Episode Details

Wrestling with AI hype, budget pressure, and messy HR workflows?

Kelley Morse, Chief People Officer at Bullhorn—the market leader powering 10,000+ staffing and recruitment firms—offers a grounded blueprint.

With 25+ years in market, 1,300 employees, and an AI-forward product (Amplify), Kelley shares a rare dual view: building AI into a platform recruiters already live in, while introducing it inside her own People team.

She recounts her unconventional rise from individual contributor to CPO during COVID—guided by a mentor and centered on impact—and breaks down what’s next in 2025: navigating SaaS headwinds while upskilling for AI.

Expect specifics: why AI must be “built where you live” to win adoption, how her team mapped the full employee lifecycle, and the first pilot they’re launching to deflect 15,000 HR emails with self-service.

Kelley also explains how to run bottom-up pilots, make smart build-vs-buy calls, and avoid “scaling garbage processes.” She closes with a pragmatic reimagining of performance management—let AI assemble the receipts, then keep the human conversation—and candid career advice for leaders who feel “behind.”

Timestamps

[00:45] – Who Bullhorn serves and where AI fits in the platform

[01:34] – Kelley’s path to CPO: joining as an IC, COVID turmoil, and mentorship

[05:08] – 2025 outlook: SaaS headwinds and the AI talent opportunity

[06:41] – Amplify and the “built where you live” rule for effective AI

[09:09] – People Ops pilots: HR self‑service to deflect 15k emails and lifecycle use cases

[12:13] – Adoption strategy: bottom‑up pilots, build‑vs‑buy, and investment discipline

[14:13] – Redesign the work: from surveys to performance reviews—don’t scale broken processes

[19:18] – Parting advice for HR leaders: ditch impostor syndrome and lean in

Takeaways

- Embed AI where people already work to drive adoption and leverage existing data.

- Start with high-volume, low-risk wins (e.g., HR self-service to deflect tier‑one inquiries).

- Pilot bottom-up: let functions test, prove value, and scale only when outcomes are clear.

- Rebuild workflows before layering tech—otherwise you just automate bad processes.

- Use AI to prepare performance reviews (aggregate and summarize inputs) while humans lead the conversation.

- Be disciplined on build vs. buy—leverage internal expertise and invest where your org can absorb and sustain change.

Sponsor

AllVoices brings all your employee relations work together in one place. No more jumping between spreadsheets, emails, and legacy systems just one place to document and manage reports, cases, investigations, and performance conversations.

It helps you run a more consistent process, takes busywork off your plate with AI, and makes it easier to spot trends early, so you can work proactively, not just put out fires.

See a demo at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.allvoices.co/