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

Don't let perfection be the enemy of progress.

2

because if you wait till the

process is exactly perfect,

3

you'll never get anywhere.

4

My hesitation with AI will always be to

not go into it assuming AI is right or

5

AI is gonna give you the perfect answer.

6

I don't think we will ever see

that because you have to balance

7

the human element to make sure

things are done correctly.

8

Now we've heard everywhere

about how AI can be used to

9

solve any number of problems.

10

Generally speaking, when we

hear about those problems being

11

solved, we think about the

traditional corporate environment.

12

But how would AI be applied in a

high-volume hiring environment?

13

What would be the landscape of an AI

application in that sort of environment

14

Where the dynamics of that environment

involves processing a ton of applications,

15

filtering those out, and identifying

top fits, and then moving them through

16

the hiring process, and extending that

through the onboarding process and

17

And

18

moving them through the onboarding

process and even further down the line

19

to make sure that the entire process

itself remains remains compliant.

20

Those are some important

considerations that are rarely

21

talked about, and that's what we're

gonna cover in this conversation

22

Joining us today, we have Abby Landreneau.

23

She's a strategic HR leader with over

13 years of experience in helping

24

managers lead high-performing teams

across complex multi-site organizations.

25

She currently serves as the director

of HR Compliance and Contracts,

26

where she partners closely with

leaders to solve problems, drive

27

clarity, and create workplaces where

everyone can do their best work.

28

She's known for her data-driven

and process-oriented approach.

29

Abby leverages analytics, technology,

and AI-enabled tools to help her HR teams

30

move from reactive issue management to

proactive consultative partnerships.

31

She's a Lean Six Sigma Black

Belt and licensed attorney.

32

She's passionate about helping HR

practitioners use AI thoughtfully to

33

improve consistency, decision-making,

and leader capability without losing

34

the human side of people leadership.

35

Abby, welcome to the show

36

Abby Landreneau: Thank you

37

Jim Kanichirayil: So I'm looking

forward to having this conversation

38

with you because you bring a pretty

unique perspective to the conversation.

39

You're holding a dual role in your

organization, so getting into that

40

is gonna be pretty interesting.

41

But I think the first order of business

for us before we actually dive into the

42

meat and potatoes of the discussion is

for you to share with the listeners and

43

viewers the landscape of the organization.

44

So why don't you give us a look inside

the organization and how it's structured?

45

Abby Landreneau: Sure.

46

I work for a construction company.

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We currently have around

150, 175 employees.

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A good bit of that workforce can be

seasonal field employees, and so we

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will fluctuate between 150 and over

200 employees throughout the year.

50

The company was created in 2013,

but it experienced rapid growth

51

in the last 18 months, and so the

organizational structure has had to

52

adapt with that growth because it, it

went from a being able to be managed

53

in a more informal structure to

needing that structure very quickly.

54

And that's been part of my role is

to figure out what that structure

55

looks like from the top down.

56

Jim Kanichirayil: So couple of interesting

things about what you just described.

57

Company's going through rapid growth

and it's in an industry or sector

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that's known for some fairly decent

churn in most in most environments.

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So when you look at putting structure into

an organization in that segment that's

60

experiencing rapid growth and historically

has likely had high churn, what are

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some of the things that you had to

tackle to make sure that structure took?

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Because if you have a lot of churn, it's

hard to put in systems and processes

63

because you have that constant turnover.

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So tell me about how that how

you tackled that challenge.

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Abby Landreneau: Absolutely.

66

That was probably one of the most

challenging things when I came in.

67

The organization had just reached

almost 100 employees, and so the

68

owner and president could see the

need for the structure and the

69

processes and bringing that in.

70

But it was still difficult to

do because they were able to

71

function in that informal fashion.

72

And so putting in that structure,

honestly, there was some initial

73

resistance just for the formality of it

all for the, not everybody necessarily

74

being in the loop on all decisions

and having to go through a hierarchy.

75

And I'll say that part of it was just

needing some organic growth and for

76

it to happen naturally, where as we

hired more individuals, not everyone

77

was involved in those hiring decisions.

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And so just naturally, that

organizational structure took place.

79

The senior project manager

hired an assistant project

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manager and down the line.

81

The growth in the field, which is where

we see the most turnover and churn really

82

highlighted the need for structure in

our hiring, our onboarding practices,

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how we manage rehires how do we that most

efficiently from a training standpoint,

84

from assigning people to projects.

85

And the more you grow and the

more people that are involved,

86

communication becomes more difficult.

87

And so we really needed to put systems in

place where communication became easier,

88

a platform or a dashboard where everybody

could see it, and you didn't have to

89

ask five different people for an update.

90

And getting everybody to see the value in

those systems and how it made everybody's

91

day run more smoothly was really key.

92

But I would say that it's been a, two to

three-year process of evolving and little

93

steps and little wins along the way to

really now see the fruits of that process.

94

Jim Kanichirayil: So one of the

interesting things about what

95

you're describing is the transition

from a startup organization to

96

an organization that's that's

in growth phase or scale phase.

97

And what one of the aspects of your answer

that I thought was worth digging into is

98

that when people started finding out that

they're not looped in and they're making

99

this transition to a different sort of

organizational structure and process,

100

that resistance can often lead to any

sort of change initiative falling over.

101

So walk us through how you navigated

that transition phase and overcame

102

the resistance that existed within

the employee landscape who are used

103

to doing it a certain way and now

they have to do it a different way.

104

And usually when you have those sort of

sorts of pivots, people don't like change

105

and you're gonna have a lot of grumbling.

106

So how did you navigate all of that?

107

Abby Landreneau: I think one of the

most valuable pieces of advice that

108

I received in my training in change

management is assume positive intent.

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And some of the changes that we tried

to make did not succeed, and we had

110

to take a step back and see why.

111

And so it was really just helping

people understand the why behind the

112

change encouraging them to always assume

positive intent behind the change.

113

Look, some of these changes are gonna

work, some of them aren't but let's

114

always go into it assuming everybody has

the company's best interests in mind.

115

And in some cases, taking a step

back and saying, "Okay, this

116

is not gonna work right now.

117

We're not ready for it."

118

or, "We really need to get this

person on board for this to work."

119

And just really being intentional

with each step and change.

120

And sometimes there's not a lot

of time for that explanation.

121

"Hey, I need you to get on board."

122

but we really did try to approach it with

the mindset of but getting buy-in, helping

123

each person who was impacted by the change

understand why we were changing thing,

124

things, letting them have a voice in it,

even if that we didn't go in the direction

125

that they wanted, letting them have the

voice to say this is why I'm concerned

126

about it," or, "You're not seeing that

the change impacts me in this way."

127

We did a lot of process mapping a lot

of visual mapping so that people could

128

see from point A to point B how they

were impacted in the entire process.

129

And so we've seen great strides

through that, and we still have

130

a long way to go in some areas.

131

But I definitely think we've crossed over

that hill of people understanding that

132

change is not necessarily a bad thing.

133

It's, it can be a good

thing and it helps you grow

134

Jim Kanichirayil: Got it.

135

So this has been a process that's

been working through, This has

136

been a process that's been evolving

over the last three or so years.

137

And over the last 18 months, you've

had some pretty significant growth.

138

The industry has

historically a lot of churn.

139

So when you look at an emphasis on

growth, churn within the industry,

140

what does that mean for you as an HR

leader within the organization that

141

has to drive this growth because nobody

gets hired unless they go through HR?

142

So what were the things that you were

looking at as, hey, these are gaps in our

143

systems, gaps in our processes, though

that are obstacles for us to continue to

144

grow at the rate that we need to grow?

145

Abby Landreneau: Yeah.

146

At a simple level, some of it was

putting parameters on our processes,

147

because where we used to be able to

onboard someone any day of the week,

148

we can't necessarily do that anymore.

149

And that was an adjustment because

our leaders were used to being able

150

to say, "Hey, can he come tomorrow?

151

And we can onboard him."

152

And putting some limits and parameters

around the processes this is when we do

153

this is when we do that definitely helped.

154

Like I mentioned, having the

communication mechanism because most

155

of our leaders are out in the field.

156

And we've taken the approach that

everybody needs to be able to do

157

their job from a phone because

that's just the reality of it.

158

Everybody is on the road at some

point or another, and we can't

159

rely on them being able to get the

information on a computer at their desk.

160

And so making sure that the systems we use

are mobile-friendly, they can be done…

161

Even our onboarding, most of our

employees do, 90% of their paperwork

162

on an online platform because they're

moving from one job to another.

163

So being very intentional when we do

create a system or a process that it's not

164

a paper process, it can be done online,

virtually, remotely, all of those things

165

Jim Kanichirayil: So there's a few

things that you mentioned in that.

166

You mentioned accessibility

a mobile-first philosophy.

167

You need to adjust the systems and

processes from an onboarding perspective,

168

and you need to adjust how you're

communicating across the organization.

169

So those are four different

pillars that incorporate sort of

170

people, process, and technology

in terms of how things are done.

171

So when you look at just those things

and, you look at organizationally,

172

you're running a pretty lean team and

you still need to drive this growth.

173

Where and how does AI come into that

conversation in terms of how you

174

looked at it at the organizational

level and at the functional level?

175

Abby Landreneau: Sure.

176

It's been amazing to see how much

more of an impact AI has had just

177

from, three years ago to now.

178

Honestly, three years ago, we were

looking at AI as it's coming I can

179

ask, a question and see what it tells

me to where now we're actually using

180

AI to help us with their systems.

181

I need to design a process that does this.

182

How can I do that?

183

Or these are the forms that I'm currently

using, help me make them better.

184

Using platforms like a dashboard where

you can project manage your tasks, but

185

then using the AI that's built into it

to create automations and really going

186

beyond just the basic functionality.

187

So for example, when we onboard an

employee for compliance reasons, we need

188

to collect a consecutive two to three-year

employment history from the employees.

189

Where we used to do that on a paper form,

and then we moved it to, an electronic

190

fillable form, I just recently asked

AI, "Help me error-proof this form,"

191

because I'm still seeing errors, and then

that takes time, to bring the employee

192

back in or to call them and clarify.

193

And so AI actually, redesigned the form

in a more checkbox flow down way so that,

194

it's doing the heavy lifting for us.

195

And so that's where I see the evolution

of really utilizing AI to error-proof

196

processes, to help me design processes,

to give me tips on, which direction

197

I should go really bringing it the

problems and seeing how it can adapt our

198

current processes to something better.

199

Jim Kanichirayil: So that's an interesting

use case that you just mentioned.

200

And I think in general it makes

sense, find the hole in our current

201

process and how would you redesign it.

202

The problem that I have is that when

you think about a high volume hiring

203

environment, and you think about all of

the requirements that you have in terms

204

of background checks and compliance and

all that sort of stuff, and then you're

205

having an AI platform design a form for

you it's not unheard of AI just making

206

up things and hallucinating and creating

something that doesn't have any basis

207

in actual compliance or real life.

208

So how did you guard, what processes

did you put into place to make sure that

209

you're not distributing a form that is out

of compliance based on an AI suggestion?

210

Abby Landreneau: Yeah, I really appreciate

you bringing that up because I'm still

211

very cautious especially when it comes

to anything legal or compliance related

212

to make sure that AI is not misstepping

because I've had situations where I see

213

a blatantly wrong piece of information

in something that AI generated.

214

So I think first and foremost, you have to

understand the ins and outs of a process.

215

I'd be very cautious with going to

AI with something that you are not at

216

all familiar with and hoping that it's

gonna create something from scratch

217

that you can just plug and play.

218

So I have been using the form that we

needed for three years, knowing exactly

219

what pieces of information need to be

in it, but struggling with the feedback

220

that I'm getting using the form.

221

And so once AI reformatted, recreated

the form, I went through it as if I was

222

filling it out or as if I was reviewing

something that someone filled out.

223

And I did notice a couple of places

where I wouldn't say the information

224

was incorrect, but it had omitted some

pieces of information that I had to have.

225

And so I went back and said, "No, I need

it to have every piece of information

226

that the original form I gave you had."

227

And so then it did, it incorporated those.

228

So you can't go in blindly with something

that you have no background of and just

229

assume that AI's gonna get it right.

230

I think you really need to understand

and it's like what people say of, the

231

better question you give AI, the better

feedback you're gonna get, with anything.

232

The better prompt that you give

it and you have to be able to go

233

back and forth and fact-check it

234

Jim Kanichirayil: So when I think

about the situation that you're

235

dealing with you're in an environment

where you have a rapid growth

236

sort of initiative that you have.

237

You're in an industry with high churn,

and I'm thinking through how that

238

impacts not only the candidate life

cycle, but also the employee life cycle.

239

There's a lot of different

implications there.

240

So I think one of the things w-

you know we've talked a little

241

bit about some of the tweaks

that you made from an onboarding

242

perspective, but I wanna work…

243

I wanna look at earlier in the process.

244

You have a relatively small HR team,

and when you're having this sort

245

of growth mandate that's that's in

front of you, you have to have a

246

pretty strong candidate pipeline.

247

And when you have this much churn

in the industry, you're gonna

248

get inundated with candidates.

249

So what were the things that you

identified and put into place to

250

make the candidate application

process prior to hire easier to

251

manage for a lean team like yours?

252

Abby Landreneau: Yes, that's a good point.

253

And that's something that was at the

same time that we were experiencing

254

high growth, we saw a change in

how we had to re-re-recruit talent

255

because the construction industry is

a bit unique from other industries

256

I've worked in, that there's a

lot of word-of-mouth recruitment.

257

You have crews that when a project ends

somewhere, that whole crew is looking

258

to move together to a new project.

259

And so there was a point where recruitment

really was not difficult at all.

260

We just looked for these, groups

or these projects that were ending

261

and you might get a whole, team of

people that were coming over and

262

were experienced and ready to go.

263

But as we grew faster than that pipeline

allowed, we did have to go through

264

different mechanisms to recruit talent.

265

And I won't say that we've utilized AI

to the extent of screening candidates.

266

It's not something that

we've really done yet.

267

And the reason I would say we haven't

done that is because the candidate

268

pool that we're using are not…

269

generally not creating resumes to submit.

270

And so it really does take talking

to that person to get an idea.

271

And so what we had to do was deploy,

more people that could talk to these

272

candidates, but streamline the process

for how those candidates got into

273

the pipeline, into the system, their

information, so that it funneled

274

up to our hiring managers, and then

became easy to just press a button

275

and say, "Move them to onboarding."

276

And so that's what we

have designed is a system.

277

We use monday.com

278

and there are similar systems,

but basically once a candidate has

279

been vetted, their information gets

put into a pipeline and it's an

280

automated button, press onboard,

press hire, press now they're active.

281

And that takes them through that

onboarding and hiring life cycle.

282

Also we use it, to transfer

them from project to project.

283

We've really used that to streamline

the workflow of bringing a candidate

284

into the employee life cycle.

285

Jim Kanichirayil: So I like

what you're describing there.

286

I'm familiar with Monday.

287

Monday is typically used as a project

management software, and you're using

288

it as an applicant tracking software.

289

I think the challenge that comes in

is that when you have this high churn

290

environment and you have a project-based

environment, part of your role or part

291

of the job as a recruiter or an internal

recruiter is to remarket to people

292

that are already in your database.

293

And I think that would be a bit of a

challenge within Monday because it's

294

not a native applicant tracking system.

295

So how did you solve for that retargeting

process using a system that isn't designed

296

for the task that you're applying to it?

297

Abby Landreneau: Sure.

298

And you're right, Monday is designed

as more of a project management system,

299

but that's partly why we're using it,

is because our project managers, our

300

construction managers like that system.

301

It can be operated on the phone.

302

It's more of what they're used

to for all the other tasks.

303

And so by creating a system that they

already-- or using a system that they

304

already like and are familiar with,

I think your sustainability is better

305

because they're going to use it.

306

And we really had to look at, what a

traditional applicant tracking system

307

does, what are its capabilities, what

kind of inputs do you put in there

308

and then design them into Monday.

309

And so it can categorize employees

into, active pipeline no-go right

310

now, some kind of reason why

they're not qualified in there.

311

We have an archive that holds

candidates in there and there's

312

different labels and buttons that

can be used to classify someone.

313

So if, if the hiring manager looks at

somebody and says, "I don't have a need

314

for that person right now, but I wanna

flag them," if that need comes up, we

315

have incorporated those kinds of labels

that they can then go and quickly find

316

those people that have been labeled as

potential whatever, whatever the role is.

317

Thomas Kunjappu: This has been

a fantastic conversation so far.

318

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make sure to join our community.

319

We are building a network of the

most forward-thinking, HR and

320

people, operational professionals

who are defining the future.

321

I will personally be sharing

news and ideas around how we

322

can all thrive in the age of AI.

323

You can find it at go cleary.com/cleary

324

community.

325

Now back to the show.

326

Jim Kanichirayil: So when I'm listening

to how you actually applied Monday

327

to this what I'm hearing is that the

emphasis in terms of any systems is to

328

make sure that it's mobile accessible

and the adoption for the people who are

329

the heaviest users remains high, which

is why you re-engineered an existing

330

platform for a workflow that wasn't

necessarily native to that platform.

331

So that makes sense, and I think that's

an important lesson for people in general.

332

Oftentimes when they're thinking about a

workflow problem they look immediately for

333

a new tool to solve that workflow before

asking the question, how can we adopt

334

or adapt our existing tool set to meet

the needs of that particular workflow?

335

How can we actually fit it

within our existing stack?

336

So that I think that's a, that's

an important piece to keep in mind.

337

So that, that handles some

of the candidate side stuff

338

before the hiring process.

339

You've mentioned some of the onboarding

things that you applied earlier.

340

What else did you do from an onboarding

perspective to streamline the process

341

using an AI-assisted approach?

342

Abby Landreneau: Yeah.

343

So when I came into the organization,

just for some background, we were

344

still doing everything on paper,

which didn't work for many reasons.

345

One, it's very tedious and it's just not

the direction that we wanted to go to.

346

It also limited us in being able

to bring in people more quickly, to

347

be able to do some of that pre-hire

paperwork if the employee is in another

348

state and they can get some of that

done on their phone immediately.

349

That was the goal.

350

And so we had to move into

a system that offered that.

351

Meanwhile, we also needed to

upgrade our payroll system.

352

And so it all came together where

we adopted a new payroll system

353

that could do an online onboarding.

354

Now that's not to say that then it

just automatically was fixed and easy.

355

Then it becomes looking for

where there's still gaps.

356

So for example, an automated email

goes out to the employee, and it's most

357

likely gonna go to their junk email.

358

Then they have to go look for it

and then go through the steps.

359

So I think that it becomes really

important for the communication

360

piece around how you frame

what they're gonna be doing.

361

Because if they are going to be doing

something that's AI electronic and

362

they're not gonna have that personal

touch with an HR representative, how

363

do you make it seamless and easy?

364

And it's balancing, right?

365

I think a lot of things we talk about,

is AI going to eliminate our jobs?

366

Is it gonna take over?

367

Is everything gonna be done

through a computer system?

368

It--

369

Jim Kanichirayil: I don't think we

will ever see that because you have

370

to balance the human element to

make sure things are done correctly.

371

Abby Landreneau: Because if we

just gave it all to AI, then how

372

do those errors get, the human

element, how do you navigate that?

373

And so it's been balancing what

part still needs the human touch.

374

A phone call to say, "Hey, please

go look for this email, and these

375

are gonna be the steps you're gonna

take to complete your onboarding."

376

is it a text message?

377

Is it an auto-generated message?

378

Is it, AI-generated prompts and reminders?

379

I would really like to find a

way to incorporate AI better to

380

automatically remind employees,

when they start their onboarding

381

that they have three steps left.

382

Using AI to say, "Just a

reminder, you're, you have three

383

steps left in your onboarding.

384

Contact Abby if you have any questions."

385

We're not there yet.

386

That's something that I'm definitely

still navigating and it's just,

387

it's little steps at a time to see

where, where's the low-hanging fruit?

388

What are our quick wins that will

make this a seamless, easier process?

389

And then where are our bottlenecks?

390

Where are things that we could use

AI to eliminate some of the errors,

391

some of the time constraints?

392

So we're still navigating

that, to be honest.

393

Jim Kanichirayil: So when I'm when

I'm thinking through what we've talked

394

about so far when we're talking about

the applicant life cycle and then

395

the employee life cycle, at least the

stages that we've touched on within

396

your space, there's a premium for speed.

397

So on the applicant side, if somebody

applies to the job, the people that

398

actually get hired are gonna be the

ones that get responded to the fastest.

399

So there's that element of it because of

the nature of the space that you're in.

400

But when I'm-- And when I'm thinking

through you've gone through the process,

401

you've hired somebody, the next stage

in that life cycle also relies on

402

speed because you have to factor in

how quickly can you get them to start

403

on a roll, because if your start date

is too far out, they're gonna take the

404

next available thing that starts sooner.

405

And the other thing that you have to

account for is you've gone through all

406

the work of interviewing and hiring

and placing all of these people,

407

now you have to get them to show up

on the first day, because first day

408

attrition is a big bottleneck too,

and that has a speed component to it.

409

So when you think about that speed

component across those elements that

410

I talked about, how did you solve

for that in a way that combines both

411

automation, AI, and human touches

so that you're having a high win

412

rate across those different stages?

413

Abby Landreneau: So it, it's funny and

it's not something that I was used to

414

in other industries, but I actually

had to keep up with the speed because

415

sometimes we get notified that a project

is starting, two weeks from tomorrow, and

416

so we've gotta be staffed up for that.

417

And so when we do have the pipeline

in place, it's how do you get

418

everybody ready that quickly?

419

And so I actually needed to make

our processes adapt for that speed.

420

And if I'm, if I really reflect on

where some of the biggest gaps were

421

it revolved around the communication

between all of our systems.

422

I think sometimes one of the challenges

is that there isn't a one system fits all.

423

And our safety department is using

one system, and project management

424

is using one system, and payroll

and HR are using one system, and you

425

wish that all these systems could

talk to each other, but they don't.

426

And sometimes that's where the bottlenecks

get created because you've gotta get the

427

employee access to all of these systems.

428

You've got to be ready for them to be

here and ideally have access, be ready

429

to go, all their information is loaded.

430

And I think that's where Monday,

the idea for using Monday really

431

was born because it was that central

system that everybody could view

432

and input things at the same time.

433

So safety can go in there and

say, "Hey, drug screening's

434

complete, physical's complete."

435

I can go in there and say,

"Paperwork onboarding is complete."

436

project managers can say, they're

lined up for day one on the job.

437

Everybody can have a piece in

that, and we're not fumbling

438

over each other to get there.

439

We're not calling and saying,

"What about this guy?"

440

and taking up time with all of those

different pieces that should and can

441

overlap if you have a system in place

that talks to each other and helps

442

you work towards that common start

date versus you have to finish this

443

before you can start this, and then

you have to finish that before…

444

I find that's where a lot of the

bottlenecks exist, is when we're all

445

trying to work on top of each other

and it's not happening seamlessly.

446

Jim Kanichirayil: So as I think through

this, you're in a tricky situation

447

because there's a premium for speed

across the candidate life cycle up to and

448

including first day on-site show rates.

449

But the flip side of that is that,

in construction there's a fair

450

amount of l- regulatory constraints

that you have to meet too,

451

Abby Landreneau: Right

452

Jim Kanichirayil: at the employee level,

at the job site level and probably

453

a bunch of different places that I

don't even have line of sight to.

454

So when you have speed and

compliance, those are usually

455

at opposite ends of the pole.

456

How did you bridge the gap

so that it's manageable?

457

Because if you're super fast, you can

fall apart on the compliance side.

458

If you're tight on compliance,

you're probably not fast.

459

So that's a catch-22, so

how did you figure that out?

460

Abby Landreneau: Yeah.

461

And the human sense of

urgency is paramount, right?

462

Because even if you design all these

systems that can move quickly, if

463

they have to be facilitated by humans.

464

And first and foremost, our team has

to share that sense of urgency to

465

get someone in and it done correctly.

466

Making sure that everybody

understands the steps.

467

When they say can we just skip that?"

468

No, you can't skip that.

469

That's regulatory.

470

And a lot of this actually goes back

into my Lean Six Sigma training of

471

making sure that a process is mapped

and outlined with a control plan.

472

Because if you don't have controls

in place to make sure a step doesn't

473

get skipped, then all your work is

for nothing because you're gonna

474

have to go back and do rework.

475

And that principle

applies to every function.

476

It's not just a manufacturing technique.

477

It can apply to HR, it

can apply to safety.

478

And so having those foundational

checklists, the foundational, these are

479

the requirements that must be met to say

this person is ready to go, and making

480

sure that everybody is aligned on that.

481

So this is why we do this step.

482

This is why this step has

to be done before this one.

483

And we still struggle with it at

times because someone maybe is new

484

and didn't know about those steps.

485

We didn't do a good job training them,

and they show up on site a new hire shows

486

up on site without what they needed.

487

But that's always a

learning moment, right?

488

That's why we use these

automations and these checklists.

489

That's why we don't move forward

until that button was clicked.

490

And I think the opportunity, that's

where we create more opportunities

491

to use AI to say, "How do I make it

so that step can never be skipped?

492

How do I make it so that

everybody gets notified of this?"

493

looking for those opportunities

to close gaps in your process.

494

Jim Kanichirayil: So it's interesting

what you're describing because on

495

the one hand, you're describing Lean

Six Sigma principles, and one of

496

the key elements of that is whatever

you're working on, have a structured,

497

repeatable process so that you can

reduce variability and identify defect.

498

But within your environment, you're

building all this stuff on the fly.

499

So how did you how did

you bridge that gap?

500

Because you can't build it as you fly

and, or at least I wouldn't think…

501

It wouldn't-- It's not gonna be

easy for you to build something

502

on the fly and have a structured,

repeatable process where you can reduce

503

variability and identify defects.

504

So how did you

505

Abby Landreneau: Yeah.

506

Jim Kanichirayil: the gap there?

507

Abby Landreneau: Some of that is, is

being more patient than we might like to

508

be because we want, we want the fix now.

509

And you do have to take

a structured approach.

510

It's mapping out the process.

511

It's it's looking at how workflows

move and how they should move.

512

It's looking for variability

and opportunities for error.

513

And if I reflect on how did that

actually went, there were times where

514

we got ahead of ourselves and it didn't

work, and it made us take the step back

515

and say, "Okay, why didn't it work?

516

Look, we were missing these steps."

517

It took buy-in of people understanding

why we have to ease our way into it and

518

do this methodically walking the process,

sharing those results of-- so people can

519

really understand, "Okay, my role fits

within this part of the larger process."

520

And so when you're trying to build some--

build a new process quickly or build a

521

system quickly I think it, it becomes more

obvious why that foundational work is so

522

important because it's junk in, junk out.

523

You have to know what at least your

foundation is to build, and then you

524

can you can run some cycles through

it and find some of the errors

525

that you can then go engineer out.

526

But it is a really tough, dynamic

of wanting to do something quickly

527

but wanting to do it correctly.

528

Those don't always jive.

529

I think that I naturally am okay

with taking the approach to map

530

it out and really have a clear

process before I move forward.

531

But when the industry and the business

d- doesn't have time for that, it's

532

finding the balance of, okay, we're

gonna know that this is not perfect,

533

and we're gonna try it, and we're gonna

find the opportunities for improvement.

534

And just navigating your way through what

I often say, "Don't let progress be-- or

535

Jim Kanichirayil: don't let

perfection be the enemy of progress."

536

because if you wait till the

process is ex- exactly perfect,

537

you'll never get anywhere.

538

Abby Landreneau: You have to kinda

let it be a living, breathing process.

539

Jim Kanichirayil: I like that.

540

Don't let perfection be the enemy

of pro- progress, so that's a

541

good point to make to call out.

542

The thing that I'm thinking about is

when you look at all of these things that

543

are happening concurrently especially

when you're trying to balance speed

544

and accuracy within the compliance

space, were there any areas where we

545

talked about the one instance where

forms needed to be standardized so that

546

they're made compliant by use of AI.

547

Were there any other instances w-

in these cases of trying to balance

548

speed and accuracy and compliance

where you applied AI that le- that

549

gave you some pretty interesting wins?

550

Abby Landreneau: I would say we're

seeing a lot of progress using AI on

551

the actual project execution side.

552

Re-- when you look at repeatability,

not every project we do is going to be

553

the same, but it has the same elements.

554

It takes, resources, equipment,

specifications from the customer.

555

And so our project team is really

embracing AI to design systems to

556

help them manage those things that

they do every day across all projects

557

so that it's not just manually

tracking it on a spreadsheet.

558

It's auto-filling all of these

resources and equipment, and

559

then you can move things around.

560

It's making it visual to be able to

see, okay, today, here's where all of

561

our people and our equipment are, and

if we need to move things around, we

562

can do it with the click of a button.

563

And so it's been really fun to see

the progress they've made using AI

564

from, just even a year ago today.

565

And building dashboards that didn't

exist before building apps, building

566

everything that can be used on a

phone or an iPad so that we still

567

have that, that virtual component

568

Jim Kanichirayil: So springing forward

we've covered elements i- in the

569

application process and the onboarding

process, and then from onboarding to day

570

one that you applied various elements that

were AI-assisted or automation-assisted

571

to help streamline this.

572

Now we're looking at, the first 90

days first six months, first year

573

of an employee in your organization.

574

So in those milestones, what are

some of the other things that

575

you noticed and solved with the

assistance of AI at some level?

576

Abby Landreneau: Yeah.

577

So I think one thing to just consider is

the value of AI can be in just helping you

578

be more efficient because the industry we

work in requires a certain level of speed.

579

And so when we are growing at a high

rate and my time is being taken up

580

by those tasks, I don't want to let

all the other initiatives that we've

581

established for the year go to the

wayside because I don't have time.

582

So how can I use AI to help me

get through those more quickly?

583

For example, we wanted to formalize

our, 90-day reviews, our quarterly

584

r- performance reviews, our annual

performance reviews, because

585

those have been done on a much

less formal basis up till now.

586

And so how do I utilize AI to

just help streamline that process?

587

Okay, AI, here's our core values,

here's the kinds of reviews we

588

want to do, here's the nature of

our industry and our workforce.

589

Help me prepare an annual

review, evaluation system.

590

And it's to the point we discussed

earlier, that's not going to be just

591

plug and play, but now I haven't spent

hours typing up questions making the

592

format, just fighting with a Word

document to, to create that format.

593

It's there, and I can now use my

judgment and my experience of what

594

I want the review to look like and

read through what AI has generated.

595

And I've saved, possibly a week of

work in just typing out questions,

596

and I've given AI the prompt of what

I want those questions to reflect.

597

And then, there's gonna be some additional

work happening to say, "I don't like

598

this question," or, "I don't think this

matches what we're trying to achieve,"

599

and going back and forth with it.

600

But I just see so much opportunity to

save some of that manual time that we used

601

to spend typing and formatting documents

that could become easily electronic.

602

Jim Kanichirayil: So one of the things

that you're describing when you're talking

603

about the review process is the creation

of the review themse- review itself.

604

You can make the argument that

can be, a one-and-done exercise.

605

Once you create it, you can

store it and then redeploy it.

606

Which brings me to the second part

of that question is, it's one thing

607

to create it with the use of AI.

608

there's a distribute-- There's a, i-

it's one thing to create the document.

609

There's a distribution challenge

that you have to solve, too.

610

So how are you tackling the distribution

and orchestration of those reviews so

611

that they're getting out timely and you're

getting them back so that you have a da-

612

have the data to pull action items from?

613

Abby Landreneau: Yeah.

614

So that's where we have employed

the, HRIS system that we use and

615

really also investing in having

one central system that tracks not

616

only our onboarding payroll but

also our performance management

617

compensation, all of those things.

618

And they have some built-in AI automation.

619

In all honesty, you could build a form

just from their template questions,

620

but they're not going to be as

personal to your company's core values,

621

your industry, things like that.

622

And so it's utilizing both to come up

with what's the best match for you.

623

But absolutely we want to not

only automate the form but the

624

distribution, the tracking, and

have it all in one central location.

625

So we're utilizing our HRIS there.

626

Jim Kanichirayil: So I wanna zoom out

and look at what we've covered so far.

627

So we talked about what you've

done from the candidate lifecycle

628

perspective, so from the application

to the interview stage, then the

629

hiring perspective from onboarding to

day one to day 30, 60, 90, and so on.

630

When you look at that entire arc and

you look at that entire arc from the

631

perspective of applying AI to the

different stages and processes with a

632

compliance-first mindset, what are the key

things that you feel are important from

633

a compliance perspective that need to be

in place for an organization to do that

634

well across all of those different stages

in the candidate and employee lifecycle?

635

Abby Landreneau: Yeah.

636

Jim Kanichirayil: My hesitation with

AI will always be to not go into

637

it assuming AI is right or AI is

gonna give you the perfect answer.

638

Abby Landreneau: For example, there

are probably lots of organizations that

639

don't necessarily have a dedicated HR

person, or they have a new HR person

640

who doesn't have a lot of experience

with policy writing or, creating

641

compliant applicant onboarding systems.

642

And so either-- it, it's not to replace…

643

AI is not meant to replace

that knowledge to where you can

644

say I don't need an HR person.

645

I can get AI to write me a

handbook, and it's gonna be fine."

646

I have actually made updates to our

existing handbook where AI gave me

647

incorrect information on pay laws in

the state that I was writing it for.

648

So you do still have to go in

with a base level of knowledge.

649

So it's really important that if

you don't have that, you have a

650

resource to reach out to, to check

those things, whether that's outside

651

counsel or, just an experienced HR

professional that you can bounce ideas

652

off of, fact-check things like that.

653

It's n- it would be very convenient

to just say, "Write me a policy on

654

this," and then I, save and distribute.

655

But there's some danger in that.

656

And so, again, that's where I think

we will never lose the human element

657

if there's still opportunities for AI

to make errors in policy application,

658

in actual laws things like that.

659

So I guess to come back around to how

to ensure that we remain compliant while

660

using AI is we can't get lazy with it.

661

There's always gonna be an element of

reviewing, fact-checking questioning it.

662

And what I stress is if it's an area

you're not familiar with, then consult

663

a subject matter expert, whether that's

outside counsel or just the website.

664

Ask AI, "Can you provide the

sources of this information?"

665

And if it's not, the Department of Labor

or IRS or USCIS, if it's a blog or if

666

it's something like that should be a

red flag that it's not necessarily…

667

It's something you

should go and fact-check.

668

Jim Kanichirayil: Yeah, even if it

provides the sources with the link,

669

you still have to check it because

670

it'll hallucinate

671

Abby Landreneau: might make up the link.

672

Exactly

673

Jim Kanichirayil: So great stuff, Abby.

674

Appreciate you sharing your story with us.

675

If people wanna continue the

conversation, what's the best way

676

for them to get in touch with you?

677

Abby Landreneau: Sure.

678

They can look me up on LinkedIn,

Abby Landreneau, or email me at

679

Jim Kanichirayil: All right, we'll

just include the LinkedIn bit because

680

with emails pe- everybody will,

is gonna spam you with stuff.

681

All right,

682

Speaker: Great conversation, Abby.

683

We appreciate you hanging out with

us and sharing with us your story.

684

I think the most important thing that

I took away from this discussion is

685

the fact that when we think about

AI, we don't need to isolate AI's

686

application, the AI applications to

just large enterprises that are in

687

the traditional corporate environment.

688

What you shared with us today gives a lot

of people in those sorts of environments

689

a, a unique perspective on how they can

move this forward and how they can advance

690

AI within their environments where they

originally might have ruled that out.

691

And I think that's a really valuable

conversation to help push the

692

frontier of AI implementation forward.

693

So I appreciate you hanging out, with

us and sharing with us that perspective.

694

For those of you who've listened

to this conversation, we

695

appreciate you, checking that out.

696

If you liked it, make sure you leave

us a five-star review on your favorite

697

podcast player, and then tune in next time

where we'll have another leader joining

698

us, and sharing with us the stories

about how they've leveraged AI in their

699

environments in order to future-proof HR.