In this episode of the Future Proof HR podcast, Jim Kanichirayil sits down with Abby Landreneau, Director of HR Compliance and Contracts at AG-CON LLC, a rapidly growing construction company, to talk about using AI and automation in a high-volume, compliance-heavy HR environment.

Abby shares how rapid growth, seasonal hiring, field-based teams, and tight project timelines forced HR to replace informal processes with structured, mobile-first systems. She explains why the most useful AI applications are not about handing decisions to a model. They are about helping a lean team redesign forms, reduce preventable errors, build repeatable workflows, and spend less time on manual formatting and follow-up.

The conversation covers how Abby's team adapted monday.com into a shared hiring and onboarding pipeline, moved paperwork online, coordinated safety, payroll, HR, and project management around the same start date, and used Lean Six Sigma principles to keep required steps from being skipped. Abby also explains why AI-generated policies, forms, and legal information still require knowledgeable review, fact-checking, and access to subject matter experts.

Her central message is practical: do not wait for a process to be perfect before improving it, but do not confuse speed with permission to remove controls. AI can help HR move faster and create more consistent processes, while human judgment remains essential for compliance, context, and accountability.

Topics Discussed:

• How rapid growth changes the structure an HR team needs
• Why change initiatives need clear reasoning, employee input, and positive intent
• Designing mobile-first HR processes for field-based employees and managers
• Using AI to error-proof forms and improve existing workflows
• Why HR should not use AI to build unfamiliar compliance processes from scratch
• Recruiting and onboarding candidates who may not submit traditional resumes
• Adapting monday.com into a shared candidate and employee pipeline
• Coordinating HR, payroll, safety, and project teams around fast start dates
• Applying Lean Six Sigma controls to prevent required steps from being skipped
• Using AI to create more tailored performance review questions and formats
• Automating performance review distribution and tracking through an HRIS
• Why AI outputs, sources, and links still need human fact-checking

If you lead HR in a growing, field-based, seasonal, or project-driven organization, this episode offers a grounded look at where AI can remove manual work, where process controls matter most, and why compliance still depends on experienced human judgment.

Additional Resources:

• Cleary's AI-powered HR Chatbot
• Connect with Abby Landreneau on LinkedIn

In this episode of the Future Proof HR podcast, Kellie Shotwell, VP of HR and Operations at SMS Group of Companies, talks about applying AI and automation across the candidate and employee lifecycle. Kellie shares how her team improved staffing operations by building smarter workflows into systems they already used rather than starting over with an entirely new technology stack.

The conversation focuses on a central tension for staffing and HR leaders: how to automate administrative work without making the candidate experience feel transactional. Kellie explains how SMS uses mobile-first onboarding, personalized workflows, automated scheduling, skill-based candidate routing, and ongoing employee check-ins while keeping one recruiter connected to each candidate throughout the hiring process.

Kellie also shares the operational results behind the approach. SMS reduced time to fill by roughly 75 percent, increased the rate at which candidates were hired by clients by 35 percent, extended assignment lengths by about 40 percent, and brought hospitality no-show rates below 2 percent. These gains came from faster communication, automated reminders, better use of existing candidate data, and fewer manual handoffs.

The episode closes with a practical approach to AI adoption. Start with repetitive administrative work and compliance-heavy processes, involve frontline employees in workflow design, introduce changes gradually, and preserve human judgment when evaluating candidates. AI should move the process forward, but it should not replace the relationship-building that helps candidates feel seen and supported.

Topics Discussed:

• How to apply AI across both the candidate and employee lifecycle
• Balancing high-volume hiring speed with a personalized candidate experience
• Building mobile-first application, onboarding, and document workflows
• Using AI to route applicants to better-fitting jobs and recruiters
• Re-engaging passive candidates within an existing talent database
• Automating 30-, 60-, and 90-day employee and client check-ins
• Reducing manual work in payroll, tax documentation, and compliance reporting
• Introducing AI workflows without eliminating recruiter ownership of relationships
• How employee involvement and small pilots improve AI adoption
• The impact of automation on time to fill, assignment length, hire-in rates, and no-shows

If you lead staffing, recruiting, HR operations, or talent acquisition and are trying to identify practical AI use cases, this episode offers a grounded model for automating repetitive work while preserving the human connection that candidates and employees value.

Additional Resources:

• Cleary's AI-powered HR Chatbot
• Connect with Kellie Shotwell on LinkedIn

In this episode of the Future Proof HR podcast, Jim sits down with Lindsay Castro, General Counsel and Vice President of Human Resources at HCM Unlocked, to talk about how organizations can build AI governance that employees can understand and use in practice.

Lindsay explains why AI tools will continue moving faster than policies, regulations, and legal precedent. Instead of freezing or banning every new tool, she recommends starting with an inventory of how AI is already being used, assessing the data and platform risks, and giving employees clear examples of what is and is not allowed.

The conversation covers confidential information, human review, discoverability, vendor contracts, embedded AI features, biometric data, and the risks of allowing AI-generated recommendations to influence people's decisions without proper oversight. Lindsay also shares how HCM Unlocked uses cross-functional ownership, tiered risk assessments, approved-platform controls, and employee feedback to govern new AI tools.

The central takeaway is that a policy alone is not governance. Organizations need clear ownership, a repeatable approval process, employee education, and a living playbook that can change as technology, business needs, and legal requirements evolve.

Topics Discussed:

• Why AI tools are moving faster than policy and legal precedent
• How to inventory the AI tools employees and clients are already using
• Why leaders should learn the tools before setting employee rules
• The baseline rule for keeping confidential and client data out of public AI systems
• How human review prevents confident but inaccurate AI output from becoming a business decision
• What to evaluate when approving AI platforms and recording tools
• How retention, discoverability, privacy, and vendor contracts affect AI risk
• Why embedded AI features can create new exposure inside existing HR systems
• How legal, HR, technology, and employees can share responsibility for AI governance
• How tiered risk assessments and approval workflows control new AI tools
• What organizations should do when AI adoption starts from the bottom up
• Why an AI playbook must remain a living document

If you are an HR, legal, compliance, or technology leader trying to support responsible AI use without stopping experimentation, this episode offers a practical framework for creating guardrails people can actually follow.

Additional Resources:

• Cleary's AI-powered HR Chatbot
• Future Proof HR Community
• Connect with Lindsay Castro on LinkedIn