How to Prepare Your HR Team for the AI Future?
In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, we speak with Lucia Bucci, Divisional CHRO for Employer Services International (ESI) at ADP, about leading HR across 37 countries, embedding AI into people processes, and building future-ready teams.
Lucia draws on her 25-year career across Europe and beyond to share how HR can stay relevant in an AI-driven future. She discusses automating repetitive tasks, using AI to support manager training, and upskilling HR teams to embrace technology. The conversation also dives into trust, authenticity, resilience, and why team engagement is the real driver of retention and performance.
🎓 In this episode, Lucia discusses:
Preparing HR teams for an AI-driven future
Balancing global consistency with local customization
Building trust, authenticity, and engagement as leadership pillars
Using AI to automate repetitive tasks and streamline manager training
Leading HR strategy across 37 countries for ADP’s international business
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Lucia Bucci 0:00
The more you grow, the more you understand it. But when you are more junior, actually, you think, I'm doing a good job, someone will notice, and then you start seeing the people who level up. So one thing we did, and it's part also how we coach a mentor people who wants to go to the next level, is to build them a sponsor. So someone they work with the senior then I always ask, what's your brand and what people say when you are not in the room? Those two dimensions make people reflecting that who is watching me, so that it becomes I don't have to pretend I am someone. Personally, I hate to do that type of networking, but it's about helping you. I will do it, and then clearly he pay back. That's my experience. So help someone. Someone else, help you. So I think the youngster or the less experienced tend to underestimate the importance of networking, not for the sake of it, but because it's bringing value. I would say you.
Chris Rainey 1:12
Lucia, welcome to the show. How are you?
Lucia Bucci 1:13
I'm fine. Thank you. What about you, Chris, I'm good.
Chris Rainey 1:17
I love that. We both came very colorful today. Yeah,
Lucia Bucci 1:19
definitely.
Chris Rainey 1:24
How are things? How's life? Well, it's for us, it's the end of the fiscal year. So all good.
Chris Rainey 1:30
That's why you're smiling.
Lucia Bucci 1:33
I've been lucky enough to listen before you our investor call, which is a special event we do every four years. So it was very exciting about the future of the company. So definitely interesting and good time for
Chris Rainey 1:46
but it all starts again next month, everything
Lucia Bucci 1:53
people will say that more than anyone else, because they are running like hell till third of June to sign as much as possible. But then July 1, back from scratch, yeah, again, starting from zero. Are
Chris Rainey 2:07
you pretty good at like, with holidays? Like, do you are you pretty good in August and like to take the time? Or do you space out kind of time with the family and stuff? Well,
Lucia Bucci 2:18
the consequence of the ending of the third of June, is that bonus in the US has paid on August, 1 or the end of the month. So that is the moment we can take
Lucia Bucci 2:28
a bit of perfect time
Lucia Bucci 2:30
exactly. But if you are Italian, everybody goes on living in August, so you are rather like beating a more quiet time of the year. But yes, I will take time off for sure,
Chris Rainey 2:40
yeah, I went to Italy last, last I think, yeah, last year, and it was like 38 degrees, and I was, I was struggling. I thought, I'll be fine. And I was like, whoa. And I was like, this is pretty, pretty intense, but you must be, you must be used to it. But,
Lucia Bucci 3:00
yeah, but yesterday, they were announcing that this was the hottest may we had in the past. I think, 50, no, well, eight year, so it will reach already 27 degree. You're on Celsius, right? Yes. So it was too much for being May. So we don't know what is going to happen. You know, we have a global hurt challenge to face. And Italy is going to become a desertic area, if you look at
Chris Rainey 3:24
for really, I did not know about that.
Lucia Bucci 3:27
Yeah, we are getting, I mean, you're not going to get the Italian weather of the good times in the UK. Yeah. And we are going to be like Egypt or
Chris Rainey 3:35
yeah, oh my i play well, let's enjoy it. Now.
Lucia Bucci 3:40
In the office, I'm enjoying my air con for sure, yeah.
Chris Rainey 3:43
Before we jump in, tell everyone a little bit about your background, you know, personally, and your journey to where we are today,
Lucia Bucci 3:51
okay, well, I likely say that I am made in Italy, and I come from the south of Italy, and move to Milan, where I currently live, to study University. I when I started, I wanted to be a broker, so I went into study business administration. Then throughout my journey, I lost the convention that that was really something I wanted to do. It was very quantitative, and I swap during my study into Business Administration for organization. So I took my master in the study in HR. So I think I was lucky enough to know before entering the work market what I wanted to do, which was good. And then I've been growing within HR. So my colleague, former colleague, friends, say, are you still convinced on that part? I mean, I eat the mark of 25 years, so I don't know. For my next 25 years, something could happen. And, yeah, I've been working always in multinational so despite I'm Italian, and I lived a good portion of my life in Italy, I've been also in. Living in the UK, when I was working for Shell, in Switzerland, when I was working for Tetra Pak, and then I moved back to Italy. I really feel a global citizen by the opportunity. The work I've been dealing with has been international in nature. I am a big traveler, so I like traveling the world. I am lucky to be in the country that everybody wants to visit. So I keep saying, you know, yes, I'm visiting Italy, but then keep
Chris Rainey 5:29
going. You can leave, right? Let them come to Italy, then you can
Lucia Bucci 5:33
over. Tourism is definitely a problem in Italy. It's
Chris Rainey 5:36
very busy. When I, when I went there last August, I was like, you could barely move like, to get into, like, somebody's sight, seeing, like some of the places my wife and daughter and I were, like, waiting for hours to go into any of the tourist attractions. Anyways, so you love to travel. What's your favorite place you've been?
Lucia Bucci 5:55
I run. I went there in before today, in 2018 has been a great place to be, to be honest, a discovery, because it's one of those places that if you don't go there, you can only have pre judgments. I would say, Yeah. And it's very linked to the history of my country, because this is Persia, so it's linked to Greek, if you think on that way, and not how it's portrayed today. Plus it's a very young country, so the people are super nice, welcoming. So it was a great experience. Today, probably wouldn't do the same. It has also built a bigger spot of my passport. I travel to the US frequently because ADP is an American company, so I cannot have a nest. So I always remember
Chris Rainey 6:42
just because you went that one time, yeah,
Lucia Bucci 6:45
you have to declare it in the past. Now, I changed my passport so I should be spot free, but still remain one of my favorite Andalusia, I've been in places where not many people have been like Bhutan
Chris Rainey 6:59
I live. Oh, my, you, you know, you're, you're, you're taking off some of the places because I, I'm really fascinated by like, ancient civilizations, yeah, and I follow like, both those places you just mentioned, and I've watched a number of documentaries where they're unveiling some, some like hidden civilizations that date back, you know, 5000 past years, they did, they didn't even know about, you know, yeah,
Lucia Bucci 7:25
I tell you. And by the way, last weekend, visited the naple, my sister, I went to past two, which I think is one of the best, like Pompei, one of the sites where everybody wants to go. And luckily, it was so hot that it was a few of us, and we enjoy. But it was really like, Huh? This make me think of Persepolis. So I was discussing with my sister, so, yeah, we have a lot of history in our country, but it's nice to see connection,
Chris Rainey 7:53
yeah. So I love that. I need to do that more, and I want to take my daughter traveling with me as well. I want to get some time tell everyone about your current role, the current role you're in now. So
Lucia Bucci 8:03
I am the HR for the international business of ADP. For those who don't know ADP, ADP is 75 years old business who became international 40 years ago. We are around 67,000 employee and we are present in 140 countries, some with direct presence. And I am responsible for 37 of those countries, and the rest to also partner. The big part of our organization is in the US. I am not in the US, excluding very few, well, probably less than 1000 of associates. So we are really global in the business, and our clients are global. So it's quite exciting. I am the HR of that
Chris Rainey 8:49
function. You're the CHRO, right of the business unit, yeah. We
Lucia Bucci 8:53
don't call it like that, yeah, yeah, CHRO, or the ADP, who was doing my job before, tell me exactly how you are a mini CHRO. Yeah, I don't have the board.
Chris Rainey 9:04
Well, you've got a lot, you've got a lot of countries and a lot of employees. Exactly
Lucia Bucci 9:08
I have, I have a big spectrum so and I have a lot of fun. And I'm lucky because my CHRO is British, so I don't have to explain to him how it is being international. So that's also a big plus,
Chris Rainey 9:21
amazing, amazing. And, I mean, to be honest, like, I don't think there's any one listening to the show that doesn't know ADP.
Lucia Bucci 9:31
I think so. But yeah, because we are HR, professional, well known, so yeah, it's quite nice. Nevertheless, when you go into the market, you want to attract. Of course, it's a bit more of a different story. But yeah, I'm pleased to represent ADP
Chris Rainey 9:47
in the show today. How long you been now? How long? Well, I'm getting older
Lucia Bucci 9:51
in ADP because I joined in September 2012 So actually I'm beating in September 13 years, which is why I never forget. After that. So life is is good when you do not realize and suddenly is like this. So
Chris Rainey 10:06
if you could think of like one thing, like the number one thing that kept you at ADP for so long, that attracted you to stay, what would that be? What's the what's the number one reason,
Lucia Bucci 10:16
the possibility to make an impact? So you are given the opportunity. So that's and since I am a status quo challenger is a mindset. I always got my chances. So, yeah, definitely. And I would add another one, there is a value for us. Each individual count. You really feel it. So the two things working in HR, I think, is important that that value is met, yeah,
Chris Rainey 10:42
what? What aspect of HR really sparks your curiosity and as retained your passion for so many years,
Lucia Bucci 10:54
knowing businesses, I mean, knowing different industry, it's something I'm always passionate. So to be honest, I would say, how do we make the money? And now we support the business to make more money, so the curiosity to see how we could trigger more growth opportunity, and I've been lucky, because almost all the company I've worked for have been on a growth trajectory, or, in any case, opportunity to see the growth leverage by people. We are strong in technology, but the real differentiator for ADP service, for example. Of course, that dimension is keen, but yeah, I really like to listen to our investor call and the questions and have my team understanding that I don't see the value of HR without a business that is doing something in the world. Yeah, and we pay million of people, so it's actually a nice thing. Yeah,
Chris Rainey 11:47
people won't believe that. But before we hit record, I asked you, how's your day? And you said, it was great because I listened to the investor call, which may sound strange, right, but you truly reflect what you just said. You were like, I was so excited to listen to investigol, and you know what we're achieving and like, like that genuinely is something that I can see drives your passion and your purpose.
Lucia Bucci 12:07
Yeah, definitely. And I also think it's where HR can make the difference. Of course, if we understand we can. I mean, you can be a business partner if you don't know what your business is doing. So I always inquire my team on, okay, how, what is the impact you are going to drive with these, with the business, the leader you are supporting? So, yeah, definitely, yeah. I'm very curious. As a general trait of my personality, well,
Chris Rainey 12:34
you kind of have to be right, like, if you look at I've been doing this since I was 17, so I've not been living in a seat like you, but I've been having conversations and producing content for 20 years in the HR space, right? And I fell into this by accident. If you don't have that curiosity mindset, you won't last long in HR, because think about how much has changed from when I started, when it was very much the administrative function, to where we are now, where in December, I'm about to bring together 13,000 CHROs for our AI Summit. Who would have thought that we would bring together 13,000 HR executives for AI and HR like you know, you wouldn't even dream of where we are right today. How does that make you feel when you reflect on the journey for yourself, but also the profession, how far we've come?
Lucia Bucci 13:25
Well, I think I have been, in general, quite lucky to be in industries that value HR, because sometimes you are asked to do the dirty job, you know, the admin work. I have been lucky in the sense that the leader, I've been working I've been appreciating the contribution of HR because, let's face it, that is what allow you to put the foot in the door and make the difference. But if I don't get to the very first thing I was doing, I was a data crunching and excel master, and we were making joke when we were doing our annual merit review, when I was at Shell, I recall, this is Saturday, checking letters signing, so the admin work wasn't fun, was I like? I would say, a team building opportunity more than you know, content. And the other thing is, you see how simpler things can become. So I always say that if a process you are driving in HR is not easy to understand, you are making distance between you and the associate, the employee experience in general, we call associate our employee. And so I think it's it's a HR is more understood. I think also there is a different sensitivity about what we had as a value. I remember when I was young, my mother was used to ask me, So what do you do? I hire people, I give them good salary, and I make sure they stay in the company. To be honest, the concept is still the same, but the way to make the people coming stay, enjoy. Knowing it's how you engage with them. The other thing I've noticed is that organization have changed. They are not anymore paternalistic somehow to tell you what to do, how to go about it, but they are trying to engage you at different level. So it's not like I give you a job, but they give you an expertise, an opportunity and experience. I think this also you will see with young generation, really catch them. And the other big part is we start talking of things that we didn't in the past. How do you feel? Are you worried? Is there something I can do on a personal note? Again, I've been lucky, maybe, as an individual, to have bosses in the past, thinking about me, but when it's a company culture, and now it's a global expectation. So you can talk with someone without saying, we have an associate Employee Assistance Program. We do well wellness program. When I started, I was in a bank. I started at Citibank. I wouldn't say it was so fun. It was really, you sell, you go your target,
Chris Rainey 16:03
and we that was my background. He was very much a high pressure sales environment. And today. So just before this show, I just finished an event, we did a webinar with just over 1000 CHROs, and that what the whole hour, we had six CHROs presenting, and it was all around their recognition programs and the work they're doing with, you know, to support their employees, but also upskill their managers to around the world and recognitions and the software and technology. But that wasn't really a conversation that we had back then, like I wasn't sat down as part of my management development of how to recognize someone like and be specific about it, you know, rather beyond the Thank you, right? Actually say, what are you actually recognizing them for? Right? Asking people I never you know back then was taught like to actually ask my employees, how would you like to be recognized? Oh, yeah. Like, you just assume everyone wants a bonus, so everyone wants the medal, right? Like, so these are, like, leading with empathy, like you said, like, that wasn't something we had conversations around right back then. So it's the and the way in which we work, which is a whole, the whole conversation is fundamentally changed, right?
Lucia Bucci 17:22
Absolutely. And I also think there is a lot, much more about the attitude before was leading because you are the best and the other will follow you. Now is servant leadership, or someone I was following, someone saying the cure. I don't know if resonates well in English, but it's like how you can take care of people around you so that they follow you, but the followership is really based on how authentic you are, which is really, you know, as a woman, also, I've been a lot into environment where you had to be in a way, and the model was one, I think now it's even the model you could apply as a leader. It's very open to different style.
Chris Rainey 18:06
So yeah, yeah, it's flipped in so many ways, right? Like what was being seen to be a leader when I was growing up? Now, in terms of example, leading with being vulnerable, that was seen as a weakness. Now it's it. Now for me, I would say it's one of my biggest strengths, because it means I build authentic conversations with my employees and my clients, you know, and asking for help and you know, and I've had some challenges around anxiety and my well being that I discuss and create that safe space that wasn't something you would ever speak of in my generation. In it, when I was young and I first became a manager, you would you would never say that,
Lucia Bucci 18:47
correct? Yeah, absolutely. So yeah. And the other thing I always appreciate is that now there is not one model that works. So it's not like you have one solution. And I always have people coming to me, because now I am I say, I joke, the elephant in the organization, I have history. Someone asked me, Is there something I should not do at ADP? And I'm like, Look, I think about it. I just think if you are gentle and kind and say what you think, you will always have a space so but in other organizations, someone would have told you, you know number of things in the past, and I don't think it's only a DP, there are many organizations yet are more open. That's what
Chris Rainey 19:29
I agree with. Within your own team, how do you encourage sort of personal awareness and self motivation within the team?
Lucia Bucci 19:38
Well, I mean, that's a it's a good question. I invite them to tell me, first of all, I am of the School of I give you as much work as I can in terms of opportunity, exposure. And I always relate to them to say, raise your hand, no capacity for the time being, or let. Find someone else who can work with me on these because sometimes it's also I don't know how to go about stuff. The other thing I try really to do for self motivation is our offering. But I think in every many other organization, the offering or what you could do, it's huge. So I say to someone, you want to learn something, ask me how you want to go about it if you need help, but you are free to make your own pattern. The ask I have is share with the team, because there is some time, and I think is maybe human nature. Not everybody is prompted to go back and say, I did this good, bad, and I want to share my experience. So this is one thing. The other consideration I make is also, I was discussing with the leader the other day, your growth is your responsibility. I can give you the environment, the support, but if you don't want to go, I love that. Yeah, I have an hard time. And I have a category of associate. I call the captive. The door is open, but they feel forced to stay inside. And I make a joke, saying, Guys, sometimes this mindset kill you because you feel you can't do stuff. So sometimes it's about changing job, raising a concern, talking openly. My strength is I am a connector. So if you come to me, most likely, I would say, who can help us on this. And so I leverage that, plus my tenure in the company, as a way to solve 95% of the problem. If I don't know who to go to, it's one of the question I would spend my time to think about the solution. So I trigger that type of mindset, because in our organization, matter also to be successful through others. So you you push that type of dynamic as well. Do
Chris Rainey 21:51
you think that's underestimated in terms of the power of like, the network that you've built and the relationship so that together we Yeah,
Lucia Bucci 22:01
the more you grow, the more you understand it. But when you are more junior, actually, you you really think, if and this is gender free, you think I'm doing a good job, someone will notice, and then you start seeing the people who level up. So one thing we did, and it's part also how we coach a mentor, our younger or, let's say people who wants to go to the next level, is to build them a sponsor so someone they work with the senior. Then I always ask, what's your brand? And what people say when you are not in the room? Those two dimensions make people reflecting that who is watching me in a good meaning and who I could work so that he becomes I don't have to pretend I am someone personally, I hate to do that type of networking, but it's about helping you. I will do it and then clearly he pay back. That's my experience. So help someone. Someone else, help you. So I think the youngster or the less experienced tend to underestimate the importance of networking, not for the sake of it, but because it's bringing value. I would say,
Chris Rainey 23:05
I agree, what was, what's top of mind for you right now, there's so much going on. There's so many in external factors. And you know, whether it's AI, whether it's politics, you know, uniquely, whether it's pandemics, that is a lot. So I just wonder what's really top of mind for you right now,
Lucia Bucci 23:25
for me and for the businesses, of course, the external outlook, because impacts the opportunity for us to grow. And you know, we are very ambitious. We like to grow the international business is becoming more important to deliver on the overall company strategy. So for us being able to grow in markets that are, let's say, a bit more unusual, or who expose us to a potential risk, are to be considered, we made an acquisition few months back in Mexico. So thinking of how the integration of those acquisition works. It's important, because it's like when you do a bad recruiting recruitment, it doesn't matter that the person is not selected, but how their experiences and how they are going to talk about the person they've met makes the difference. So for me, good integration, and it's not only Mexico, it's important. We have many opportunity to grow in this way. Then there is the topic of the be futuristic, which is, you know, European directive about paid transparency. It's not concern, but it's something we are questioning ourselves, if we are ready, but more our client, we do a lot about data. I mean, we own millions of data, so we are lucky on data, and we treat them very carefully. The point is, how we are going to use all those information to be ready? And it's also checking with peer in the industry or in the market. It's actually fascinating. Thing, and that's an area of curiosity, because, you know, we keep checking the map. The other day, Lithuania made the law. So it's a topic, and it's also a question of the readiness of our associate to ask the right question at the time. So really a topic, and we are looking, from a business perspective, how we can take advantage of this opportunity. So that's something, because it's nice. Sometimes you have aI work in HR for a company that sell HR. So actually, which we chat a lot with the business leader, they asked me, What do you think about this solution or things like that? So it's actually fun, because I have an opinion that could be considered relevant. Yeah.
Chris Rainey 25:40
Can you share more on the pay equity piece?
Lucia Bucci 25:45
Yeah, I think the topic, it's about. Do you know? Do you have the infrastructure in place for making analysis? We have been working on this in respective of the law, but we just as a practice to know that we are treating our associate fairly. The other thing is that there is a perception there is inequity to a certain extent, because it's usually the statistic of the average of the average of the average that make comparison not relevant. So, I mean, I know we speak about women underpaid. I mean, I'm in Italy, so I wouldn't say it's a best practice to share. Nevertheless, if you start looking at position, role and specificity, then you end up in a different perspective. The other thing is that we educate also. I do it with friends, with associate there is the perception that, clearly, you live in the UK, I live in Italy, someone live in the US. There is a lot of other element to consider. To me, it's really fairness on how we make associate growing, including the financial dimension. The other important things is also through selection process, and this should be bias free, because sometimes there is a there are assumption about the age, the experience. For example, we introduce hiring history Ben, so we don't ask you, when we hire you, how much you make. We really go for the position in the competition. Changing the mindset is not instant, because it's like
Chris Rainey 27:16
a practice, yeah, people been doing it for so long, right? Yeah, exactly so. And
Lucia Bucci 27:19
for me, it's not really. HR, I think we are in a good we are, I mean, my space, 100 plus the function, probably 200 people. I think we are quite good. The point is changing the mindset of culture change as well. In an interview, saying, Are you going to ask that? You say, No, you should not that type of dynamic, which is, I mean, by now, it was January 24 I think building the habits that avoid, even if you know, we will know what the law says, but we are doing the practice that make feel people correctly treated. So there is a lot we do about it's a training we launch. It's called be clear. Be clear about the bias you have and manage those so explicitly say about, you know, sometimes we are like, Hi, I'm a beauty bias. I think you I'm not properly dressed up, or, you know, I don't look nice, and therefore I don't feel I can compete. We make joke, but it's becoming a bit makes sense. But sometimes you provoke conversation with other people who in the back of their hand. By the way, everybody is biased. Just doesn't keep them out. But yeah, pay transparency is a topic, and I think we just need to keep learning and educating. What's the right attitude towards this? Because we will know what we will know. So it's very unknown itself as a process.
Chris Rainey 28:38
Yeah, yeah. I think is an important topic. And is, would you say, is that the biggest challenge? Because there's many companies I've seen they're on this journey right now. Where do you see the biggest challenge for companies?
Lucia Bucci 28:53
To me, the big Well, first of all, if you have data in house. Second, if you are able to have a system that to make jobs comparable and three, if you have a methodology, this is something you can control. Because I think everybody would ask you, what's your plan? I'm building the infrastructure. Actually, we have it ready since five years. So we are good. The point is, what are the rule we are going to implement? So, and these rules are out of control, we have to be ready for reporting, I think July 27 we have to get inputs by the end of July 26 so if there is a gap in any country for whatever reason, you might have a bit of a fast adjustment track. But for us, is that we That's why I talk about futurist futurism, because we have scenarios. So I would say if you have scenarios and plan and you're discussing the topic, you start being in a good place. If you hide yourself and you don't talk about the topic, maybe you are more worried. But honestly, I think all my peer, including myself, I stay quite quiet on the topic, because it's there is uncertainty around it.
Chris Rainey 29:59
Yeah. But. I understand in terms of the technology space. I'm interested to understand, like, what are some of the workforce technology trends in obviously, the Gen AI is, you can't have a conversation without it coming up. Of course, what are the areas for the HR function that you are you think is, do we have the most opportunity to leverage this technology.
Lucia Bucci 30:24
Well, the obvious one are the repetitive work, or the work where, I mean, you need to, like typing this conversation and thinking about, what are the highlights I want to share? So by now, it's common practice. There is a lot working in, you know, regular, regulated countries where you have to be mindful about privacy. I really think even having sorry performance conversation you might want now, it's very easy to make your report, but the reality is, yeah, one thing we so I would say admin work for sure, work where you are at risk of making mistake and like a lot of Excel file data combination, yes. And I think on this one, we are already trying to go back internally, the area where it's more interesting. It's giving the opportunity to train yourself on difficult conversation or having a virtual coach, we have started using that technology for manager and for training, because you can't offer a simulation to everybody on every situation. Can
Chris Rainey 31:31
I ask who you use? Because there's so many platforms out there. Can you share?
Lucia Bucci 31:35
I know the name is Nadia, but I don't know. Oh,
Chris Rainey 31:37
that valence. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, yeah, I know. I know all of them, but of course, everyone knows it internally as Nadia, yeah, of course, yeah. I thought
Lucia Bucci 31:49
that is that the way gives you support. I think manager, people leader experiencing that, because not everybody is so advanced always. AI can see open to new technology, but when you use it in how, oh, I have to talk with Chris, and I want to prepare a speech with him. And what are the difficult conversation I could go into that type of discussion with someone who also, if you are afraid to talk with someone in the past, when I was, I mean, a younger HR, I was sitting with my leader and say, Okay, do it with me. Speak with me. Tell me what you want to do. So if you think of the benefit of also, don't feel not feeling judged by someone else having that interaction, because you can always have a session with someone who tells you more. But I don't think everybody is open enough to feedback, and they prepare themselves. So that is another great use. I don't think it's going to remove HR, but it's going to have a higher level of interaction about, okay, what was the outcome of that conversation? How? What are your challenges? What you still don't know how to go about it, because maybe there is something specific to ADP of the individual. Or again, word cancel things that could come out that I'm not sure Nadia can forecast yet. So, yeah, so I think we could accompany the technology with the human enabled relationship.
Chris Rainey 33:13
What's been the feedback from managers, just just out of curiosity, from because, you know, there's some uncertainty. There's a little bit of fear in some places. What's been the feedback for Nadia, from you, from the leaders,
Lucia Bucci 33:26
we are testing it with the HR team now, and we're going like July 1, so we are in the stage, so even making sure that our HR leader know what it is, and try even the example of the bias training. We had to do it first as HR one, because I think I'm selling you a product. I'm not using it. I have a bit of an art So, so far, I only heard the positive things, but I think probably we are the enthusiast. But I well, I will tell you next time.
Chris Rainey 33:58
Yeah. Part two, yeah, no worries. I love Yeah, but I agree with you such a great application of AI. You reminded me when you said about the role play like I used to have to practice my sales pitch to my manager, and that was quite intimidating, right, to do that, but if I had an AI agent that I could practice, that could give me feedback and in a safe space, you know, that understood me, you know, because obviously can learn more about you as you, as you use it in any language, right? So, well, the accessibility piece is something that we take for granted now, because it's so good in the platform, you just couldn't do,
Lucia Bucci 34:37
yeah, exactly. And the other thing is, again, languages. I mean, we have 39 languages, no, even more sometimes. So when we are about, if I could imagine a town hall where everybody can speak and it's understood in the language of the receiving person today, we use caption, which is already a good advancement, but I don't think it will take us more than, I don't know, one year. Just because each company is now creating the distances for safety, because clearly, we have trademark products, and we want to stay on the safe side. So I would say at the beginning, we spoke a lot about AI, but then it wasn't embedded into our solution. Shortly, we are going to offer it to all the associate in the international space. We have our instance, and we are asking people, Hey, can you keep using it? Because we need that interaction. So we have been in a moment where we said, Can you please make five interaction a day? So it means that you five days, five times a day, you have to use it. I think it's, again, prompting the development of the individual, and maybe they tend to under evaluate. So yeah, and the other thing, we use it, it's in call recording. Yes, already, it's a basic but you know so much
Chris Rainey 35:50
that, again, just like your ability to the AI to summarize your call and give you feedback and understand the customer challenges, you know, because it's capturing that from 1000s of different people and all of How incredible is that, that we can capture all of that information into one knowledge, you know, one agent,
Lucia Bucci 36:12
by the way, it's also summarized, because organization is the beauty. And I was talking with, we did a test also for the business in the Netherlands, and they said, We are not yet happy about it. You said, what is not working? And he said, Okay, one was the language, but then they tune it, and the other one was it take more than 30 seconds to get the full summary. And we were like, Okay,
Chris Rainey 36:36
we're now in tight. We're very entitled now
Lucia Bucci 36:42
three months and you get it. So yeah, I think it's definitely, and I'm sure there will be much more going on, but yeah, I really think HR will be affected. So the only difference we could make is on the interpretation, the awareness, on our environment that make the HR function more valuable.
Chris Rainey 37:04
Have you focused on the upskilling and reskilling of your own HR teams? Ai literacy? And if so, how? Because that's obviously such an important as we shift to ensure that your team have the right are prepared
Lucia Bucci 37:21
well, we again, that's why we said, from in at the moment, I think it's like 1000 people out of 15,000 who have access, and some of them are HR. So the next step is that everybody get the access. Because, you know, before you I was working at home on my laptop and then thinking about stuff because I couldn't use it at work. So now we are inviting them to some of the seminar. We also offer to our associate about the technology and implement the highlighting the platform we use. We have a part of the HR strategic pillar is really about first class leader in HR. And so we offer them a number of program so there are master class we offer on how to go about it. And we are looking also into external events where they could learn more, I would say, more to come, just because there has been
Chris Rainey 38:14
a lot going on top of
Lucia Bucci 38:16
everything, we have been a bit conservative by the nature of the data with it. So now we are opening up. So yeah,
Chris Rainey 38:23
that makes sense, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it must be really interesting, because you, obviously, you must be learning a lot from your customers. Oh, yeah, right,
Lucia Bucci 38:33
yeah. No, no, no, no. The data is extremely interesting in that perspective. So actually, you could say it's not the HR HR, but it's more HR for the client. So human management, we see a lot about also about the reporting work that they ask us. And there are already solution embedded with that technology, so because it's been there for a long time, but yeah, we have a lot of labs where there is development going on so, but it's more external than internal. Which is fair, which is where the business has to grow first?
Chris Rainey 39:09
Yeah, when we talk about your team, what, what would you say is your leadership philosophy?
Lucia Bucci 39:17
Well, we have a, what we call a leadership value driven leadership framework. So it's really embedded in, you know, 75 years value are very clear to me, the things that matter the most are how you build the trust in the team. And that's something that I keep saying. It's recurring, because it's like planting seeds, but then if you don't put the water and you don't continue growing, doesn't work in our value. There is a lot about also the integrity. And again, it's linked to our business. Integrity is really everything. And I could say that you also, when we look into our internal survey, comes across as one of the highest. Score. The other one, where I think as an organization, we're pretty strong, is result driven. So it's a good balance of integrity result. And the result is really about how people deliver, not only for the output, but also for how the people get engaged into reaching the results. And the other element that is growing, and we mentioned earlier, is about the social responsibility we play in the community. I always say we are very important one day per month for our clients. I mean, we make people happy, but also making our associate feeling the value they build. So we are very strong on business results group driving. We have, I think, 17 business results group so it's really a strong environment for that. And the other big element in the change, in the sorry, in the leadership model, is the change management. So how you cope with the constant change? The dimension, we goes with it is without leaving people behind.
Chris Rainey 41:04
I love that. I love the addition. Yeah, one of the things we
Lucia Bucci 41:07
were discussing is, how do you state what is the right behavior from a leadership point of view, when we said there are things that you should not do otherwise, you get lost so coming like the first in the room and never considering the other or the attention for the population. So sorry, the colleague around you. It's very important. So it's a balance act between leadership and trust. Sorry, building trust in change management, integration, the results with the people and a lot about innovation that which we already touch upon. So these are really the building blocks of our leadership model. I think change management remain the imperative whatever leadership model you have in place, because keeps you up to date and allow you also think that you are never done. It's
Chris Rainey 42:03
never ending, right? Like change, change. We're all like change managers, continuous, right? And there's always new, you know, I feel like it's just never ending. One thing after another, the pace of the pace of change, seems to be getting exponentially faster, and the again, another thing we talk about management leadership, like we now, we talk a lot about resilience right now, that now is very popular, and something that we talk about quite, quite a lot, right as in, like, how do we prepare our leaders and managers and ensure they have The resilience to see this through, because it is constantly changing. It
Lucia Bucci 42:44
is but it's also about accepting that. You know, there are difficult situations we see. I mean, one about our other value is insightful expertise. So how you treat give the client the value. Sometimes client are not always easy to deal with. So I see a lot of ability to help our client, even with maybe they are not necessarily always super nice with our associate, or they are challenging, but I understand what they are dealing with is complex. Yeah. So one thing I notice is that sometimes the resilience is more with the client helping the client to fix their problem a bit less with the people internal. So we have to balance that effort. But our associates are really, I mean, I think they could accept you, which is not our philosophy. They are not treated well inside, but they want always to shy with the client. And that's really a trait of our organization, which I like, because make you thinking, Okay, I feel my value, my job as a value, and it I have a mission. So, you know, many people talk about, what's your mission? You know, we pay million of people, one American in six. It's something, and you feel like you are doing something important for them. So, yeah, that's incredible time like this. It's yeah, you feel you you do something. It's a positive business to be in. It's
Chris Rainey 44:04
important, right? Because despite everything going on around, you know, it's always important to look back at that foundation of your why, your purpose and your mission. Because despite everything else, you can always look back and say, This is the why, right, of why we do what we do. And that kind of look at it through that lens, and let that be your foundation always. Is there anything we haven't discussed that we should have, that we missed?
Lucia Bucci 44:33
Well, I always say that, yes, we are at work. We have to be serious. We have to perform, you know, properly, but we have to be having a bit of fun, of enjoyment, and I see that when I will run quarterly engagement pulses and among the way the answer there is something really about I see I give contribution, I am, recognize all the things we touch implicitly. I think. The people are highly engaged because they feel there is something keeping them together. And at least for my team, I really try to leverage the fact that we know each other at another level that is not only professional, yeah, so that I mentioned to me matter a lot. And as you asked me, Why you stay probably is the opportunity to be my true, truly truly myself at work without being a different than I am when I am with my friend or with my family. I think that's, it's important and go back to authenticity. So
Chris Rainey 45:32
I love, I love the way you end. I love the fact that you ended there. Because for me, that's the same thing. You know, I always used to get asked by friends, like, why did you say at the last company for 10 years? And it was because I enjoyed the relationships I had with my team. Like, you know, we we win together. We play together, we laugh together. We eat together. You know, we used to have, like, monthly lunch, where everyone would bring in food from their from their heritage and their background, and we'd have a fist like and and that for me, retained me more than the business, more than the work. You know, it was the team. So when I was like thinking about leaving and starting this business, that was the hardest decision. And it wasn't about me, it was about leaving them. So that was anytime I had a recruiter call me, or, you know, a head hunter trying to, you know, pitch me a new job somewhere else. I was like, No, I don't want to, you know, this means more to me to do that before I let you go. What advice would you give to the HR leaders of tomorrow that are going to be sitting in your seat one day
Lucia Bucci 46:47
to listen more than talking. Sometimes we think we have the response. I think I have the solution. 95% of the time when I just bite my tongue, I got the person finding their own solution, find their way, and I always say, 95% of the time, they also do things better than I would do. So the trust and the listening are important at the same time. Build your expertise. Invest in learning, being you know, knowledgeable about your stuff, but that is in parallel with the other, because even listening, you learn. So, yeah, so, yeah.
Chris Rainey 47:30
Well, listen, I appreciate you coming on the show, and we're definitely going to come say hi soon as well. I'm going to drop you an email. Want to know some of the locations I should be visiting, because it sounds like you, sounds like you're gonna give me some good advice.
Lucia Bucci 47:44
Well, you know, I'm famous for trip, travels, and also movies.
Chris Rainey 47:50
Oh, okay, so I've got movie recommendations and, all right, I got it. I got it. Listen, I appreciate your time. Enjoy the rest your day, and I'll see you soon. All right, thanks a lot. Thank
Lucia Bucci 48:00
you very much. Thank you, Chris. You.
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