AI and Content Creation Text-to-Text

Everywhere you look, it seems that there is a new vendor that has an exciting new AI offering. By now people understand that AI is not a form of actual intelligence. It is a huge database that is capable of assessing or discussing a myriad of human situations through well-tested algorithms.

Let’s take a simple example. Suppose, as the owner of a business you also manage payroll. Let’s say that you currently pay your employees every two weeks. You are wondering about the tradeoffs of paying your employees twice per month instead, and you would like to know the implications of the change.

Most AI engines are configured to accept conversational prompts as inputs. So this idea might be constructed as, “I am currently paying my employees every two weeks, what are the implications, both financial and social if I change that to twice per month?” Using this sentence as the prompt, here is what the AI produced.

Switching from a biweekly (every two weeks) payroll to a semi-monthly (twice per month) payroll has several financial and social implications. Here’s what you need to consider:

Financial Implications

1. Payroll Timing Differences
   • Biweekly: 26 pay periods per year (employees get paid every other Friday, for example).
   • Semi-Monthly: 24 pay periods per year (employees are paid on fixed dates, e.g., the 1st and 15th).
   • This means employees will receive slightly larger individual paychecks on a semi-monthly schedule since their annual salary is divided by 24 instead of 26.
2. Payroll Processing Adjustments
   • If you use a payroll provider, they may charge per payroll run, so reducing the number of payrolls could save on fees.
   • Some payroll systems (especially those integrated with time tracking) are better suited for biweekly payroll, which aligns neatly with work weeks.
3. Impact on Hourly Employees
   • If you have hourly employees, biweekly pay is often preferred since it aligns with weekly timesheets.
   • With semi-monthly pay, overtime calculations can get more complex because pay periods don’t always align neatly with work weeks.
4. Cash Flow Considerations
   • Biweekly payroll means two months per year will have three pay periods, which can create cash flow challenges.
   • Semi-monthly payroll provides more predictable payroll expenses since it’s always two paychecks per month.

Social (Employee) Implications

1. Employee Preferences
   • Employees accustomed to a biweekly schedule may find it harder to budget, especially hourly employees who rely on consistent pay intervals.
   • Some employees may not like the change, especially those who set up automatic bill payments based on their paydays.
2. Overtime Payment Differences
   • If your company has hourly employees, a semi-monthly schedule can complicate overtime calculations due to irregular pay periods (some months have more weekdays than others).
   • With a biweekly schedule, overtime aligns neatly with the work week.
3. Direct Deposit & Processing Delays
   • Some payroll systems process semi-monthly payroll differently, which may delay deposits compared to a biweekly system where payroll is typically run on a predictable cycle.

Final Considerations

• If your workforce is mostly salaried, semi-monthly payroll can make budgeting and payroll processing easier.
• If you have many hourly employees, sticking with biweekly might be better to keep overtime tracking and budgeting simple.
• Communicate the change clearly and early to employees, explaining the reason and how it affects their pay schedule.

Would you like help drafting a communication plan for employees?

Just like this example, most AI applications are very pedantic and thorough. This means if you want to use it for actual content creation you will need to provide more detailed specific instructions. The two areas that are most useful for AI in a small business are text-to-text and text-to images. We will cover conversions of text-to-text and cover text-to-images in the next newsletter.

The first publicly released text-to-text software was Chat GPT. It’s very versatile, and Open AI (the company that designed the software) has continued to evolve the product. There is also a free demo version available so this is a good place to start and experiment with some uses. (https://openai.com/index/chatgpt/).  You will need to set up an account in order to use it. It is a great way of generating memos, building a structure for a presentation, brainstorming marketing plans, social marketing – basically any normal written business communication.

Going back to our sample memo, two problems were highlighted in our patrol example pertaining to employee acceptance of the change in payroll intervals. Note that the AI algorithm automatically suggest a next step. For this step, let’s just focus in on the area of most concern and see what GPT comes up with.

Prompt: Just focus on the section labeled "Social (Employee) Implications". How would you suggest describing this change in a way that shows empathy and a willingness to provide some sort of special attention to make the conversion easier for these employees?

Response:

Subject: Upcoming Change to Payroll Schedule – What It Means for You

Dear [Team/Employees],

We want to inform you about an upcoming change to our payroll schedule. Starting [Effective Date], we will be shifting from a biweekly payroll (every two weeks) to a semi-monthly payroll (twice per month). This means that instead of receiving 26 paychecks per year, you will receive 24 slightly larger paychecks, paid on the [1st and 15th] (or chosen dates).

We understand that any change in payroll timing can impact the way you plan your finances, and we want to ensure this transition is as smooth as possible for you. Your total annual earnings will remain the same, but we recognize that the shift in paycheck timing may require some adjustments in how you budget for expenses and bill payments.

How We’re Supporting You During This Transition

• One-on-One Assistance – If you’d like help adjusting your budget or setting up new bill payment dates, our HR/Payroll team is available to provide personalized guidance.
• Advance or Bridging Option – If this change creates a hardship for you in the first month, please reach out, and we will work to find a temporary solution.
• Financial Planning Resources – We will be providing financial planning tools and resources to help make this transition easier.

We are making this adjustment to improve [reasons for change, such as consistency in payroll processing or better alignment with financial planning], but we want to ensure that you feel supported throughout the transition.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to [HR Contact/Payroll Team] at [email/phone]. We appreciate your hard work and are here to assist in any way we can.

Best,

[Your Name]

[Your Role]

[Company Name]

Note that asking for a specific tone (empathy) in the prompt and special attention softens the blow, especially for those who might be most adversely affected by the change. This is one of the nice things about the use of text-to-text AI. It responds with whatever guidance you give it and it is capable of a nuanced response. In this case a planned payroll change could take the better part of a workday to produce these two documents without AI assistance. In reality, with AI help it was possible to produce the two prompts in less than 10 minutes. There is still some final formatting to be done, but the finished memo is basically ready to go.

There is a school of thought that says that AI text is not the same as “real” creative content. And although, as a professional writer, I agree with that sentiment there are many legitimate uses of AI text. It can be used to research an idea, bring yourself up to speed on current issues in the workplace, trends and creative “seeds” that can be used as a basis for developing creative content.

The use of AI tools will continue to grow and they have become so straightforward to use, that it’s sort of a no-brainer. I urge you to go get a GPT account and start working with it. Before you know it, AI can help you to produce high quality text content. It’s easier than you think.