AI workshop for HR departments: from scattered pilots to a single governance roadmap
A working day for your HR director, recruitment lead and data protection officer. Not a tool demo or a prompt course, but a structured session in which you decide which AI may be used in recruitment, assessment and employee experience, which falls under high-risk in the AI Act, and which is better kept out of the organisation. You leave with an AI roadmap, a DPIA template and a governance protocol, not a non-binding report.
Plan the working day View programmeWhen an HR working day makes clear where AI may, must and cannot be used within your organisation
Most HR teams struggle not with too little AI, but with too many scattered initiatives that nobody fully oversees. A recruiter tests ChatGPT for job adverts, talent acquisition runs a pilot with an interview AI, an external supplier offers an attrition model, and the DPO only reviews it once the contract is on the table. This workshop brings all those pieces together in one day, at leadership level, so you decide on the basis of AI Act classification and organisational interest rather than the enthusiasm of individual vendors.
The AI Act has been in force since 1 August 2024, and the provisions for high-risk AI systems become enforceable in phases from August 2026. Recruitment, selection, assessment, promotion and the termination of employment relationships are explicitly listed in Annex III of the Regulation as high-risk areas of use. This means that a large part of the HR AI on the market today, such as CV screening, interview scoring, predictive attrition, bias detection and candidate matching, falls under a conformity assessment as soon as you deploy it in production.
This working day is deliberately designed for the strategic level: the HR director, CHRO, talent acquisition lead, a representative of the works council working group on terms of employment, and your data protection officer. It is not for HR staff who want to learn ChatGPT; for that we offer a separate AI tools workshop for staff and an AI literacy training track. On this day you build the framework yourself within which the entire HR chain may work tomorrow.
Which HR AI we classify on the day, and why that is the centre of gravity
We work through the seven use cases below one by one. For each, you establish: does it fall under Annex III, does GDPR Article 22 apply, is there an automated decision with legal effects, and, if you proceed, what human intervention, bias audit and explainability are required as a minimum.
CV screening and candidate matching
AI-driven sorting or ranking of applicants falls under Annex III, point 4(a). It is de facto always high-risk, even if a recruiter formally makes the final decision. We discuss which matching criteria are permissible, when a four-fifths rule bias audit is needed, and how you embed fair hiring principles in your procurement terms.
Interview AI and conversation analysis
Tools that score speech, facial expressions or language use during a job interview. Here you simultaneously touch Annex III, GDPR Article 22 and, for biometric data, Article 9 GDPR special categories. We identify which vendors we see in the Dutch market, what justification they do and do not provide, and when your works council has formal consent rights.
Onboarding bots and HR helpdesk AI
A chatbot that guides new employees through their first weeks, or answers questions about leave and collective labour agreements (CAO). Often limited risk, provided no decision-making is attached. We set out in writing where the line lies between informing and advising, how you prevent hallucinations on CAO questions, and what logging you need for traceability.
Predictive attrition and flight risk
Models that predict which employees will leave within six months. Annex III, point 4(b): decisions on employment relationships, promotion and termination. The fact that the manager holds the conversation changes little if the model determines who gets the conversation. We discuss which works council discussion and collective bargaining steps apply.
Sentiment analysis on employee surveys
Having an LLM summarise pulse surveys, exit interviews and open-text fields. The risk lies not in the technology but in pseudonymisation: in small teams, responses can be traced to an individual, which makes them GDPR-relevant. We develop a protocol covering minimum team size, opt-in and retention period, and how you prevent a vendor from using your open answers for model training.
Skills mapping and NSE integration
Matching internal employees to vacancies, learning paths or succession plans based on competency extraction. Alongside the Higher Education Act and the NSE (National Skills Equivalence), this is a growing field. We examine whether a skills graph really belongs in-house, or whether you are better off building a vendor-independent layer that is not tied to a single HR suite.
The classification table you complete on the day
Not abstract legal theory, but a concrete matrix that we work through for each HR system. You leave with this table completed for your own organisation.
| HR application | AI Act | GDPR Art. 22 | Bias audit required | Works council consent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CV ranking and automated shortlisting | High-risk | Possibly | Yes, with every model training | Yes, Art. 27 WOR |
| Job advert text generation (LLM, no scoring) | Minimal | No | No, but a house-style and inclusivity check is advisable | No, provided no personnel data is used |
| Interview AI with speech or image analysis | High-risk | Yes, almost always | Yes, demographic subgroups | Yes, consent required |
| Predictive attrition (flight risk) | High-risk | Yes, if used for promotion or retention | Yes, annually | Yes, Art. 27 WOR |
| Onboarding chatbot, informational | Limited | No, provided no decision is made | No, but factual accuracy on the CAO is required | Sometimes, depending on scope |
| Sentiment analysis of open survey text | Limited | No, provided anonymised | No, but framing validation is advisable | Sometimes, in small teams |
| Engagement sentiment per individual | High-risk | Yes | Yes | Yes, consent required |
How the working day is structured
A day from 9:00 to 16:30, either at your location or at Appfront. Four blocks, each with a concrete outcome. No lengthy theory sessions: the regulatory background is sent to you in advance as reading material, so the day itself is about your organisation.
Four blocks, four deliverables
Each block ends with a concrete output you take away with you. By the end of the day, your HR AI roadmap is no longer an intention but a document.
Inventory
We map all HR AI that is currently running or on the shelf: paid vendors, free tools employees are using, and vendor roadmaps for your HRIS. Output: shadow AI overview.
Classify
The seven use cases against the AI Act matrix, with DPIA questions, an Article 22 GDPR assessment and works council consent analysis. Output: a completed classification table for your situation.
Prioritise
Which HR AI delivers real value, which fits within your risk appetite, and which would be better outsourced to a specialised partner? Output: a phased HR AI roadmap with a go/no-go decision for each case.
Document
We write the governance documents: DPIA template for HR AI, vendor checklist with AI Act clauses, incident escalation protocol, and communication lines to the works council and employees. Output: a governance pack ready for approval.
Who this day is, and is not, intended for
A deliberately small group at a deliberately strategic level. We work at board level so the outcomes carry real authority.
Suitable: HR leadership and related roles
HR director or CHRO, head of talent acquisition, head of learning & development, works council representative from the terms and conditions working group, data protection officer and, if present, the chief people officer. A maximum of eight participants, one table, no plenary format. Ideally also the financial controller who signs off the HR budget, as many decisions affect procurement.
Not suitable: HR staff and recruiters
Recruiters who want to learn ChatGPT for job adverts, HR business partners wanting a prompt library, or employees starting with Copilot: for them we run the AI tools workshop for employees and the AI literacy training programme. Separate sessions, different methodology, different pace. Mixing the two doesn't work, as the strategic work then doesn't get done.
Suitable: organisations taking the AI Act seriously
Employers with more than two hundred employees, organisations with a works council and collective agreement negotiations, and employers in healthcare, the financial sector, government or education, where temporary employment agencies or conformity assessments carry extra weight. Also suitable for staffing and recruitment agencies that themselves become high-risk providers once they offer AI screening to clients.
Not suitable: organisations only experimenting
If your organisation has not yet received a question from the works council, IT security or legal, and you simply want to explore whether AI adds something useful, a workshop is too heavy. In that case, first arrange a conversation about a lighter AI discovery workshop or a no-obligation introductory call. We are clear about when a programme isn't the right fit, which saves everyone time.
Why Appfront, and not your HRIS vendor or a general consultancy
Workday, SAP SuccessFactors and Oracle each have their own AI modules and their own narrative on compliance. Understandably, they want to keep you on their stack. A large consultancy usually delivers a report, not a working solution. We take a different approach: we build custom AI ourselves, and therefore know the difference between what a vendor promises in the slide deck and what the system actually does in production.
Our role on the workshop day is twofold: discussion facilitator and second technical reader. If the supplier says their model "isn't high-risk", we can test the architecture against Annex III and state concretely where it does fall under it. If the DPO says data minimisation is too restrictive, we sketch what a privacy-by-design architecture looks like. The goal is for you to stay in control, not to become dependent on Appfront or any other party.
Coming after the day, do you want to build your own compliant HR AI that isn't tied to vendor lock-in on Workday AI or another closed ecosystem? We can continue that journey as your implementation partner. See our pages on AI development in the Netherlands and interim AI tech lead for what that looks like in practice. No forced add-on: only if the fit and the business case are there.
Practical arrangements
Location and duration
A working day from 9:00 to 16:30, at your office or ours. Lunch and coffee are part of the setup: the day is spent working hands-on, not in plenary presentations. Maximum group size: eight participants.
Preparation
Two weeks in advance: a short intake conversation, reading material on AI Act Article 6 and Annex III, a questionnaire for participants about your current HR AI, and, if available, a vendor overview from your procurement or IT organisation.
What you receive
A completed classification table, a draft HR AI roadmap, an HR AI DPIA template, a vendor checklist with AI Act clauses, an works council communication draft, and a follow-up call after four weeks to review progress.
Frequently asked questions about the HR AI workshop
Planning a workshop day for your HR leadership?
Send us a message. We schedule a short intake call beforehand to agree the scope, the right participants and the preparatory materials, and then we fix a date.
Arrange an introductory call