Back in the late nineties, when I was working in a company with nearly a hundred workers, one of my monthly rituals was printing out salary slips, cutting them neatly with a ruler, and personally handing them to each worker in their shifts. It might sound mundane today, but at that time, it was my unique way of staying connected – of showing that HR was not just about numbers on a sheet, but about knowing and engaging with every person behind those numbers. I did that, without fail, for seven straight years, till the time I was in that Company.
Cut to 2025, in today’s workplace, employees can get their pay slips in seconds, check their leave balance in an instant, and receive training recommendations tailored just for them – all without speaking to a single HR person.
That’s the promise of AI and automation in HR: speed, accuracy, and personalization at scale.
But here’s the catch – employees still expect human warmth in moments that matter. A chatbot may tell you that your leave is denied, but it cannot sense the urgency in...
