Rey Ramirez Of Thrive HR Consulting: How AI Is Disrupting Our Industry, and What We Can Do About It

Article Written By: Cynthia Corsetti

Leaders must embrace AI and understand that your employees are using this today in your organization. Learn about the tools, about how people are using them and about the impact they have on your teams. Ask your team how they are using AI and what they think about the technology, good, bad, issues, recommendations.

Artificial Intelligence is no longer the future; it is the present. It’s reshaping landscapes, altering industries, and transforming the way we live and work. With its rapid advancement, AI is causing disruption — for better or worse — in every field imaginable. While it promises efficiency and growth, it also brings challenges and uncertainties that professionals and businesses must navigate. What can one do to pivot if AI is disrupting their industry? As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Rey Ramirez.

Rey Ramirez is a versatile HR Leader with entrepreneurial passion, diverse industry experience, and a strong track record of success in HR.

In 2020 Rey and his partner Jason Walker founded Thrive HR Consulting, an Austin, TX and Denver-CO, based HR advisory firm that seeks to augment HR needs for organizations, providing fractional HR services for leading, managing, or providing guidance in all facets of HR. Thrive provides a unique model that is helpful for companies that don’t need full-time support but need expertise and guidance in the areas of executive coaching, mergers and acquisitions, employee relations, diversity and inclusion and belonging, compliance, payroll, global HR expertise, talent acquisition, and digital workforce transformation.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

I am an HR Pro with over 20 years of experience primarily with high-tech firms. I also spent 3 years as a consultant at Deloitte before I decided to start our firm with my partner Jason Walker. I love helping clients fix problems and helping engage their workforce. I have a great team that works with our clients and helps them solve their people’s issues quickly.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Our competitive advantage in the market is our deep business and HR experience working at top tier organizations. We have the ability to quickly evaluate a situation and start to resolve a client’s problems right away. My firm has done great work for leading organizations over the last 3+ years. The best response we have received from a CHRO is “I did not think Thrive HR would be able to meet the project deliverables due to the complexity of our organization/systems. I am very happy with the results and the Thrive HR team has given my HR Team credibility by getting this work done.”

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

The three are Honesty, Listening and Hard Work. Here are some examples of each trait: Honesty — as a professional, your reputation is really all you have. A big part of that is being honest, doing what you say you will do, and being truthful/genuine in all your interactions. I have used this approach in working with peers and clients. Deliver what you promise and give your point of view & why. The second trait is Listening — asking good questions, listening to your clients needs, being interested and wanting to learn. Clients want to be heard, want you to understand their issues & problems. The more you listen and don’t talk, the better. If there is an action item, repeat it so everyone is on the same page. Also recapping the conversation is a great way to ensure everyone is aware of who agreed to do what. Hard Work — having a good work ethic is very important to your success. I had great examples with my parents who worked in manual jobs — my dad picking up trash and my mom working in my elementary school cafeteria. They both got up early, went to work, supported 4 kids and took great care of our family. I started working when I was 13 and worked my way through college. The saying “The harder you work, the luckier you are” is very true. Giving Back — this is the 4th trait that I think is very important. Helping people looking for a new role or volunteering every other week at the local food bank — giving back and being humble is a great way to appreciate the blessings you have.

Let’s now move to the main point of our discussion about AI. Can you explain how AI is disrupting your industry? Is this disruption hurting or helping your bottom line?

AI is disrupting the HR function dramatically. AI and tools like Chat GPT have taken off dramatically. Employees are using the tools for their day to day work, and many organizations are not managing the use of AI tools. For our consulting business, we think it will help our bottom line. Many of our customers are asking us, “how can I use AI to make my organization more efficient?”. We have partnered with AI startups that have solutions for recruiting, operations, and engagement.

Which specific AI technology has had the most significant impact on your industry?

Improving HR Team efficiencies is the killer application of AI in HR. Finding ways to do more, provide better services to employees and leaders is the focus for our clients. HR budgets are getting cut, staff is being scrutinized and CHRO’s are looking for solutions to help their teams become more productive. Tools that can answer first line employee questions via a chatbot vs a human is an example of a cost effective solution. Being able to quickly screen candidates with an automated interview tool is another way to help recruiters talk to qualified candidates and move them through the process quickly. These are two examples of AI enabled HR tools we are showcasing to our clients.

Can you share a pivotal moment when you recognized the profound impact AI would have on your sector?

When I had to develop a new job description for a client and I asked Chat GPT to provide an example of a JD with this title in this industry, the results were fantastic. It provided 85% of what I needed for my client! Amazing results by asking the right question.

How are you preparing your workforce for the integration of AI, and what skills do you believe will be most valuable in an AI-enhanced future?

Yes, we are working closely with our consultants and making sure we are using AI tools to improve our work with clients. We now use Chat GPT to check into local laws, business trends and best practices in different industries. How we operate with Tech Firms vs. Healthcare Firms is very different and having the right research helps us present the right approach based on the industry.

What are the biggest challenges in upskilling your workforce for an AI-centric future?

The biggest challenge is openness to learn new things and being willing to give a new tool a try. Our team has embraced new AI tools and we want to learn more about them.

What ethical considerations does AI introduce into your industry, and how are you tackling these concerns?

The biggest challenge is using these tools, getting the data and just copying and pasting the results without looking at the data, making edits and in some cases deleting information that is not relevant or wrong. We highly recommend that you use the tools but also curate the data before publishing. Also, being very honest with clients on how the data was collected and by whom is very important.

What are your “Five Things You Need To Do, If AI Is Disrupting Your Industry”?

1 . Leaders must embrace AI and understand that your employees are using this today in your organization. Learn about the tools, about how people are using them and about the impact they have on your teams. Ask your team how they are using AI and what they think about the technology, good, bad, issues, recommendations.

2 . HR should lead the way in the use of AI tools. If you don’t, other functions will take the lead and HR will be following, much like when Cloud computing started. IT departments stated that they would never move critical applications to the cloud. Then departments had a different approach and started using the technology without IT being involved. We used the term “shadow IT” for sales or marketing or other functional applications. IT was left behind and had to catch up. We recommend that HR start a few pilots to learn and develop an approach to using AI tools.

3 . Develop a policy on the use of AI applications and tools in your organization. What is acceptable, what is not, who approves, put in some guard rails to help manage the risk of AI in your company. You don’t want to see your company’s intellectual property shared on Chat GPT and available to your competitors.

4 . Work with your Leaders on an AI strategy for your company. How will you use it in your products? How will you use it to become more efficient and productive? How will you manage AI day to day in your organization? A new job title is Vice President of AI for the company. One central point of contact for all AI in a company.

What are the most common misconceptions about AI within your industry, and how do you address them?

AI will take over my job! We have been messaging to our clients that some roles may be replaced with AI but AI cannot do everything. AI can not be empathetic, read emotions, read a room, etc. We recommend that employees always focus on development, learning and those employees will be able to add value and be needed by organizations.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?

Focus on what is important in Life — my focus is on Family, Friends, Giving Back and Growing our Firm. For me, the most valuable time is the time I spend with my wife, kids, grandkids and friends. Time with the special people in my life is so important. I also love to give back to my community. I give my money and time to the Food Bank of the Rockies. Going out in the morning to a parking lot, unloading an 18 wheeler of food, building food boxes and handing them out to 200+ needy families is the best way to spend a winter, spring, summer or winter morning. My other focus is our business, and keeping our consultants happy. Doing this results in a productive team that provides a great service to our customers. Happy customers result in a business that will last into the future.

Off-topic, but I’m curious. As someone steering the ship, what thoughts or concerns often keep you awake at night? How do those thoughts influence your daily decision-making process?

The viability of another HR consulting firm! I focus on how we are different in the market, building our brand, making business development contacts and networking. Our best customers have come from our direct network or someone we know referring us to someone they know. Keeping that network going is critical to our business success.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I have a big concern about the amount of violence especially in our schools. I’d like to figure out ways to reduce that and for our kids not to have to practice hiding under a desk or locking doors to protect themselves! More to come on this topic in 2024.

For more information on this topic, contact Thrive HR at (408) 799-1425  or www.thrivehrconsulting.com