A conversational AI Benefits Manager’s Assistant is launching this month to answer employee benefits-related questions quickly and clearly, 24/7.
The company behind the new tool, Financial Education, said that the AI assistant is designed to respond instantly to a wide range of queries, which will free up HR professionals to do higher-value strategic work.
The AI tool can be trained on an employer’s specific benefits package and employees can speak to the AI as if they were talking to a human adviser.
Saq Hussain, founder of FinancialEducation.co.uk, told Benefits Expert the team had decided to launch verbal AI assistants now because they could see how frustrated people were getting with traditional chatbots.
“No one wants to type robotic questions into a clunky box anymore. So we built something different, a voice-led AI that feels more like chatting with a real member of your benefits team. It’s trained on each employer’s specific benefits, so the answers feel personal, not generic,” he said.
He said it could make a huge difference for employers in terms of productivity. “If someone in HR or the benefits team is spending 1-2 hours a day replying to staff queries, that quickly adds up.
“Our AI assistant gives that time back; potentially saving up to 50 working days a year. That’s time teams could use for more strategic, higher-impact work.”
Hussain added that on the communications side, a verbal AI assistant is a much better way to promote the benefits an employer already provides. “In our experience, most people don’t read PDF guides, but they will ask questions out loud.”
The company is currently completing its first employer launch and will be gathering feedback and insight to continue to enhance the AI assistant.
But Hussain said the launch team has already seen a lot of interest around questions that employees often feel awkward asking, such as whether a benefit applies to their partner or how to claim something without bothering HR.
He added: “Personally, I genuinely believe this is the future of how people will access workplace benefits – simple, human, and available 24/7. We’re not replacing the benefits team, we’re giving them a superpower to help them promote their existing benefits whilst also giving them some time back!”