AI & MACHINE LEARNING RECRUITMENT TECH

Hays Gives 8,000+ Employees Microsoft AI Capabilities

TM
Techmediaglobal
| 4 min read
8,000+
EMPLOYEES EQUIPPED
3
AI TOOLS DEPLOYED
3
MICROSOFT KEY PARTNERS
Global
ROLLOUT SCALE

Recruitment and workforce solutions firm Hays has rolled out enterprise-grade Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio and AI agents to more than 8,000 employees worldwide, aiming to cut admin work, sharpen consultant preparation and deliver richer market insight — freeing recruiters to focus on judgement, relationships and client conversations.

From Everyday Copilot to Enterprise-Grade AI

Hays has used Microsoft Copilot for several years, and the firm describes this rollout as the next phase of that journey — moving from established, everyday AI use to broader access to advanced enterprise-grade capabilities across its global workforce.

Mark Dearnley, Chief Executive Officer at Hays, says AI is helping consultants prepare for meetings, capture and summarise key discussions, surface relevant insights and reduce time spent on administrative tasks — giving them more time to build relationships and provide expert advice.

"We see AI as a net positive for recruitment"

— MARK DEARNLEY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, HAYS

Where the Industry Sees the Value

According to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, recruitment businesses are already applying AI to reduce the admin burden of note-taking and CV formatting, improve CRM and ATS searches to identify the right candidates, and automate data collection — the same themes underpinning Hays' expanded deployment.

By embedding AI into everyday workflows, Hays aims to improve response times, strengthen consultant preparation, provide richer market insight for clients and free up more time for advisory conversations with customers and candidates.

Governance Built In From the Outset

Hays says it remains committed to the transparent, fair and ethical use of AI in recruitment, with safeguards intended to reduce bias, protect personal data and preserve meaningful human oversight in line with its governance requirements and applicable regulations.

Theo Michalopoulos, Enterprise Commercial Lead at Microsoft UK, describes the rollout as a "Frontier approach" to accelerating AI adoption at scale, noting that Hays and Microsoft will keep building on this momentum as adoption grows.

Microsoft's Wider AI Partner Network

OpenAI collaborates deeply with Microsoft to power Azure AI infrastructure, enabling enterprise clients to deploy advanced language models and automate complex workflows. Accenture co-founded Avanade with Microsoft, a joint venture built to deliver solutions across the Microsoft ecosystem and help multinational businesses modernise legacy software.

NVIDIA maintains an extensive alliance with Microsoft to power cloud-based AI infrastructure within Azure, supplying the computing platforms and hardware capabilities needed to train large generative models for enterprise customers.

Key Takeaways

  • →Hays has equipped 8,000+ employees globally with Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio and AI agents.
  • →The rollout marks a shift from established Copilot use to broader, enterprise-grade AI access.
  • →AI is used to cut admin work, sharpen consultant preparation and surface market insight.
  • →Hays says responsible AI governance — reducing bias, protecting data, ensuring human oversight — underpins the deployment.
  • →The Recruitment and Employment Confederation highlights similar AI use cases across the wider industry.
  • →Microsoft's broader AI ecosystem includes partners such as OpenAI, Accenture and NVIDIA.
Tags: AI Recruitment Microsoft 365 Copilot Copilot Studio AI Agents Enterprise IT Responsible AI UK