2018 has been a challenging year for hiring employees, as hiring demand now exceeds the number of unemployed in the US. We know that technology can provide bigger and better tools for tackling hiring challenges, and we saw exactly that at the 2018 HR Tech Conference. Just a week after the hustle and bustle of HR Tech, here are some of the biggest trends I noticed at the conference this year:
1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
With an entire track at the conference dedicated to AI and HR, this is one trend that’s showing no signs of slowing down. More and more vendors are creating solutions that help HR get their work done more efficiently and effectively through the power of AI. The AI products at the conference weren’t dedicated to any single area of HR – instead we saw products dedicated to everything from recruitment and candidate assessments to employee onboarding and compliance. The potential for AI is endless, and HR is ready to get tech savvy with it.
2. Diversity
Hiring a more diverse workforce is a topic that is increasingly on everyone’s minds. We learned how it pays to create a diverse workplace and the importance of hiring and retaining a diverse team. We saw presentations on tactics and strategies to increase diversity in the workplace and how we can decrease bias in recruitment (and through the hiring process as a whole). At the conference, we also got a healthy reminder that while the burden of prioritizing diversity often falls on HR, it’s clear that diversity is not just an initiative for the HR department – it needs to start from the top.
3. Employee Recognition
With unemployment so low, our current hiring landscape is firmly in the candidate’s favor. Job quitting is at an all-time high, and job hoppers tend to earn more than job stayers. That’s why one of the biggest trends coming out of HR tech is about not just hiring great talent but also retaining them. And one of the key ways to keep employees around is by promoting employee engagement and recognition. Employee recognition can take many forms, like rewards or incentives, and HR tech tools are making it easier to set up programs for making employee recognition an active part of your organization.
Overall, I saw that HR folks are rapidly becoming not only data-driven, but data hungry. HR professionals have long known that people are at the center of business success – and now, they’re armed with the data to back it up.
