Businesses are making significant investments in artificial intelligence technologies to help attract and hire skilled workers in an increasingly tight labor market, according to information from Randstad Sourceright’s Q2 2018 Talent Trends report.

The report’s survey included more than 800 global human capital leaders in 17 countries. It found that three out of four employers are overhauling their recruitment strategies to simplify, accelerate and improve the hiring process for job candidates, with 46% increasing investments in technologies, including chatbots, human cloud platforms and predictive analytics. The move comes as tech-savvy millennials officially become the largest generation in America’s workforce and talent scarcity continues to be a pressing issue.

“Millennials are a critical part of our national workforce and the way they look for jobs, and what they look for in a job, has changed dramatically from previous generations,” Randstad Sourceright CEO Rebecca Henderson said. “As a result, employers are investing heavily in digital recruitment tools to better reach this audience and focus on creating an employer brand that is more likely to retain this large segment of the workforce.”

The survey also found 42% of companies are increasing budgets to strengthen their organization’s employer brand to attract a larger talent pool and improve employee retention. And 69% of employers are implementing employee engagement programs.

“Employees are expecting more from their employers­­, so companies need to create an employment experience that is sought out by job seekers and employees alike,” Henderson said. “As America’s labor market continues to evolve and tighten, companies will have to create a talent-centric workplace that sets them apart from competitors and proves to workers that the organization they work for is an industry-leading employer.”

Additional findings from the survey include:

• Investing in tech: 51% of employers are increasing investments in workplace technologies, while 46% are investing in technology to improve the job candidate experience. 
• Employer brand: Nearly 50% of companies believe their employer brand has an equally effective impact of their brands on internal and external audiences, while 90% believe it is an extremely or very important aspect in attracting today’s top talent.
• Praise for AI: 54% of employers believe AI can deliver greater efficiency and consistency to job candidates, while 43% believe AI can free up humans to focus on more strategic projects robots cannot address.
• Employee engagement: More than 60% of those surveyed believe employee engagement programs are very or extremely important to their overall business strategy, and nearly half are investing more in workplace culture and worker feedback systems to better engage employees.