Artificial Intelligence in
Human Resources
The introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) tools is forever changing the HR landscape. Leveraging this technology can help organizations enhance many functions within HR, resulting in increased efficiencies and cost savings. However, this technology has limitations and vulnerabilities that need to be considered before employers integrate it into their organizations. While the human component of HR operations is still important, here are some ways employers may be able to adopt and leverage AI tools within such operations, as well as associated risks to keep in mind.
Recruitment
AI tools can help improve recruitment in various ways. First, employers can implement AI chatbots to answer any preliminary questions that potential talent may have. Further, AI tools can be used to help assist employers with recruitment and hiring functions—such as resume screening and skill assessments—and identify qualified job applicants. These tools can also be used to help candidates fill out job applications more easily by automatically pulling relevant information from their resumes, so they don’t waste time manually inputting it.
AI can also be used to help generate interview questions tailored to individual roles. This personalization can help employers make the recruitment process more user-friendly, personal, and efficient.
Onboarding
Integrating new employees into an organization is an essential HR function. AI tools can help answer FAQs, provide basic information about company policies, and assign training courses that are specific to employees’ roles and skills. They can also disseminate documents and obtain required acknowledgements.
Employers may benefit from using these tools to help streamline onboarding processes; the more seamless such processes are, the more likely employees will be to have a positive experience and want to stay with the organization. Additionally, leveraging AI tools can help free up time for HR departments or business leaders to focus on more complex tasks, such as ensuring Forms I-9 are accurate or direct deposits are arranged properly.
Employee Engagement
Keeping employees engaged is a key factor to increasing an organization’s overall retention. By utilizing AI tools, an employer can collect feedback from employees more regularly and obtain useful insights into how engaged they feel within their roles and the organization as a whole. These tools can aid employers in gaining a deeper understanding of employees’ needs, as they can gather feedback and solutions that employees may not feel comfortable vocalizing—or even fully realize they wanted.
Learning & Development
Learning and development opportunities are key to any successful organization because they help develop employees’ skills, create career paths, and keep workers engaged. By using AI tools, employers can more easily identify skill gaps and areas in need of development. Certain tools are also able to generate role- or job-specific learning and development opportunities so that employers don’t have to spend time creating personalized plans for every employee.
Analytics
Many companies collect data on people analytics and key metrics such as time-to-hire and employee turnover rates. However, it can be time consuming for HR departments or professionals to go through all of this data and determine how to use it. AI tools can not only help collect this data, but also provide employers with strategies and decisions based on such information.
Limitations & Risks
While AI tools can help employers streamline many tasks and improve overall efficiency, the limitations and risks should not be ignored. Specifically, HR departments and professionals should remain involved in important decision-making processes and watch for any unexpected biases, data privacy issues, and cybersecurity exposures that might stem from using this technology.
Unexpected biases are issues that can easily arise when the data used to train AI tools is not initially screened by a human. For example, when Amazon first implemented an AI recruiting tool to screen resumes, the training data this tool was given to identify ideal candidates was predominately male because most employees at the company—and in the technology industry overall—were male at the time. As a result, the tool favored recruiting male candidates over female candidates. To prevent similar incidents, employers should review any data they provide AI tools, or that this technology produces, to see if any unanticipated biases are present.
Data privacy, cybersecurity, and copyright laws can also be potential risks associated with the use of AI tools. Employers should be careful about inputting personal or confidential information into these tools, especially if they are owned by third parties rather than their own companies. Otherwise, these tools could lead to the dissemination of private information. Additionally, employers should consider the copyright status of any content generated by AI tools before using it.
Employers are well-advised to review and update their workplace policies to ensure they cover AI tools. Organizations should also train employees on potential copyright and privacy issues or restrict access to AI tools to reduce legal risks.
Are PCORI Fees Finished?
If your company has been paying PCORI fees for your self-insured health plan for several years, you might be wondering whether this requirement is still applicable.
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) fees, paid by health insurers and self-insured health plan sponsors, are used to fund research on patient-centered outcomes. They were initially required for plan and policy years ending before October 1, 2019; for calendar-year plans and policies, the 2018 plan or policy year was to be the last year for which PCORI fees applied. However, budget legislation passed in 2019 reinstated the PCORI provision and continued the fee requirements through plan years ending before October 1, 2029.
A PCORI fee is considered an excise tax under the Code and is reported on IRS Form 720. Although Form 720 is filed quarterly for other federal excise taxes, PCORI fee reporting and payment are only required annually, by July 31 of the year following the calendar year in which the applicable policy or plan year ended.
Thus, the Form 720 reporting liability for the PCORI fee imposed for a calendar-year plan year ending on December 31, 2024, must be filed by July 31, 2025. The instructions to Form 720 advise taxpayers to keep their tax returns, records, and supporting documentation for at least four years from the latest of the date the tax became due or the date the tax was paid.
HSA Contributions Between Spouses
Often, the contribution rules and regulations for an HSA seem very cut-and-dry. But when a set of spouses are each enrolled under their respective company’s high-deductible health plan (HDHP) with self-only coverage, questions may arise as to which contribution limit applies.
There are two HSA contribution limits: one for individuals with self-only HDHP coverage ($4,300 for 2025) and another for individuals with family HDHP coverage—including two-party coverage ($8,550 for 2025). When at least one spouse has family coverage and both spouses are HSA-eligible, a special rule for married individuals requires the spouses to share the higher limit—either spouse’s HSA may receive contributions up to the family maximum, but their combined contributions cannot exceed the family maximum. The HSA rules do not allow married couples to maintain a joint HSA; HSAs are individual accounts. Spouses who are at least age 55 by the end of the year can also make an additional “catch-up” contribution to their own HSAs of up to $1,000. Catch-up contributions cannot be shared.
In the situation described above, neither spouse has family coverage, so the special rule for married individuals does not apply. Contributions to each spouse’s HSA will be subject to the limit for persons with self-only coverage (including catch-up contributions of up to $1,000, if the spouse meets the age requirement). One spouse cannot increase the other spouse’s maximum HSA contributions by contributing less. This does not mean that the spouses cannot contribute to each other’s HSAs—anyone can contribute to another individual’s HSA. However, one spouse’s contribution limit cannot be increased by the unused portion of the other spouse’s limit.
If spouses with self-only coverage each maintain HSAs and contribute the maximum, their aggregate contributions will not be much different than the maximum under the special rule for married individuals. In 2025, twice the self-only limit is slightly more than the family limit ($8,600 versus $8,550). What is lost is the flexibility to place a disproportionate amount of the contribution into the HSA of one spouse. Married couples wishing to maximize their aggregate contribution will need to (1) maintain two HSAs, and (2) maximize their contributions to each HSA. Loss of the flexibility to make disproportionate contributions to one spouse’s HSA is something for married couples to consider when deciding whether to elect self-only HDHP coverage from their respective employers or family HDHP coverage from one employer. Of course, this decision will also be influenced by other factors, such as premium costs, provider networks, deductible and other cost-sharing amounts, and any spousal surcharges.
