Press release
Paychex Study: SMB Leaders to Manage HR and Business Challenges with New Technology in 2024
ROCHESTER, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Paychex, Inc., a leading provider of integrated human capital management software solutions for human resources, employee
About this update from Paychex, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":" ROCHESTER, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nPaychex, Inc., a leading provider of integrated human capital management software solutions for human resources, employee benefits, insurance services, and payroll, today shared the results of the annual Priorities for Business Leaders survey, which highlight a diverse set of challenges America’s business owners and HR leaders are expecting to face in 2024 – and nearly all (98%) will use artificial intelligence (AI) to help solve them.\n\n\nThe survey shows that 64% of companies said they spend over 570 hours a year and at least 11 hours per week on HR administration, and annual spending for the largest business is as high as $350,000 on HR tasks such as processing payroll, administering benefits, and tracking time.\n\n\nResponses from the survey of 600 U.S. business and HR leaders with 5-500 employees across industries and geographies show the top business challenges respondents identified are:\n\n\n\nRising interest rates (65%)\n\n\n\nOverall inflation (63%)\n\n\n\nThreat of an economic slowdown (63%)\n\n\n\nAdditionally, the top HR challenges for organizations are:\n\n\n\nRisk management, such as managing workers’ compensation (56%)\n\n\n\nLeadership development (54%)\n\n\n\nAttracting talent, total rewards, and offering competitive benefits and compensation (53%)\n\n\n\n“It’s clear that the expectations of business and HR leaders continue to grow,” said Jeff Williams, vice president of enterprise and HR Solutions at Paychex. “In addition to competing in a tight labor market, macroeconomic pressures like rising healthcare and other benefit costs are forcing many to rethink HR and benefits strategies.\n\n\nOther key survey insights include:\n\n\n\nNearly all leaders (98%) expect to use artificial intelligence (AI) in 2024. Eighty-five percent say they are already using it, and less than 10% are concerned with AI risk.\n\n\nCurrently, respondents are most commonly using it to:\n\n\nAutomate workflow (41%)\n\n\n\nGrow sales (39%)\n\n\n\nManage business intelligence and analytics (37%)\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSome of the new ways respondents are planning to implement AI in the next 12 months are to:\n\n\nSupport customer service (54%)\n\n\n\nStrengthen IT operations (53%)\n\n\n\nScreen resumes, tied with identifying potential candidates (52%)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPeople management is also a focus for lea...