HR Connection blog

When the words artificial intelligence or data science come up in a conversation about HR strategy, there are times'—especially if the context is a small- or medium-sized business'—when the eyerolls are almost audible. "Here comes the sales pitch," listeners think while wondering what kinds of AI insights will be valuable enough to offset all the extra hours spent putting them into practice.

How the Fight to Recruit & Retain Talent Is Heating Up

On May 6, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) formally withdrew final regulations promulgated earlier this year under the prior administration which set forth, for the first time by way of an Administrative Procedure Act rulemaking, the analysis the DOL would use to determine whether a worker was an employee or independent contractor under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). 

Creating pride in and loyalty to the company is key to generating revenue-increasing employee performance. In order to cultivate those sentiments in their workforces, many businesses turn to incentive programs that recognize strong performance. Not all incentive programs are created equal, however, with many outdated employee-of-the-month efforts doing more harm than good to organizational morale. In order to effectively incentivize today's workforces to help grow company revenue, leaders should consider other strategies as well.

One of the most surprising after effects of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic is that while unemployment is high, it's still tough to get open positions full. In part, that's because the crisis revealed weaknesses in systems we rely on, including healthcare, schools, employment, and infrastructure. As a result, employees are questioning several aspects of their work lives. Hit their hot-button issues out of the park, and you'll attract in-demand candidates.

In their quest to achieve better hiring and retention results, organizations see improving the speed and quality of hiring as a corporate imperative and are often ready to make significant changes to win the talent they need. This desire for improved results is not new, though: organizations have wanted to hire faster and better for a long time (often targeting skills that are in scarce supply). But they have struggled to do so well and consistently. What's new and different today is the fact that organizations are now genuinely interested in increasing the number of people of color—specifically Black talent—in leadership positions. The impetus for this shift was of course the murder of George Floyd, along with the subsequent high-profile Black Lives Matter awareness campaigns and marches world wide against systemic racism. Companies can no longer ignore the data: Corporate America has a shockingly low number of Black leaders. (For example, Black CEOs lead fewer than 1 percent of Fortune 500 companies. 1) Workplace diversity leads to improvements in enterprise value, innovation, and global economic outcomes. 2 Most workplace diversity initiatives fail to achieve their goals. 3 The confluence of these factors has inspired some organizations' senior leaders to work harder than ever to make measurable and sustained improvements to the diversity of their workforces. Other organizations, however, don't understand—or are unwilling to acknowledge—the work required to win and retain top Black talent, and instead are satisfied with simply moving a few Black people into high-visibility jobs. Unfortunately, poor employment practices negatively affect Black employees more than their White counterparts. For example, when people are hired or promoted into leadership positions prematurely or inappropriately, they face far less criticism and pushback when they are White than when they are Black. Unlike White leaders in that situation, Black leaders have to deal with racism-based complaints ("See what happens when we put a Black person in a position like this?") and sabotage ("They got hired over all these other people, so let them figure out how things work around here"), all of which harms not only them but also the overall workforce and the business. Proper recruitment, selection, onboarding, and performance management routines are critical for the success of any new executive. This holds particularly true when companies seek to make their leadership ranks more diverse. The old routines that may have worked reasonably well with primarily White leaders must be examined and adapted to successfully and consistently win top, diverse talent. It's time for companies to implement new strategies. Conduct a diversity audit of the company's recent and current workforces. Analyze at least two years of hiring, internal movement, and attrition data by level, job type, geography, business unit, compensation, ethnicity, gender, age, and other relevant factors What is the status of attrition, retention, and retirement of the current workforce? What positions and skills are hard to find and retain—and why? What are the organization's trends related to diversity hiring, mobility, and retention? What are the priority and specificity of diversity needs by business unit, location, level, etc.? Determine workforce needs for the near future. Key questions to answer include: What is the optimal workforce profile (in terms of size, shape, mix, diversity, and capabilities) for the organization today compared to what it will need during the next two to three years? What will the workforce require to meet the organization's business objectives now and during the next two to three years? What emerging technology and skills are critical to ensure business success and competitive advantage today and during the next two to three years? Identify priority areas for workforce diversity. Before using the future needs analysis to determine the priority areas for diversity hiring, first define what diversity means with regard to job type, location, etc. Does this mean women? Black people? Any person of color? Clarity on this issue is key to moving diversity hiring and retention outcomes forward. Assess the organization's current ability to win passive talent. Because the competition for top talent remains fierce, any company that wants to hire more high-performing diverse employees needs to examine how it measures up in the following areas: Prioritized, specific, measurable sourcing plans based on business demands Broad research on industry competition for talent A consistent and well-documented methodology for identifying, connecting with, and tracking high-performing passive talent Developing talent pipelines and engagement levels over time for key roles Working with hiring managers to successfully attract passive talent to consider the organization Success in winning top passive talent that stays and performs well over time Assess the organization's current ability to effectively onboard and retain talent. Because companies need to not only hire diverse talent but also ensure that it stays and performs well over time, they must assess their onboarding and retention practices. The data obtained by the initial diversity analysis will indicate where (in terms of geography, roles, levels, etc.) in the organization diversity hiring is succeeding and where it is failing. With this information, the company can answer the following questions: Is there a structured and documented approach to onboarding that clearly defines roles, responsibilities, and measures of success? Is there survey data from new hires that indicate the effectiveness of the onboarding experience? Is the company successful at integrating new hires and helping them to become acclimated and productive quickly? Do managers get personally involved in the orientation, assimilation, and development of their team members? (And are they held accountable for doing so?) Are these activities a stated investment priority for the organization? The need for new approaches to achieve workplace diversity is clear. By taking bold steps to retool their hiring practices, organizations can make the shift from merely wanting to hire diverse talent to actually doing it.

As COVID began to lessen its grip on the U.S. this spring, many people spoke and wrote about “The Great Rehiring.” The storyline focused on how we would see the workforce come roaring back online with speed the country had never seen before. A few months into the push to re-open businesses nationwide and the story is not what most expected.

A good offboarding (or employee-exit management) strategy often ranks low on the priority list for busy HR leaders. They already have so much on their plates—bringing new employees into the fold, shaping their experiences with the organization, ensuring that they grow into fully-rounded hires—that they don't have time for offboarding. As the final opportunity to leave a positive impression on soon-to-be-former employees, though, exit management is important, and companies should treat it as such. The most effective offboarding programs touch on five key areas, each of which has distinct action steps.

During this unsettling time, when more people than ever are working remotely, many people are feeling isolated. Virtual meetings tend to focus on deadlines and data, leaving little time for team members to loop each other into their personal lives. Although the question "How are you doing today?" comes up, it usually elicits only brief responses—and the conversation then turns to the work at hand. Instead of treating remote gatherings as merely work-related meetings, leaders need to include in them a dimension of relationship building. Not only does getting to know team members address isolation concerns, but it can also yield several other benefits.

Chatbots (or digital assistants) have been around for a while, but their use has soared in recent years, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, and is expected to climb even higher. Not only are these AI-powered automated software robots rapidly growing smarter, but they're also becoming increasingly capable of handling recruitment tasks such as answering job seekers' questions, prescreening candidates, and scheduling interviews. (One of their most valuable contributions toward recruitment is their ability to recruit 24-7: at any time of day or night, a chatbot can connect a job seeker with positions that best match their skills, experience, and interests.) In order to best leverage chatbots for their own recruitment, though, hiring managers and HR staff first need a basic understanding of what they do and how they work.