This past Friday I presented at HR Tech Tank, the purpose of which is to connect, educate and promote innovators in the HR Management and Recruitment software space. The event was held at the Talent Tech Labs in NYC – a scrappy but hip space home to several HR start-ups like Easy Pairings (very cool niche recruiting concept for the restaurant industry – check them out). This “unconference” setting didn’t disappoint with lively discussion and collaboration with some of the hottest HR Tech analysts about what is new and trending in our space.
Most of the new technology focused on the recruiting space. While perhaps not obvious on the surface, leave it to me to find the linkage of these new apps to our domain of employee-related risk management. Today’s technology provides would-be employees with a window inside an organization before making the decision to leap to a new position, helping employers and candidates find the best match. For example, early stage Poacht allows currently employed candidates to “covertly” enter the job search without fear of their current employer finding out. I would argue that employee-related risk management is a positive side-effect of this technology. The more information a potential employee has about the corporate culture into which they are looking to move, the better informed their decision will be about taking a job. Organizations that recognize the need for discretion and sensitivity in the search process are more likely to extend this concern throughout their organization post-hire, handling other confidential situations such as compensation or workplace issues in the same manner. This is certainly something I would want to see demonstrated by my employer.
It was also exciting to witness Bill Boorman do the official ribbon cutting for FeatherLight, a brand new technology that provides continuous learning for employees and a pulse on performance for managers. So many employee issues arise because of poor or no communications. Helping managers and employees interact frequently about performance can help mitigate risk and improve the workplace.
I’ll be following both of these technologies to see how quickly these new capabilities are adopted by organizations – and by organizations I really mean senior leadership. Buy-in and ownership at the highest level of management is a primary indicator of the success of any new process or solution –technological or not. But I’ll blog on that another day. Check out these new technologies and let me know what you think.
