How exposed to AI is a Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping?

Of the 19 tasks O*NET lists for human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping, 2 could be done in half the time with a chat window today. 4 cannot be sped up at all. Here is which.

Exposure means published research judged an AI could halve the time a task takes, at the same quality. It does not mean the task stops needing a person. How to read this


Also called
Human Resources Administrative Assistant (HR Administrative Assistant)Human Resources Assistant (HR Assistant)Human Resources Associate (HR Associate)Personnel Clerk
Reachable today Needs software built first Cannot be sped up
19
tasks rated for this occupation
35%
hold a degree, from a survey of 37
103k
people do this job in the US
21 of 51
least protected in office and admin
What the split says

Only two of nineteen tasks are reachable with a chat window today, both of them explaining things: personnel policies to employees, and questions about eligibility, salaries and benefits. Sixty-eight per cent needs software built first.

That combination is the honest picture of an assistant role. Very little of it can be handed to an AI as it stands, but a great deal of it is the kind of coordination that tooling handles well once somebody builds it. The protected part is chasing references, setting up inductions, arranging training, administering claims. Work that involves other people and their deadlines.

It is also the People occupation where a degree is least common, at 35 per cent of a survey of thirty-seven. Anybody arguing this role is a stepping stone that AI will remove should be asked which of the nineteen tasks they mean.

Every task, and what AI can do with it

These are O*NET's task statements for this occupation, exactly as written, sorted into the three bands by the ratings behind this report. Nothing has been reworded.

Reachable with a chat window today

2
  • Explain company personnel policies, benefits, and procedures to employees or job applicants
  • Answer questions regarding examinations, eligibility, salaries, benefits, and other pertinent information

Only with software built on top

13
  • Process, verify, and maintain personnel related documentation, including staffing, recruitment, training, grievances, performance evaluations, classifications, and employee leaves of absence
  • Record data for each employee, including such information as addresses, weekly earnings, absences, amount of sales or production, supervisory reports on performance, and dates of and reasons for terminations
  • Gather personnel records from other departments or employees
  • Examine employee files to answer inquiries and provide information for personnel actions
  • Search employee files to obtain information for authorized persons and organizations, such as credit bureaus and finance companies
  • Compile and prepare reports and documents pertaining to personnel activities
  • Interview job applicants to obtain and verify information used to screen and evaluate them
  • Process and review employment applications to evaluate qualifications or eligibility of applicants
  • Inform job applicants of their acceptance or rejection of employment
  • Select applicants meeting specified job requirements and refer them to hiring personnel
  • Arrange for advertising or posting of job vacancies and notify eligible workers of position availability
  • Administer and score applicant and employee aptitude, personality, and interest assessment instruments
  • Prepare badges, passes, and identification cards, and perform other security-related duties

Cannot be sped up

4
  • Provide assistance in administering employee benefit programs and worker's compensation plans
  • Prepare and set up for new employee orientations
  • Request information from law enforcement officials, previous employers, and other references to determine applicants' employment acceptability
  • Arrange for in-house and external training activities
What this does not say

This is not a prediction about your job

Nobody surveyed an employer. Tasks are counted equally, so a percentage here is a share of the list rather than a share of your week. And the ratings were made in 2023, which makes every figure a floor rather than a ceiling.

It must never be used to select anyone for redundancy. The full limits are here.

Where to go next

This is the standard task list for the title. The useful next question is which of the tasks you actually do should go near AI, and which should not.


Exposure ratings from Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs, Science 384, 1306–1308, 2024, used under the MIT licence. This page includes information from the O*NET Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. People Team AI has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Employment figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.