Agentic AI Meets HR: Paychex Introduces WISE for SMBs

Host: Steve Boese and Trish Steed

Guest: Ryan Bergstrom, Chief Product Officer at Paychex

Summary

On this episode of At Work in America, Steve Boese and Trish Steed are joined by Ryan Bergstrom to discuss the launch of Paychex Wise AI and what it means for the future of payroll, HR, and workforce technology.

The conversation explores how AI is reshaping the small business experience by reducing administrative burden, surfacing real-time workforce insights, and helping organizations move from reactive processes to proactive decision-making. Ryan shares how Paychex is approaching AI through the lens of “augmented intelligence,” helping organizations streamline payroll, compliance, workforce management, and employee support while keeping humans firmly in the loop.

The discussion highlights the growing pressure facing small and midsize businesses, from compliance complexity and workforce changes to tool sprawl and operational overload. The episode also dives into how agentic AI can help organizations identify anomalies, guide managers through next steps, and automate repetitive work without sacrificing trust, security, or oversight.

Chapters

02:10 Challenges Faced by Small and Medium Businesses

05:56 The Strategic Role of AI in HR and Payroll

08:07 Revolutionizing Payroll with AI Assistance

11:56 Real-Time Anomaly Detection and Compliance

13:20 Introducing Paychex WISE

18:23 Security, Trust, and Data Privacy in AI

25:00 Customer Feedback and Adoption of AI Tools

27:04 Training and User Onboarding

28:23 Future Outlook

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This episode of At Work in America is sponsored by Paychex, an industry-leading human capital management (HCM) company that helps businesses of all sizes succeed with its award-winning combination of digital HR technology and advisory services. Have you met WISE? Workforce Intelligence Strengthen by Expertise or WISE isn’t just an AI feature. It’s an intelligence platform trained on 50 years of real workforce data, built into the system that already manages your business. And when the work calls for human judgment, real Paychex advisors are there for support. Where others give you tools to help with HR work, WISE is built to reduce how much HR work you have to do at all. To learn more about WISE, the AI that gets work done, head to paychex.com/ai.

The HR Happy Hour Network is sponsored by Workhuman.

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