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Can AI Reduce Staffing Needs? What Employers Should Consider Before Changing a Hiring Plan

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Unless you've been living entirely off the grid for the last few years, you know that AI is significantly changing how work gets done and who does it. AI can make a five-hour task take two. It can speed up research, automate repetitive tasks, reduce human errors, and give employees more time to focus on work that requires judgment or human expertise . But does that mean an AI system can remove the need for a new hire? The answer is far less straightforward than some of the headlines suggest. AI has clearly changed what certain roles look like, and in some cases, it has reduced how much work is left for a person to do. But ...

Is Your Accounting Department Understaffed? How to Identify the Right Kind of Help

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The staff accountant hasn't left before 7 PM in weeks. The invoices get processed eventually, but reconciliations keep getting bumped, and everyone has quietly accepted that as normal. A few doors down, the CFO is two hours into a task that has nothing to do with strategy or forecasting—it's work that should belong to the controller role that's been vacant since spring. Meanwhile, every payroll question still routes to the former payroll coordinator, who got promoted six months ago but is still the bottleneck for a task that isn't supposed to be hers anymore. Ask any of them if the department needs help, and they...

What to Do Before Posting a Job Opening: Questions to Answer First

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Two weeks into a search, a promising candidate asks the recruiter whether a specific certification is really required, or if the company would consider equivalent experience instead. The recruiter isn't sure, so she checks with the department head—who admits the job description posted for the role is outdated. The team has grown since it was last reviewed, and the work has shifted along with it. "Honestly, we've been struggling to fill this," the recruiter says. "No one seems to check every box. Are there any qualifications you'd be willing to compromise on?" The department head thinks so, but tha...