Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

The Future of AI in the Age of Adaptability

For the next several months, I'm going to be featuring a "Future of..." series I'm working on with ManpowerGroup as part of its new Global Insights team.

Within the next five years, we anticipate that the democratization of AI-based technology will lead to greater accessibility across the organization and that employees at all levels will be empowered to integrate AI into relevant job tasks as they see fit. 

As we discussed in “The Age of Adaptability” report, businesses anticipate a 23% churn in jobs over the next five years between the creation of new roles and the reduction of others. But, because more cross-industry examples will emerge detailing how best to deploy AI, organizations won’t be as mystified by its presence and impact on the workforce. AI will increasingly be seen as a force for good!

One might imagine that a futurist has extreme ideas about the future of AI. And while it’s true that I believe AI-based technologies will be true partners in work moving forward and will play a role in the development of the metaverse and immersive work environments that Manpower recently researched, I don’t think the AI of science fiction is likely to come to fruition anytime soon. We are still far from achieving what’s called artificial general intelligence, which is a form of AI that thinks and creates on its own, essentially surpassing human abilities in all types of work.

Since AI-based technologies are not in a position to take over all human jobs as is still feared, this piece will focus on the technologies that are available now – namely generative AI applications and talent intelligence applications – and the role they can realistically play in the workforce in the coming years.

Generative AI Has Legs, But It’s Not the End

Generative AI is capable of generating text, images, or other media by learning the patterns and structure of input training data and then generating new data that has similar characteristics. A workforce-related example involves the development of sophisticated digital assistants that can use an existing arsenal of HR information to respond more accurately to online employee queries, even if they weren’t trained on those exact questions.

The technology has been introduced to the market at a very rapid pace. ChatGPT was released in November of 2022, and then shortly thereafter, OpenAI released a large language model called GPT-4 that was a measurable improvement over the original ChatGPT. Microsoft, Google, and other big technology players are quickly getting in on the action. 

But generative AI is not necessarily the massive breakthrough people think it is. Its release is more the result of a logical linear progression, as we’ve had smart chatbots for quite some time now. Although there has been significant media interest in ChatGPT, it’s not substantially different from what came before. In its current state, generative AI still requires a great deal of human oversight and regulation, and the majority of organizations are just figuring out how to use it effectively for various business purposes. So, if you haven’t cracked the code yet, you shouldn’t lose sleep over it. You’re not behind.

For the rest of this piece, head over to the ManpowerGroup's Global Insights blog.

Talent Intelligence Platforms Use Deep Learning to Close Skills Gaps

The HR community is enthralled by the idea that artificial intelligence (AI) can provide tangible benefits in the quest to effectively source and hire in a tight labor market. But how does this work in practice? 
 
It starts by understanding a branch of AI called deep learning. Deep-learning algorithms, which are inspired by the actions of the human brain, continuously analyze data with a given logical structure. This structure encompasses multiple layers of algorithms called neural networks. 
 
Deep-learning algorithms can’t predict the future or give answers that a human would agree with 100%. Yet they are still valuable. If you’ve ever used a modern search engine and been amazed by the results or if you’ve ever watched the perfect show recommended by your streaming network of choice, you have experienced the power of deep learning. 
 
The main challenge of deep learning is data — specifically, the massive amount required. The talent space alone needs billions of data points about people, career trajectories, skills, and experiences. 
 
But while AI’s reach was once limited by computing power and the availability of data, that’s no longer the case. Today, global neural nets can identify more than a million skills across the world’s 8 billion people. 
 
Then, using this data, AI engineers can develop deep-learning algorithms to determine the best answers to a defined class of questions. In the case of deep talent, such questions might include: Who is the best fit for this specific job requirement? What job is this individual most likely to hold next in their career? 
 
Understanding deep learning’s ability to harness a massive amount of data is only the first step, however. Next, we must explore how deep learning can help us identify skills and transform how we hire people. 
 
The Power of Skills Adjacency 
 
Skills adjacency refers to the inference that a person good at skill A often excels at skill B, and it helps us complete our picture of a human’s true potential and the transferable skills they possess. 
 
In my recent book, “Deep Talent,” my co-authors and I tell the story of Nico Iannotti, a top sales engineer in Europe. Nico wasn’t always involved with either sales or technology. He was, however, previously involved with customer service as a sommelier and waiter. As he put it, skills are interchangeable assets that individuals can leverage in a variety of industry roles and life situations. 
 
“Many of the skills I acquired prior to my corporate career have been very helpful in my role as a client-relationship manager and solution engineer,” he told us. “What is the link between pairing wines and selling software? Both are customer-facing roles, and both provide solutions to a customer’s problem. In both cases, you are building relationships, demonstrating empathy, and selling an emotional experience based on a specific budget. It’s just a change of context, not a completely different skillset.” 

For the rest of the piece, head over to the UKG Workforce Institute.

Don't Be Intimidated by Job Redesign

The need for job redesign is on most HR leaders’ radars in 2024. But in most organizations, it still seems to be more of a talking point than a reality. However, given that Dayforce’s 14^th Annual Pulse of Talent survey found that 37% of respondents said there is a different role with their current employer that better matches their skillset, the process seems ripe with opportunity.

Job redesign is the process of rearranging or replacing tasks to better align work with evolving conditions both inside and outside the organization. And it’s really nothing new. For example, the telegraphist or telegraph operator was one of the first tech-related jobs of the 19^th century. The telegraphist used the most modern equipment available at the time to send and receive Morse code via radio and telephone.

In the 1970s, the telegraph was mostly replaced by telex, a communications network to send text-based messages. So, if you were a telegraphist and you wanted to remain gainfully employed, you had to adapt and learn telex. In other words, the telegraphist job was redesigned with a lot of the same skills and responsibilities – minus the telegraph.

Job redesign may feel more complex and overwhelming today because the pace of technology is faster and has a broader impact in terms of affected occupations. In particular, the arrival of generative AI has leaders wondering exactly how to execute job redesign to incorporate the benefits of this technology.

Before we get into how to make the process more turnkey, let’s address what job redesign is NOT. For example, job redesign is not bringing in a new piece of automation and letting go of all the human employees previously involved in the job targeted by the automation. When integration of automation is done well, the technology takes over more straightforward, repetitive tasks while human employees provide the necessary strategic input, creativity, judgment, and oversight. And that’s where job redesign comes in.

Three practical steps for job redesign
In most knowledge-driven and in many frontline worker occupations, shifting business requirements and emerging technologies mean that employees need new skillsets. Therefore, the process of job redesign involves understanding the individual tasks that encompass the work being done, and then matching or training for skills necessary for those tasks.

Step one: Engage in task analysis

Target a small category of jobs to start, and then assemble a diverse group of stakeholders from across the organization. Make sure this group includes people across levels, and not just leadership, so you have representation from those who are close to the work.

Document the critical tasks currently associated with each job, and note where there are redundancies, areas where technology could be efficiently deployed, and places where you can build a job to become more flexible in structure and environment. You can also rank your tasks according to importance, how often they are performed, how long they take, and the skills required or how people learn how to do each task.

Step two: Create new job titles and descriptions

Next, based on your analysis, group related tasks into new job buckets. With smart technology now helping in new ways with some tasks, there may be room to remove or combine previous jobs. This may involve creating new “super jobs” that cross departmental lines. For example, the new job of people analytics manager might be technically housed in HR but include tasks traditionally housed in IT such as selecting appropriate technology applications, ensuring data quality, and communicating data-related insights to leaders and other constituents.

You can also use this exercise as an opportunity to standardize jobs titles and descriptions across the organization.

For the rest of the piece, head over to the Dayforce blog.

Giving Second Chance Hiring a Chance

Every year, more than 600,000 men and women are released from prison in the United States and nearly one-third will return to prison within three years, according to an article by Crystal Yang in the American Economic Review.

However, employers can take steps to turn that percentage around and mitigate ongoing labor shortages in the process.

Pete Keller, founder of United Legion One Nation (ULON), a nonprofit dedicated to helping the formerly incarcerated become productive members of the community, said that if these individuals can secure gainful employment within the first 30-90 days of their release from prison, we can reduce recidivism from 45% to 17%.

After serving four stints in the penitentiary, Keller recalled being released back into society stripped of everything he needed to rebuild his life. “Being labeled as a felon meant that no one wanted to give me a chance or even extend a helping hand,” he said.

Second Chance hiring refers to the act of employing individuals – including the formerly incarcerated – whose life choices and situations have disadvantaged them in obtaining stable employment.

American food company Dave’s Killer Bread embraced Second Chance hiring after founder Dave Dahl was welcomed back into his family’s bakery following a 15-year prison sentence.

“We have now dedicated ourselves to advancing Second Chance employment, or hiring the best person for the job, regardless of criminal history. We’ve seen first-hand the transformative power of a job and the positive ripple effects on the broader community,” said Dan Letchinger, business unit senior vice president.

Letchinger said that Second Chance hires demonstrate dedication and loyalty every day when they come to the bakery and are passionate about the opportunity to learn and grow.  He cited an “attitude of gratitude” as one of the drivers of this population’s strong work ethic.

“We have found that the performance of employees with criminal backgrounds is often at the same levels or higher than their teammates. And in many cases, these individuals are actually promoted at a faster rate,” Letchinger said.

Despite the benefits, Second Chance hiring is still relatively uncommon. This is mostly because many organizations have a policy of terminating qualified talent solely based on arrest or conviction records. Some states such as Illinois have “Ban the Box” laws, which prohibit private employers with 15 or more employees from asking about criminal history until after an interview or a conditional offer.

Unfortunately, Keller shared, once background checks are conducted, employers often terminate employment due to the disclosure of prior convictions.

“This creates a cycle of disappointment and uncertainty for these individuals who were hopeful for a fresh start in their professional lives,” he said.

Employers do not need to wait for new legislation to be passed to protect and support formerly incarcerated individuals.  And given that labor shortages in most occupations are likely to persist through the coming decades, Second Chance hiring can be an important tool to deepen available talent pools. These guidelines may be useful when considering it.

Understand your mission. Keller reminded employers that Second Chance hiring is not a charitable endeavor, but rather a deliberate plan to enhance staff retention and enjoy the benefits of hiring individuals who are motivated to work despite facing numerous obstacles.

Consult nonprofit organizations. Groups like Jobs for the Future, Refoundry, and ULON can provide essential resources to clarify and execute an effective initiative. “They’re dedicated to educating employers to help them develop a better understanding of the whys and hows of implementing Second Chance Employment hiring practices,” said Letchinger.

Provide unbiased training. A comprehensive, proactive approach that includes all layers of management and staff will ensure that your organization is truly an equal opportunity employer and that diversity, equity, and inclusion becomes embedded in your culture, said Keller.

Have a candid conversation. Letchinger said that when trying to look past candidate backgrounds, it’s worth speaking to the individual about their personal path and being alert to signs that suggest an individual is ready to change.

This piece was originally published in the WSJ Workplace Report.

Building Culture with a Distributed Workforce

As we close out 2023, the post-pandemic return-to-office question seems to have resolved. Most organizations have embraced a hybrid model, mandating that non-frontline employees work onsite between one and three days per week. However, this structure doesn’t necessarily equate to a positive work culture that employees are reluctant to leave.

According to the forthcoming Dayforce 2024 Pulse of Talent research, nearly 70% of employees are either looking for a new job or would leave their current organizations if the right opportunity came along. Thirty-eight percent said they had issues achieving their performance goals in the last year, with the main reason being too large of a workload. Only eight percent said their employer is giving them everything they need to be productive.

It's clear that despite having more flexibility than ever before, employees are not as satisfied as they could be. And this does not bode well for a business climate that will continue to be plagued by labor and skills shortages.

Understanding how to build a strong culture in a distributed work environment, a task that few attempted before the pandemic, has now become an organizational imperative. The following five strategies infused with the right employee experience technology may prove useful as you navigate this new terrain.

Conduct ongoing employee needs assessments.

The move to permanent distributed work requires a culture shift in all organizations, but instead of viewing this as an insurmountable task, leaders should look at it as a valuable opportunity to understand the unique requirements of all your employees and address concerns impacting specific groups.

For example, caregivers may report that office commutes are a hardship, while employees who are underrepresented minorities may experience greater bias and more microaggressions in an in-person office environment. Leaders should know about these issues before they result in quiet or actual quitting.

Employee pulse taking doesn’t have to be a ton of work. You can automate an employee experience platform to survey your employees on a regular cadence and determine what they need and want as well as general workplace sentiment.

You can also leverage an employee experience platform to create a real-time, two-way path to more in-depth dialogue and feedback with senior leaders and HR representatives. Once upon a time, the flow of information from the top to the bottom of the organization might have been more of a trickle, and c-suite communication may have lacked transparency, vision, and purpose. When an organization is empowered by employee experience technology, this no longer has to be the case.

Reimagine office space as a destination.

Since employees are in the office less frequently and often have a choice whether to be there on a given day, leaders must make attendance worth their while. Facilities like onsite daycare, a gym, and open, casual lounges to support informal interaction are great-to-haves, but if your budget doesn’t allow for such things, offering a space employees want to visit could be as simple as providing extra time with leaders via scheduled and unscheduled office events. It’s also okay to spend a little money on offsite gatherings as the rapport-building that takes place at these is often priceless.

Finally, if your online employee experience is immersive enough, it will complement the -person experience beautifully. Used to market and generate excitement about upcoming events at the office and bring your employees’ great work to life, these platforms can add depth and creativity to your in-person culture and be a fun destination in their own right.

Watch out for proximity bias.

A Prezi survey found that over 66% of hybrid workers feel that workplaces favor employees who are together in a physical office. Additionally, according to my own research, a majority of employees feel they are not as effective when communicating via videoconference. Leaders can remedy this issue by restructuring meetings, revamping performance expectations to focus on output, and ensuring there is a fair mix of in-person and online platforms to network and show off one’s skills.

An employee experience platform can also assist with combatting proximity bias. Select technology that can highlight individual employee profiles on the manager’s home page so everyone on the team – remote and non-remote – is front and center. Managers can also be offered the option to easily develop and send targeted employee communication that calls attention to each direct report’s personal and professional development.

Offer assistance specific to distributed work challenges.

Always-on employees require easy access to systems that allow them to complete work wherever they are, and “hoteling” at the office should be a seamless, non-chaotic experience. Match your in-office policy with more flexible benefits for taking time off when needed, and coordinate team office time so your employees reap the full benefits of in-person collaboration and aren’t simply sitting in an empty cubicle farm alone.

A distributed work environment in a constantly changing business climate also requires your HR information delivery to be comprehensive and on point. Consider an employee experience platform with mobile and device agnostic capabilities, which can customize content for particular teams and roles, and help employees find what they need through intelligent search.

An AI-enabled platform has the additional benefit of screening incoming HR issues and quickly routing them to the correct person, which is essential when leaders cannot guarantee that an employee who walks down the hall to HR will be able to speak to a live human.

When your people are running at a million miles an hour and spread out all over the country or world, it is unfortunately easy to lose sight of what makes your organization a special place to work. While a distributed work environment requires leaders to put more conscious effort into culture, ultimately this renewed focus is probably for the best!

This article was originally published on Ceridian.com.

 

Strategic Foresight in Practice in the HR Space

 In the summer of 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic raging, everyone across the globe waited to see what would happen next.

The employment world was no different. In my role as a workforce futurist, I help organizations anticipate and prepare for near-future disruptions. As part of ongoing work with the US government, I produced a summer 2020 forecast for 2022-25. I asked: what impact would the pandemic have on employment two to five years forward?

Futurist professionals use a combination of methodologies to make our forecasts, including environmental scanning for emerging changes, trend analysis, and scenario planning. Although COVID-19 was in some ways an unprecedented event, similar crises had befallen the world before. Futurists examine published public and private sector research as well as media and expert commentary to try to extrapolate what those outcomes might mean for the current situation. The U.S. government was very interested in this expertise when faced with the first global pandemic in more than one hundred years.

In addition to the permanent installation of distributed work (which was fairly obvious even in 2020), I guessed that between 2022 and 2025, the world would be plagued by mass layoffs –due to potential economic instability resulting from the pandemic crisis.

Plus, I anticipated an escalating mental health crisis among workers after suffering the collective trauma of isolation during COVID-19.

Over the next few years, I kept my eye on whether the forecasted twindemic of layoffs and rising mental health issues was actually coming to fruition.

As of mid-2023, Zippia reported that 40% of all Americans had been laid off from a job at least once, and nearly one-third had been laid off within the last two years.

In the first ten months of 2023, the technology industry alone laid off a quarter million people. And, available unemployment solutions continued to underperform, resulting in the average unemployed citizen being out of work for 23 weeks, according to 2022 Statista research.

Most importantly, a 2023 study based on surveys in 29 nations published by Harvard Medical School in The Lancet Psychiatry journal found that in the post-pandemic era, one out of every two people in the world will develop a mental health disorder in their lifetime.

 

Organizations Answer the Call for Employee Health Support

 

Many global organizations did recognize the psychological impact the pandemic was having on employees and stepped-up efforts to help them. For example, at Pinterest, employees who lost childcare or were caring for an ill family member could receive financial compensation for up to four weeks. And JPMorgan Chase implemented a well-being app to query employees about their mental health and stress levels on a weekly basis.  By monitoring the app’s data, HR could provide struggling teams with customized support.

 

As the pandemic progressed, my research team noted a general increase in technology-based mental health offerings.

 

Two notable programs include the Spring Health mobile app – which prompts employees to take a guided mental health assessment and then matches them with a dedicated care navigator – and the Flourish DX app, which collects and reports employee mental health assessments to health and safety professionals as well as HR staff.

Similarly, there’s Lyra, a service that offers employees access to individualized care including self-guided programming, mental health coaching, and medication management. Lyra’s leaders claim that an astounding 88% of program users improve with care.

Given the frequency and severity with which layoffs and mergers are taking place – as the Zippia and Statistica data shows – it is clear that organizations need to continue to support their former employees.

And to a degree, thanks to stellar outplacement services firms like LHH, Right Management, and Mercer, this is happening. Mercer, for instance, claims that its outplacement services offerings help transitioning employees and displaced employees land a new job nearly 2.5X faster than the national average.

LHH’s outplacement services programs with Rexam were in part responsible for the business saving £22 million during an acquisition. And Right Management guided a global technology corporation employing over 400,000 people in more than 175 countries through an outplacement program that resulted in 81% of released candidates moving into a new role.

The trouble is, mental health and extensive job search support for laid off employees tends to be reserved for those at more senior levels. And economists say that more senior individuals are less vulnerable to the cascading effects of unemployment and can often afford to private services out of their own pocket.

The Far-Reaching Consequences of Unemployment

The long-term effects of unemployment on personal wellbeing are noted in several studies summarized by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

In short, unemployed individuals face reduced income, compromised physical health, strained relationships, poor academic performance for their children, and sometimes a permanent loss of self-esteem, self-worth, and intrinsic motivation.

This decrease in motivation subsequently creates a decrease in job seeking behavior, which means the problem then becomes a vicious cycle leading to prolonged periods of unemployment.

Unemployed individuals, especially those in lower to middle income brackets, are less likely to have the money and resources to spend on coaching and therapy that will help them get back on their feet.

A Futurist’s Forecast Leads to Tangible Action

Yes, forecasts are part of my job as a futurist, but the ideal is for my work to not just be theoretical.

I want to use my forecasts to actively generate solutions that can make the world of work better – so back in the summer of 2020, my consulting organization alongside academics at Northwestern University and the Feinberg School of Medicine put together a grant proposal with the National Institute of Mental Health, a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The result was DRIVEN – an experiential platform designed to guide high-risk workers back to employment while supporting them through what is often a deeply worrying and traumatic time.

DRIVEN’s six-week program is app-based and combines evidence-based cognitive behavioral techniques (CBT) with traditional job search strategies. Although CBT has entered the public’s awareness thanks to self-serve mental health apps, these techniques have not been traditionally leveraged in the career development and coaching space despite employment’s obvious impact on emotional well-being.

The program includes a range of tools including videos, exercises, and live coaching – because we believe the structure and accountability provided by a human partner is critical to success and that’s what a lot of today’s mental health apps are missing.

Every time a newly unemployed worker engages with the program, they encounter diversity of age, race, and ethnicity because we want our participants to see themselves reflected in every video host, coach, video, image, and animation they come across in DRIVEN.

When we first received our grant, our hope was that the resulting program would be in development and efficacy testing via clinical trial for three years, and by the time it was ready, the world would need it more than ever.

Now, as we near the end of that tenure, we hope that DRIVEN serves as an example of how forecasting can be used to produce tools that genuinely have an immediate impact on the health of the global workforce.

At its core, strategic foresight is an exercise in imagination, and the good news is, anyone with expertise and experience in a given industry, organization, or company can use it to shape policy, plan effective interventions, and avoid risk. HR professionals next must take the courageous step of looking likely futures in the eye and developing strategies that may seem “ahead of their time” now but may prove essential later.

This post was originally published on UNLEASH.

 

Goodbye to My Current WSJ Column, The Workplace Report

All good things must come to an end.

My syndicated WSJ column, The Workplace Report, is coming to an end. The last 20 months have involved an unprecedented amount of change in the workforce and human resources spheres. I'm leaving it with five major predictions for the near future world of work, featuring Workplace Report highlights from the last year and a half of coverage.

The demand for skilled workers will reach a crisis point due to demographic shifts and falling fertility rates. According to Manpower Group’s 2023 Talent Shortage Survey, 77% of global employers say they are already struggling to find workers with the right mix of technical skills and human capabilities.

Talent intelligence, internal talent mobility, skills-based hiring, and the rise of short-term, rapidly assembled teams comprised of a mix of people with different geographies and employment arrangements – including contract workers and the first permanent WFH employees – will alleviate the squeeze.

Generative AI spreads its influence across industries. Generative artificial intelligence is a form of AI capable of generating text, images, or other media by learning the patterns and structure of input training data and then generating new data that has similar characteristics.

In the coming years, we will see expanded accessibility and impact via AI democratization, the integration of AI into a variety of work functions, and numerous use cases developed and publicized. People are unlikely to lose their jobs due to Gen AI alone, but rather to a human who knows how to work with Gen AI. And managers will need a whole new skillset to supervise human workers empowered by AI to make independent decisions.

Organizations are called to step up holistic employee care. In keeping with the longstanding view of employees as commodities, most organizations have been unaccustomed to concerning themselves with aspects of employee lives outside what they did between office walls.

However, as the definition of full-time employment becomes more fluid and mental health and burnout numbers remain higher than pre-pandemic, some (but not all) organizations will answer their employees’ calls for help (retaining  COVID-19-era benefits and adding new ones, managing layoffs effectively, etc.).

Employee experience will rise to the forefront as an essential part of engagement. Across the employee lifecycle, from talent acquisition to onboarding to learning and development, performance management, and offboarding, companies are making progress customizing their employee experiences to different groups depending on their unique journeys and requirements. Diversity, equity, and inclusion and allyship strategies will continue to be a priority for the most forward-thinking organizations.

The employee experience of the next several years is high tech and high touch and focuses on two overarching themes: purpose and flexibility. Also, the employee experience of 2030 will likely begin to include the metaverse, which will greatly impact organizational culture and work structures.

HR compliance is rising to a never-before-seen level of complexity. This has involved hundreds of new regulations associated with re-opening, distributed and remote work, vaccination, and labor relations, as well as those associated with human capital disclosures, pay transparency, and the increasing use of AI in organizations.

It is just a matter of time before lawmakers draft guardrails to use these technologies ethically and to safeguard sensitive data. As these regulations will vary by country, state, or locality, this will be increasingly difficult for HR and workforce professionals to keep up with.

Why Labor Shortages Are Happening and What Leaders Should Do

Workforce futurists have been predicting mid-twentieth century labor shortages for some time now, but many forecasts seemed unduly alarming – until the pandemic. Now, a confluence of factors is rapidly decreasing the global worker supply.

Employers have noticed. According to Ceridian’s 2023 Executive Survey, 66% of the global leaders surveyed have experienced a labor shortage in the past 12 months. And 88% said it’s at least slightly likely shortages will continue over the next year.

The surveyed leaders aren’t wrong about the likely continuation of labor shortages. And many executives I’ve spoken to recently are wondering why there is a labor shortage and how they can protect their organizations from critical deficits in the near- and long-term.

So, why is there a labor shortage? Let’s look at some of the causes.

Fewer people in the workforce

The main culprit, as futurists have noted for decades, is demographic shifts. Specifically, falling fertility and labor force participation rates mean there are simply fewer workers available to be hired.

Over the next decade, with most baby boomers entering retirement, the number of working-age people aged 15-65 is projected to decline by over three percent in some countries, including the United States. And even the people in this age range aren’t necessarily working to their full potential. Per a recent World Bank analysis, the global labor force participation rate has fallen steadily since 1990 from more than 65% of working-age people to less than 60% today.

These figures are already affecting unemployment. In April 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Jobs Report showed that unemployment for 20-to-24-year-olds fell to 5.4%, the lowest it has been since 1969. As a result, newly minted college graduates are entering a job market that’s not only more robust than a year ago, but significantly stronger than it was before the pandemic.

Low-wage workers lack mobility

Labor shortages among low-wage workers are getting the most attention recently. And with good reason, as they are currently among the most dire shortages. One major factor is stricter immigration policies, and the other, economists speculate, is a “dual labor market” that doesn’t allow much room for mobility.

A new research paper published by economists at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. shows this dual labor market is a problem for countries like the U.S. The researchers’ analysis documented a primary workforce comprising 55% of the population. These workers have high levels of employment stability and are only unemployed for short periods of time.

The secondary labor market, on the other hand, makes up 14% of the population and lives in a constant state of flux with poor wages and working conditions. These workers experience six times higher job turnover than those in the primary tier and are 10 times more likely to be unemployed. At present, extremely limited mobility between the two sectors negatively impacts the United States’ (and others’) ability to attract lower-wage workers who want to climb their way up.

For the full piece, head over the Ceridian blog.

How to Attract and Engage Unretiring Senior Workers

 

Experts have long predicted that baby boomer retirement would decimate global workforces, leaving employers with untold numbers of positions to fill and significant losses of organizational knowledge. But for nearly a decade, the bigger story has been baby boomers unretiring and returning to work.

Since a 2015 RAND Corporation study showed that 40% of retired workers over the age of 65 had returned to work, there has been a steady stream of data illustrating the unretiring trend. Many seniors simply don’t have the money or the inclination to leave the workforce and stay out.

According to ONS statistics in the UK, employment rates for people older than 65 had already doubled between 1993 and 2018. Then came the economic hardships associated with the pandemic and inflation. Of those who left during the pandemic and returned, 48% said they did so because they needed money. 

A recent Indeed survey reported U.S. unretirement levels around 3.3%, higher than the below 3% average seen since 2017. A UK survey also found that two-thirds of people who retired during the pandemic expect to keep working in some form.

While baby boomers and older members of Generation X (born 1963-79) are concerned about having enough money to fund their retirement, financial considerations aren’t their only motivation for boomeranging back to work.

Many seniors are in good health and find that traditional retirement models breed boredom, dissatisfaction, and unhappiness. Even part-time jobs and volunteer positions can offer a sense of productivity and purpose.

The rise of post-pandemic hybrid and remote work has also coincided nicely with the unretirement trend. Some older workers who may no longer have the desire to manage full work weeks onsite can contribute meaningfully to organizations in ways that work for their current lifestyle.

Given their willingness to return to work, let’s look at a few ways your organization can cultivate seasoned talent in different phases of your employee lifecycle.

Talent acquisition

Sadly, many organizations discriminate against candidates based on their age when they should be doing the opposite. An industry veteran is one of the best hires you can make for a variety of reasons. Whether the person has previously worked for your organization or not, a candidate who has 20 or 30 years of experience in your line of work has seen it all and possesses critical institutional knowledge. They should be eagerly welcomed into the fold.

To that end, make sure your talent acquisition systems are set up so that older applicants don’t experience unnecessary roadblocks. Your candidate experience should show them they are valued from the very first interaction.

Although video and panel interviewing have recently become mainstream, keep in mind that many older applicants have not yet been hired in this way, and the techniques may be foreign to them. When in doubt, overexplain the process and go out of your way to ensure their comfort.

For the rest of the piece, check out the Ceridian blog.

A New Era in Tech-Based Recruitment

Communicating with the passive candidates whose email addresses you’ve stored in your CRM isn’t a new idea. Taking a page from the marketing team’s playbook and segmenting those candidates into groups based on a common qualifier (location, career stage, etc.) isn’t necessarily new either.

What has changed in recruitment segmentation, however, is the power of technology to help talent professionals do it more effectively. First of all, since recruitment segmentation came onto the talent acquisition scene as a popular strategy, the ability to automate email campaigns and customize their cadence to the individual has grown far more sophisticated. This is done by creating intelligent workflows.

According to IBM in a recent white paper, intelligent workflows are processes created by combining artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to enable organizations to segment candidate pools and decide how to modify the experience based on the candidates’ expectations and needs.

Organizations can use segmentation and automation hand in hand to design the recruitment experience based on candidate availability, work effort and experience and to provide different levels of service at the right point in time in the hiring process.

“Automation is especially crucial in terms of speed of engaging candidates — and keeping them engaged throughout the entire process,” wrote the IBM authors. “Even with higher unemployment rates, top candidates are in high demand, and competition to hire is fiercely competitive. Organizations that do not automate the process to the degree that it both entices and meets the candidates where they are are likely to see top recruits accept offers with competitors.”

The IBM authors pointed out that by deploying intelligent workflows, HR leaders can access real-time information that gives them a complete picture of their labor and talent pools. The strategy also allows for a more conscious approach to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). “Instead of having to wait for historical data and react to changes that have already occurred, recruiters can create and change experiences to open doors for candidates in ways previously not possible,” they said.

They cited the example of one company that shifted from a center-based employment model to a co-location model, which meant that 40% of their employees would work virtually. But many employees in contact center positions preferred working on site, and attrition occurred.

The company then used segmentation to determine talent availability and virtually manage the recruiting process through texting, self-scheduling and video interviews. Because so many of the organization’s employees did not want to make the move to remote work, the organization added a personalized touchpoint to encourage top talent to remain in the pipeline. As the organization examined the data and was informed of the shift in preferences, recruiters adjusted their approach to improving hiring success.

Of course, the best use of software-driven intelligent workflows incorporates human recruiter creativity. My favorite example is from a Recruiting Daily blogger, Christine Hampton. She has used intelligent workflows to segment and automate communications to passive candidates by, among other things, the rejection reason and recruitment event.

“If a candidate tells me they are on a contract till December, then slamming them with jobs right now will just frustrate them,” she wrote. “I note if the candidate is interested, and I set up a multi-channel cadence to stay in touch till their contract is complete.”

Christine explained that you can have separate segments for a myriad of rejection reasons – “just started a new job,” “happy in current role,” “can’t meet salary requirements,” etc. Not only does this approach align with future recruitment marketing campaign messaging, but it also saves time and creates a platform for starting personal conversations with candidates.

She added that if you’ve been recruiting for a while, you have likely attended many events. “You meet a candidate at a job fair, and they pique your interest, but the timing isn’t right. Three months later, an opportunity arises, and you think, ugh, what’s the name of that lady I met three months ago? She had red hair, about five feet five inches, and had glasses,” she said. “I am sure I’ve had a few missed connections in the past before the CRM existed.  Now I keep a folder for the specific event and date, and the candidate is easier to find (and communicate with).”

The bottom line is an ironic one. In this new era of recruitment segmentation, the best TA professionals will leverage technology to become even better at developing strong human relationships with their top candidates.

To learn more about how to leverage technology to build a stronger talent pipeline, check out my recent webinar with SilkRoad and ERE Media!