Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) is often portrayed in a negative light and as a threat to the future of work as we know it. The general view from many experts is that AI is poised to automate jobs and exacerbate bias. However, if deployed with proper human oversight and training, AI can be a transformative force for good by enhancing fairness, productivity, and inclusion across the workplace.
Employers should utilise tools which can help organisations tap into wider, more diverse talent pools, remove unconscious bias from recruitment, personalise employee support, and ensure compliance with evolving regulatory frameworks.
Opening the Door to a More Diverse Workforce
One of the most promising uses of AI lies in the recruitment process. Traditional hiring methods, which are often reliant on CV screening and human review are undoubtedly susceptible to unconscious bias. However, AI tools, when properly trained and audited with appropriate human oversight over inputs and outputs, can help employers:
- Scan a wider range of candidates more efficiently, beyond the usual networks or CV pools;
- Standardise evaluation criteria, focusing on skills, experience, and aptitude rather than personal characteristics or affinity bias; and
- Remove identifying data (e.g. name, age, address) to facilitate anonymised shortlisting.
By augmenting the hiring process with objective data and criteria, AI can promote greater equality and access to the workplace, encouraging applications from underrepresented groups, including people with disabilities, older workers, members of the travelling community, and neurodiverse individuals.
While the benefits are clear, AI must be trained on diverse and representative data to avoid replicating historical biases. Employers using AI in hiring should conduct regular audits and ensure transparency in their decision-making criteria to meet obligations under employment equality legislation in Ireland.
Enhancing Accessibility and Inclusion
For many individuals, particularly those with disabilities, access to the modern workplace is often limited and restricted in various ways. AI-driven tools can significantly improve workplace accessibility. For example:
- Real-time speech-to-text transcription for employees who are deaf or hard of hearing,
- Language translation tools to support multilingual workforces; and
- AI-enabled screen readers and assistive technologies that allow employees with visual or mobility impairments to fully engage with digital devices and workflows.
These innovations not only promote compliance with employment equality legislation, but also signal a genuine commitment to an inclusive and diverse workplace.
Support Employee Wellbeing
AI can be used ethically to monitor patterns in absenteeism, workload, or employee engagement. Rather than use these tools to track or discipline employees for underperformance, they can be used to identify employee supports as early as possible. For example, algorithms can flag trends in late logins, excessive overtime, or frequent short absences, prompting an empathetic managerial check-in or a referral to occupational health.
Of course, such systems must comply with data protection obligations under the GDPR and data protection legislation. The principle of proportionality is key: employees must know how their data is used and processed, and it must only be used for legitimate, clearly defined purposes.
AI for Learning and Development
One of the most difficult ongoing tasks for employers is to ensure that employees are engaged in regular training and upskilling which is tailored to their skills and needs as well as those of the organisation. Modern AI tools can tailor training programmes and career development pathways to individual employees based on role, performance, and career goals. This type of personalisation:
- Encourages learning and upskilling;
- Helps employees adapt to changes in technology; and
- Supports retention and internal mobility.
For example, an AI system might identify that an employee with strong analytical skills is underutilised in their current role and suggest a training course in data analysis. This supports both employee progression and organisational strategy.
Compliance with Legal and Regulatory Obligations
AI can also help employers navigate increasingly complex legal and regulatory obligations by:
- Automating routine tasks like absence tracking and leave calculations;
- Ensuring consistency in performance management, disciplinary processes, and probationary reviews; and
- Flagging legal risks, such as excessive working hours under the organisation of working time legislation in Ireland.
Used responsibly, these tools can improve fairness and reduce the risk of human error. However, human oversight is still a key element and AI should always work alongside, not replace, professional HR and legal oversight.
Gender Pay Gap Reporting
AI also has capacity to support employers in complying with its gender pay gap reporting obligations.
The Gender Pay Gap Information Act requires organisations with over 50 employees to report on their hourly gender pay gap (“GPG”) across a range of metrics. In addition to GPG reporting obligations, from next year, employers will also be obliged to comply with additional reporting obligations under the EU’s Pay Transparency Directive. This will include reporting on the gender pay gap between “categories of workers” that do work of equal value by reference to basic and variable pay (more on the Pay Transparency Directive here). Under the Directive, employees will also have the right to receive information on their individual pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for the categories of workers performing the same work as them or work of equal value to theirs. The information must be provided to the requesting employee within a reasonable period of time but no later than within two months of them making the request. Employers should upgrade their data processing and data management systems to ensure they are prepared for requests on pay transparency in the workplace and can respond to requests across various categories of workers within the two month deadline. (Please see our article Pay Transparency- New Employee Rights to Pay Information for further information on this new right)
AI can analyse complex remuneration data across roles, allowing employers to identify patterns of disparity that may not be immediately visible through manual audit processes, enabling employers to remain in compliance with their obligations under the legislation. That being said, it is vital that employers retain human oversight of these outputs.
Ethical Use and Legal Safeguards
While the benefits of AI are compelling, they must be balanced with robust ethical frameworks, human oversight and appropriate employee safeguards. Our guide on AI in the Workplace - What Are Employers Doing to Prepare? provides an overview of steps that employers are taking to navigate the ever increasing use of AI in the workplace.
It is also important to note that the EU AI Act, came into force on 1 August 2024, and is a comprehensive legal framework designed to harmonise rules on the use of AI throughout the EU. The EU AI Act will regulate high-risk uses of AI in employment, including recruitment and performance monitoring and the majority of these provisions will be in force from 2 August, 2026. We recommend that employers start preparing now to ensure compliance. You can get further information on the EU AI Act in our article The EU AI Act: The Download for Employers.
Conclusion
If employers approach the implementation of AI in the workplace with fairness, inclusion, and ethics at the core — AI has the potential to enrich the workplace, increase efficiencies, empower and support employees, and ensure compliance with the ever changing legal and regulatory landscape.
Matheson's Employment, Pensions and Benefits Group is available to guide you through the complexities of navigating the ever increasing use of AI in the workplace and new legislation being introduced in this area, so please do reach to our team or your usual Matheson contact.
This article was co-authored by Employment, Pensions and Benefits partner, Alice Duffy, senior associate, Shane Gallen and solicitor, Shauna Moran.