Generative AI is reshaping the workplace. This guide built in partnership with the CPHR BC & Yukon team helps HR professionals bring AI into their work with confidence, ethics, and craft.
"AI won't take your job. It's somebody using AI that will take your job."— Richard Baldwin, economist
This guide is a comprehensive resource for communicating with generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. Like a dictionary, it isn't meant to be read cover-to-cover instead dip in by competency as the work in front of you demands.
The sample prompts are starting points. Adapt them with the context of your organization, then sharpen the results with the techniques on the Prompting Tips section.
Generative AI is not a source of absolute truth. It can produce content that seems plausible but is factually incorrect, what's known as "hallucination". Stay vigilant and verify before you act.
Important — please read
Data Protection
Use extreme caution when sharing personal or confidential information through AI tools. Always follow your organization's privacy policies. Personal accounts may use your inputs to train future models; enterprise accounts typically offer stronger controls. Review every vendor's privacy provisions before trusting them with sensitive data.
Plagiarism & copyright
Stay on the right side of the line.
· Use AI as an assistant or idea generator not the primary author.
· Verify and fact-check everything AI produces.
· Disclose AI use where appropriate.
· Keep records of inputs, systems used, and outputs.
· Add original creative elements before publishing.
CPHR Competency Framework
Nine competencies, organized into three areas of HR practice.
Organizational Relationships & Wellness
Inclusion, Diversity and Human Connections
Total Health and Wellness
Employee and Labour Relations
Integrated Talent Management
Total Rewards
Learning, Development & Succession Planning
Workforce Planning and Mobility
Strategic Development of Organizations
Organizational Change and Development
Innovation
HR Technology and Analytics
The nine competencies
Sample prompts for the day-to-day work of HR.
Each competency below pairs typical HR activities with prompts you can adapt for your AI tool of choice. Replace anything in [brackets] with your own context.
01
Competency 1
Employee and Labour Relations
Build and maintain relationships with employees and their representatives in alignment with organizational goals.
Relevant activity
Prepare for collective bargaining by researching the current labour market.
Sample prompts
Please review [insert document]. Analyze the latest data on wage trends and employment rates in [insert industry]. How do these trends compare between the private and public sectors? Summarize your findings in a concise report.
Provide an overview of the current labour market environment in [insert industry], focusing on both private and public sectors. Include key statistics and trends. Provide citations.
Relevant activity
Prepare and update company policies to align with labour laws and legislation.
Sample prompts
Read our company employee leave policy. Now read [insert labour law update]. Evaluate our current employee leave policy against the new standard. Identify any gaps or potential changes required in our company policy.
Draft an email to inform employees about the updated employee leave policy. Ensure the message includes clear explanations of the changes and their implications.
Relevant activity
Provide conflict management and prepare for mediation with union representatives.
Sample prompts
I'm working on an employee conflict case. The key details are: [insert conflict case]. Help me approach this conflict. What do you see as the main points of contention? Provide a list of possible underlying causes I should consider.
I'm preparing for a mediation session with union representatives regarding [insert dispute details]. What are the key questions I could raise to ensure a productive discussion? Include strategies for maintaining a cooperative tone.
02
Competency 2
Total Health and Wellness
Support the development of a culture and environment of physical and psychological safety with a balance between productivity and wellbeing.
Relevant activity
Communicate regular policies, laws, updates, and best practices in health, safety, and wellness.
Sample prompts
Read [insert document]. Then summarize the latest changes in health and safety regulations for [insert industry].
Draft a 250-word newsletter on recent updates in workplace wellness standards. Here are the three key points to include: [insert details].
Relevant activity
Create and update policies for a specific target audience and ensure inclusive language.
Sample prompts
Can you rewrite this [insert policy] to be more inclusive for all employees, especially considering [insert consideration]?
Help me simplify this [insert health regulation] so that it's easier for all employees to understand. I want it in plain language at a grade 10 reading level.
Relevant activity
Research and integrate mental health and wellbeing practices.
Sample prompts
Identify the top five mental health and wellbeing practices currently being used in [insert industry]. Provide a summary of each practice and its impact on employee performance. Provide citations.
Read our current Strategic Plan. Now develop a new section that outlines specific initiatives to enhance employee wellbeing. Include at least three key initiatives and their expected impact on productivity.
03
Competency 3
Inclusion, Diversity and Human Connections
Foster a workplace that values inclusion and diversity, building authentic human connections at every level of the organization.
Relevant activity
Develop and refine inclusive HR policies.
Sample prompts
Review our [insert policy] for potentially exclusionary language and suggest inclusive alternatives that align with current best practices in DEI.
Draft a land acknowledgement and inclusion statement appropriate for internal meetings at a [insert sector] organization in Nova Scotia.
Relevant activity
Design DEI training and awareness initiatives.
Sample prompts
Outline a 60-minute workshop for managers on recognizing and interrupting unconscious bias in hiring. Include learning objectives, discussion prompts, and a short case study.
Suggest five low-cost activities to mark [insert awareness month] that engage hybrid teams meaningfully.
04
Competency 4
Total Rewards
Design, implement and communicate compensation, benefits, and recognition programs that attract, retain, and motivate employees.
Relevant activity
Benchmark and analyze compensation programs.
Sample prompts
Summarize publicly available salary benchmarks for a [insert role] in [insert region]. Provide ranges and citations.
Compare our current benefits package [insert summary] against typical offerings in [insert industry]. Highlight gaps and opportunities.
Relevant activity
Communicate total rewards clearly to employees.
Sample prompts
Turn this benefits summary [insert details] into a one-page total rewards statement written in plain language for non-finance readers.
Draft FAQ responses for employees about the new [insert program] rollout, anticipating common concerns.
05
Competency 5
Learning, Development and Succession Planning
Build the capabilities of individuals and teams today while preparing the organization's leadership pipeline for tomorrow.
Relevant activity
Design learning programs aligned to capability gaps.
Sample prompts
Based on this skills gap analysis [insert summary], propose a 6-month learning roadmap with mix of self-directed, cohort, and on-the-job learning.
Suggest measurable learning objectives for a leadership program targeting newly promoted managers.
Relevant activity
Build succession plans for critical roles.
Sample prompts
Create a succession planning template that captures readiness level, development needs, and risk of loss for critical roles.
Draft a development conversation guide for managers preparing high-potential employees for their next role.
06
Competency 6
Workforce Planning and Mobility
Forecast workforce needs and enable internal mobility so the right people are in the right roles at the right time.
Relevant activity
Forecast workforce demand and supply.
Sample prompts
Based on these business plans [insert summary], identify the roles most likely to grow, shrink, or transform over the next 24 months and the implications for hiring and reskilling.
What workforce data should HR routinely track to anticipate turnover risk in [insert function]?
Relevant activity
Enable internal mobility and redeployment.
Sample prompts
Draft an internal mobility policy that balances employee development with business continuity. Include eligibility, posting process, and manager responsibilities.
Outline a communication plan for launching an internal talent marketplace to employees.
07
Competency 7
HR Technology and Analytics
Select, deploy and leverage HR technology and people data to inform decisions and demonstrate impact.
Relevant activity
Evaluate and select HR technology.
Sample prompts
Create an RFP evaluation rubric for an HRIS replacement covering functional fit, integrations, data security, vendor stability, and total cost of ownership.
Summarize the trade-offs between [insert vendor A] and [insert vendor B] for a mid-size Canadian employer with bilingual requirements.
Relevant activity
Use people analytics to inform decisions.
Sample prompts
Suggest a small set of HR metrics that would best demonstrate the impact of our retention strategy to the executive team.
Help me interpret this engagement survey data [insert summary]. What patterns stand out, and what additional analysis would strengthen the conclusions?
08
Competency 8
Innovation
Design, guide and encourage innovation within the organization, drawing on shifts among end users, employees, and the broader labour market.
Relevant activity
Identify tools and resources to design and promote a culture of innovation.
Sample prompts
Compile case studies from organizations known for their innovative cultures. Analyze the tools and resources they use and suggest how we can implement similar strategies. Provide citations.
Identify key metrics for measuring the effectiveness of innovation tools and resources.
Relevant activity
Make a compelling case for innovation to stakeholders.
Sample prompts
I will give you several key bullets below. Based on that, prepare a briefing note outlining the strategic benefits of fostering a culture of innovation. Include data on productivity, engagement, and competitive advantage. Bullets: [insert].
Review our attached draft innovation strategy. Identify three reasons why it will fail, and a proven strategy to overcome each.
09
Competency 9
Organizational Change and Development
Lead and support the people side of organizational change so that strategy translates into adoption and sustained results.
Relevant activity
Plan and communicate change initiatives.
Sample prompts
Draft a change communication plan for [insert initiative], including key audiences, messages, channels, and a timeline aligned to a typical change curve.
Anticipate the top employee concerns about [insert change] and suggest empathetic, factual responses managers can use in 1:1 conversations.
Relevant activity
Assess organizational readiness and measure adoption.
Sample prompts
Design a short change readiness survey covering awareness, capability, and willingness. Suggest how to interpret the results.
Propose leading and lagging indicators to measure adoption of [insert new process] over the first 90 days.
The need for a critical eye
Treat AI as a fast junior teammate, never as the final word.
Generative AI is fluent, not infallible. The prompts in this guide will get you to a strong first draft quickly; your expertise turns that draft into something fit for your organization, your people, and the law.
Set the context
Tell the AI who you are, who the audience is, and what success looks like before asking for output.
Be specific
Specify length, tone, format, audience reading level, and any data points that must appear.
Provide your own material
Paste in policies, drafts, or notes you want the model to work from rather than asking it to invent facts.
Iterate in steps
Ask for an outline, then expand sections, then refine tone. Short, focused turns beat one long mega-prompt.
Ask for citations
When facts matter, request sources and verify them, generative AI can produce confident but incorrect claims.
Keep a human in the loop
AI accelerates drafting; HR judgment must approve anything that affects people, policy, or compliance.
Understanding the legal issues
Use AI as a tool to enhance human knowledge not replace it.
Privacy
HR data is among the most sensitive in any organization. Before pasting anything into an AI tool, ask whether you'd be comfortable with it being read by a stranger. If the answer isn't a confident yes, anonymize, summarize, or don't share.
Copyright
Ownership of AI-generated content is still being settled in Canadian and international law. Keep records, prefer vendors that respect rightsholders, and disclose AI assistance when publishing externally.
Bias and fairness
Models reflect the data they were trained on. When AI touches hiring, promotion, or discipline, build in human review and document how you've checked for disparate impact.
Accountability
"The AI said so" is not a defensible answer to an employee, regulator, or arbitrator. You and your organization need to remain accountable for any decision an AI tool informs.
Limitation of liability
CPHR Nova Scotia will not be liable to any user of this resource in relation to the use of the content found within the AI for HR Guide or content generated as a result of the sample prompts in this Guide. This includes, without limitation, any business losses, loss of revenue, profits, contracts or relationships, loss of reputation or goodwill, or loss or corruption of information or data.
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