Where do you predict HR technology is headed in 2022?
This question was posed to talent professionals for their insights. From the metaverse to a focus on data, here’s what they had to say:
Virtual Wallets
Tech is shifting towards self-sovereignty, a system that would allow employees to control and manage their information in a virtual wallet. This wallet would contain employees’ training badges, credentials, education histories, and other important information needed to make a hiring decision.
If HR is hiring or promoting an employee, they simply send a request to that employee for access to the wallet, and they can receive that information in seconds. Developers would use the blockchain, currently the most reliable way to prevent cybercrime, to build this technology. This gives everyone in the hiring process a streamlined background check solution while ensuring that employees’ private identity and data is protected against fraud and hackers. — Tammy Cohen, founder and chief visionary officer, InfoMart
People Analytics That Solve Business Problems
HR technology has recently adopted an “innovation first” mentality, meaning that we in the HR technology space have tried to push consumer and enterprise innovations into the world of HR.
HR data, structures, and systems have been rooted in a “this is how we’ve always done things” mentality. In 2022, the “Great Resignation” finds HR departments struggling to overcome worker shortage and compensation compression issues.
This year we will see new ways of linking data together to uncover new opportunities, leveraging data so we can solve issues more immediately with a focus on results. No longer will we focus solely on salary increases in the hopes of keeping people happy and employed. This is called “talent intelligence,” the next generation of people analytics. It provides results-focused answers to real business problems by considering past experiences and leveraging large/disparate sets of data to more accurately provide business solutions. — David Turetsky, VP of consulting, Salary.com
Worldwide Recruiting
The overloaded recruiting challenge arrived in 2021, with “the great resignation.” I foresee a high demand for an unrestricted international job-seekers platform for 2022 as a remedy. Companies are struggling to hire top talent in local areas and with remote working as a viable option, so it seems fitting to create such a platform.
Companies have found their way around having on-site staff and instituting flexible working hours while still meeting performance demands. The highly preferred working “remote” opportunities have opened the floodgates for the professional workforce and employers to connect. It’s time to eliminate the where-you-live barrier and unite worldwide possibilities. — Shell Phelps, co-founder, Phelps Strategies
Brand Advocacy
Tech will need to evolve to support the expanded responsibilities that recruiters are taking on in being advocates and salespeople for their companies. They’ll need to focus not only on candidate management but also on candidate engagement and ways to promote company values, benefits, etc.
This means branding and customization capabilities will be at the forefront of what recruiters are looking for in software. With that, I think we will also see an increase in tech with social components and tech that easily integrates with social platforms. — Andres Blank, CEO and co-founder, Fetcher
Increased Data Collection
Companies used to rely heavily on in-person interactions and observations to manage employee experience, retention, and performance. This approach to evaluation works against the company by enabling bias — trusting your gut is not a talent strategy. The rise of distributed teams means companies need structured, data-driven ways to understand their workforce now that those in-person interactions are nonexistent or much more limited.
In 2022, we’ll see companies reinventing their hiring processes to understand candidates and employees (including their strengths, preferences and growth areas) with data, using tools like standardized candidate assessments and check-ins with the managers of new hires. This data helps companies mitigate bias, hire faster, and retain a stronger workforce. — Kerry Wang, co-founder and CEO, Searchlight
A More “Human-Like” Talent Outreach
Right now, good talent is hard to come by — especially talent that wants to talk to you. Recruiting technology must become better to cater to passive candidates. Reaching out to these candidates needs to be real and personal, and technology must realize that. No one wants to talk to bots. Having the technology that can entice this passive candidate is important, be it new software that writes out human-sounding reach-outs or technology that pulls information in from social accounts. Time is money, and as a recruiter, we want to talk to the best candidates as quickly as possible. — Jacqueline Meyer, recruiter, Yellow Bob
Virtual Reality and the Metaverse
Employers today are constantly looking for ways to bridge the analog and digital divide. While virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence are not new concepts, the metaverse will help the analog-digital divide.
Companies today and in the foreseeable future are looking for alternative ways to quickly acculturate new hires and further engage employees in the company’s culture. One way to accomplish this is by providing a VR headset that will allow the new employee to experience from home or a remote location what other employees experience. These experiences would include onboarding, training, collaborative meetings, team-building activities, and real-life-job previews of upcoming positions.
Employers could boost engagement where it would otherwise be low because remote employees can now experience what in-office employees experience even while out of the office! — Kevin Barrios, director of HR and people strategy, Enchanted Rock Management, LLC.
Unification of DEI Tech and HR Tech
With the focus on creating and implementing strategies impacting an organization’s DEI effort here to stay, the need for HR technology that can translate how AI in HR will impact the employee and candidate experience from a DEI perspective will be a game-changer. it’s important to understand that HR Tech, IT, and DEI tech, while different, are all linked and must put on a unified front. Doing so is how you leverage people data to drive and shift culture, promote belonging and inclusion, and reduce biases. — Lekeshia Hicks, CEO of Lekeshia Angelique Consulting