HR Technology Conference and Exposition 2020 Takeaways

We heard these two words a lot throughout the week and the importance of being an agile organization in a world of uncertainty and continuous change. Agility allows employers to take advantage of opportunities and minimize adverse outcomes. COVID-19 isn’t the only situation creating strife in 2020. Among others are social justice and the economy. While many HR leaders struggle to respond to the changing social landscape, the Edelman Trust Barometer (March-August 2020) found that among small employers, 71% trust their employer to “do what is right on systemic racism and racial injustice.” Organizations also faced economic uncertainty this year, and many had to consider layoff and furlough decisions amid COVID-19.

An investment in the right talent management technology paid off this year. While there is no technology (that we know of) explicitly designed to address the political divisiveness in our country right now, employee wellbeing technology to address mental health concerns, especially for remote workers, is likely to get a lot of attention in the coming months. “Tools to support better workforce wellbeing during the pandemic” was the top-desired technology, according to Gallagher’s 2020 HR Technology Pulse Survey. Download the executive summary for more insights.

Talent challenges shifted significantly this year, but retention of engaged and productive workers remains a high priority. We heard from companies forced to downsize due to the COVID-19 pandemic that relied on contract workers and (internal) talent marketplaces to respond to shifting talent needs. Delta Airlines’ Myria Peek shared Delta’s response to the massive disruption of the airline industry, which resulted in more than half of Delta’s workforce taking unpaid leave or early retirement.

To fill the resulting talent deficit and gaps, Delta used Avature’s talent community platform to advertise temporary assignment opportunities to current employees. In addition to tapping into existing resources to fill short-term needs, Delta gained substantial insights into their workforce. The platform allows Delta employees to showcase their skills to different hiring managers, gain new skills and build relationships across the organization. Delta reports that the platform’s use resulted in more equity in the selection process and increased employee engagement.

Bottom line: We think this is a great model for tapping existing talent resources to handle new needs. Also, it is a great retention strategy for other agile companies to follow.

Emotional wellbeing gained more attention this year with so many isolated and stressed workers, increasing the need for a “high touch” approach to workforce management. In Gallagher's 2020 Benefits Strategy & Benchmarking Survey, employers reported “emotional wellbeing” was the biggest priority (65%) in total rewards planning due to COVID-19. Organizations have been moving in this direction for years. Keynoter Josh Bersin tracked the shift in management philosophy from the pre-1950s, when the corporation was king, to today’s emphasis on the individual, community and family.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have nudged latecomers down this path, but most agree that any pandemic-driven shift towards a high-touch workplace will be long term. But high touch does not mean low tech. High-touch can be digital, said Leapgen’s Jason Averbook. Think online engagement surveys, collaboration tools and 360 feedback technology. Averbrook stressed the need for HR leaders to develop a new digital vision for the “now” of work. He called for HR to “harmonize people and technology together” by designing consumer experiences, modernizing the tech footprint, releasing trapped HR capability and capacity and unleashing the potential of technology and data. Doing so, said Averbook, will bring your digital strategy to life and create the difference between you and your competitor.

We’ve all heard talk of the “new normal,” but keynoter John Sumser suggested that where we are now is not new, normal or sustainable. Using a mental health model to illustrate psychological reactions to disasters (e.g., a global pandemic), Sumser said we’ve been operating in the “heroic response” phase where employees are energized and working hard to prepare for post-disaster. The result is high engagement scores, with some interpreting this as proof of the benefits of remote working.

Sumser countered that we’re in a “honeymoon” period and about to hit a “wall of disillusionment,” signaled by a growing sense of burnout. This time of disillusionment will be long and followed by a period of grief, mourning what we’ve lost. The result: HR will face new disability, health and safety issues, and the old rules won’t make sense. Expect a lot of ambiguity and uncertainty—with no clear answers (see next item on operational ethics). Sumser believes COVID-19 will return the responsibility of employee safety to the role of HR, with an emphasis on emotional and mental safety—both of which have been compromised by the remote nature of work. Once safety is addressed, HR can focus on individual and organization health and development.

New HR technologies will support a safe return to work, e.g., tools to enforce social distancing, contact tracing, touchless tools (timeclocks, proximity security devices) and more. Further, an array of new tools is under development to support organizational health. Our team identified many great takeaways from Sumser’s presentation, but one that keeps coming back to mind is his comment about the “growing sense of burnout.” In a presentation on employee resilience, Marcus Buckingham noted the lack of industry research on burnout. If Sumser is correct about what’s to come, we can expect a renewed focus on technology to address burnout.

In this era of intelligent tools, an ethics process is the foundation of safety and health, said keynoter John Sumser. We have all this technology available, but we don’t know the problem we’re solving for. Decisions associated with bringing people back into the workplace will be made under new circumstances. Employers must consider safety, information sharing, mental health checks and more.

As with all first-time decisions, expect some unintended consequences. Sumser encouraged employers to institute an “operational ethics function” to reduce the number and severity of unintended consequences. Specifically, Sumser recommended feeding decision options through an ethics board to bring varying perspectives to the decision-making process. The board should comprise key decision-making stakeholders and representatives of groups most likely to be impacted by poor decisions.

Diversity is key. It reduces unintended consequences and advances the safety and health of the organization. In a session on workplace DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) Dr. Tolanda Tolbert of Eskalera, stressed that DEI matters, even in a remote work environment. Beyond improving outcomes, it models good behavior for employees who also struggle with ambiguity.

Our favorite takeaway from Sumser’s discussion of ethics is his embrace of “I don’t know.” Being aware of what we don’t know keeps organizations learning and evolving, especially when coupled with an ongoing review of possible solutions and supporting technology.

Continuing a trend we flagged at the 2019 conference, most service providers market the use of artificial intelligence in their products. We remain firm in our position that most of this is not true artificial intelligence (AI), but rather super-automation. Regardless, the omnipresence of smart technologies in HR tools makes AI less of a differentiator than in the past and puts it well on the path to being table stakes in some product categories.

Across the HR technology spectrum, we see greater breadth in smart technologies but not the depth we’d hoped for by now. The customer service sector leads in the use of hyper-automation, e.g., chatbots and routing requests. The most sophisticated tools use machine learning technology and support conversational interaction with customers to better match needs with accurate solutions. Next-level advancements we’d like to see will include more prescriptive machine learning tools that rely on statistical models and machine learning algorithms to determine possibilities and recommend actions.

Marcus Buckingham reviewed a 2020 ADP survey on employee resilience and engagement that found only 17% of workers feel highly resilient. While the two don’t always align (one can be resilient but not engaged and vice versa), both are built on a foundation of trust, defined as a belief that someone has your back, will keep confidences and has your best interests in mind.

Participants were asked about their trust of colleagues, team leaders and senior leaders. Those who trusted two of the three groups were three times more likely to be fully engaged. Those who had trust in all three groups were fifteen times more likely to be fully engaged and 42x more resilient, meaning they are highly effective at pushing through challenges. Buckingham initially assumed COVID-19 would be a key factor, but the only significant impact was that those who reported having personal connections to multiple people who had contracted the virus were more resilient—likely due to the associated changes in their lives. Change (e.g., job loss, remote work environment, more or less work hours, increased use of technology, etc.), made individuals more resilient. Further, employees respond better when they understand the reality of a situation.

The takeaway for employers is not to sugarcoat information. Instead, communicate the facts about what’s happening at work to eliminate the fear of the unknown. Also, HR should consider “resilience” as part of overall employee wellbeing. Use good technology to communicate with employees as much information as possible so employees can take responsibility for their lives. The result will be more engaged and productive employees.

Stacey Harris, chief research officer of Sapient Insights Group, shared findings from the Sierra-Cedar and Sapient Insights 2020-2021 HR Systems Survey 23rd Annual Edition. There’s always much to consider in this report, which we use to augment our research data, but one big takeaway is insight into the talent management data employers needed to make critical decisions in light of COVID-19. The top five talent informational needs were:

• employee status data
• employee personal phone/email
• absence/leave data
• critical roles/positions
• work/shift schedules

Between 80% and 90% of employers reported having current information for each of these areas. However, 35% of employers reported lacking current data about “skills and competency data,” which 65% of employers ranked as need-to-know information. This brings us back to the value of a good talent management platform when it comes to making decisions about talent regardless of the state of uncertainty.