error and the slow-paced traditional payment schedules that no longer meet the needs of today’s fast-paced work environment.

By addressing these challenges, Everee’s Auto Payroll system offers a streamlined, error-resistant approach to payroll, allowing instant compensation that caters to today’s expectation for immediate and flexible pay options.

“We’re not just trying to make payroll less painful; we want to take running payroll off a company’s to-do list entirely,” says Brett Barlow, Everee CEO and co-founder. “Using AI to automate payroll means companies that want to pay their employees quicker will actually have the bandwidth to do so with confidence. By removing the need for manual reviews and approvals, it ensures that employees are paid accurately every time.”

Ethical considerations remain paramount as AI becomes increasingly integrated into HR processes in order to avoid perpetuating biases, infringing on privacy rights, and compromising integrity and fairness. 

“HireVue assessments are rigorously tested for bias pre- and post-deployment. All of our algorithms meet or exceed the EEOC’s [U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] uniform guidelines on employee selection procedures,” Zuloaga says.

As Utah’s economy continues to evolve, it is essential that technology keeps up. AI has become a cornerstone for all aspects of business, and HR is no different. HireVue’s Human Potential Intelligence and Everee’s Auto Payroll are the most recent examples of how Utah continues to adapt and innovate as the world moves forward. These advancements will ensure that employees have a better experience with a more effective payroll system that can better serve their immediate financial needs while offering a more fair and equitable recruitment process that helps companies stay competitive. 

The ultimate beneficiaries of these new AI-powered solutions will be Utah’s workforce, who will benefit from having more options, opportunities and flexibility, leading to a more productive work life.