Way back in 1999, The HR Team had a temp to help with some extra administrative work.
One day, I asked her to send flowers to someone. I mentioned the recipient was local, so the florist around the corner was probably a good choice.
Three hours later, she came back and said she had been looking and looking but just couldn’t find the florist’s number on the Internet. Since it was 1999, I asked, “Did you look in the phone book?”
- Her response: “What’s a phone book?”
- Me: “See that yellow book behind you?”
- Her: “Yes.”
- Me: “Open it. Go to the letter F.”
- Her: “Oh.”
For those who may not remember, the Internet was still pretty new in 1999. Unless you were a big company with a big budget, you probably didn’t have a website. Phone books ruled.
Of course, today, none of us has a phone book anymore. Technology always promises to make things easier, better, and faster. But sometimes… it doesn’t.
Someone recently asked me if AI will make HR obsolete. My answer: ” No.”
AI promises faster this and smoother that. And it absolutely has its place. But people are still people. And interacting with people can’t always be replaced by a machine.
Not to mention, AI is still new. All the answers just aren’t there yet.
Sometimes the fastest, most efficient solution is still the equivalent of grabbing the old phone book and flipping to the right page.
Good HR professionals know how to use AI as a tool. But they also know when the situation calls for judgment, experience, and a real human conversation. That’s where we come in.
