Beth Giglio is the Senior Vice President of Human Resources for 84.51°.
In an article with CIO Review, Beth discusses how HR must undergo a digital transformation to better meet the needs of current and future employees.
"Technology is a key enabler in making prospective candidates’ lives easier," says Beth.
The need for technology
Beth explains how the process of working for a company hasn't changed much. There's an application, and interview, and an offer. Employees work for the company, and then they leave. However, Beth adds that now both candidates and employees have higher expectations for each stage of the process, and that's where technology comes in. With technological advancements, companies can now offer easier navigation, access to information and insights to make the process more personal.
Improving transparency in job searching
So, what are these new expectations and why do companies and HR have to use technology to attract the best candidates? Beth starts with the job searching stage, where a candidate will look online for vacancies. In addition to Where Women Work, Beth cites well-known websites such as Glassdoor, Indeed and Vault as further go-to places to find out more about a prospective employer.
"For Millennials and Gen Z - if your application process isn’t paperless and mobile-friendly, forget it; and if Glassdoor or other review sites are negative, prospective candidates will look elsewhere," says Beth. "As an employer, your first digitization efforts must start with first impression areas like posting and creating a positive presence on social media."
Making applications and interviews easier
Beth then moves onto the application process, that includes artificial intelligence for screening and selection to using technological tools such as video to make interviews - and the candidates' lives - easier.
"Now let’s say you already have great digital solutions for the prospective candidate milestones. What happens after they have accepted? There are platforms that allow new hires to upload much of their info in advance to ensure smooth on-boarding. It also includes the ability for a company and new managers to quickly engage with a pre-hire to plan their first day," adds Beth.
Creating a seamless, sustainable onboarding experience
After transitioning from potential candidate to new employee, it's now important to integrate them into the company. Beth explains that, again, technology comes into play in the form of a personalised on-boarding experience across different media. For example, 84.51° recently implemented Pathgather to create and store seamless, sustainable on-boarding processes as well as continued learning.
"Employees today, more than ever, expect instant answers and fun, engaging learning experiences. Have you incorporated simulations and gamification in your training toolkit? Figuring out how to share best in class learning is no longer the job of HR," comments Beth. "We must find ways to decentralize and democratize education. The job of HR is to provide the digital platforms needed for others to build on top of - so that functional learning and learning from great leaders is at everyone’s fingertips."
Retaining talent through feedback and recognition
Once a company has hired talent, it's also important that it retains it. Beth cites appreciation as an important factor to increase employee satisfaction and to decrease their likelihood of leaving the company. To make an employee feel more appreciated, Beth suggests technological platforms so employees can provide immediate feedback and recognition to one another.
"The best and highly engaged companies have on-demand feedback and recognition solutions which are integrated so that they are easy to use and can be integrated with all other feedback tools," adds Beth.
"At the end of the day, we know the demand for critical talent will continue to increase. In Korn Ferry Institute’s latest report, they suggest that by 2030 we will experience a shortage of more than 85 million workers worldwide. Anyway you look at it, the expectations for prospective and existing employees will continue to increase, while defining and maximizing the employee experience will be critical to attracting and retaining talent," finishes Beth.
"Your HR function must invest to keep up so that the right digital solutions and the right HR talent are put in place within the cycle of the employee so that we and other business leaders can focus on the highest value areas - connecting, developing and recognizing employee contributions, not navigating antiquated HR systems."
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Disclosure: Where Women Work researches and publishes insightful evidence about how its paid member organizations support women's equality.