In this day and age, work has become less of a job and more of a lifestyle. Employees are looking for what best suits them for the time being, how far a job can get them for their next endeavor, and what perks are being offered. With this changing landscape of potential candidates, HR teams have had to start evolving the ways they are searching for and landing talent. They have to be the most fun, the most impressive, and offer the most perks while also ensuring they are tracking the best possible talent, knowing the short-term thought process of job candidates in the market.
We all read about the ways HR is altering its route – companies are offering gourmet lunches, laundry service, huge salaries and/or flexible hours. But due to all the perks, HR is continuously trying to change the way it recruits and views potential candidates. So how does a company end up catching top talent? One great example of a company that has the offerings to not only recruit but retain employees is IBM. In a time where HR is consistently in flux, IBM is converging people with technology to not only find the best employees but also, as they say, give them the “valued customer” treatment.
When looking at people in this way, and using technology that can learn and respond in ways it never has been able to before, you can not only discover new talent but also quantitatively track performance, productivity, and execution. Analyze that data along with the data people provide, how they interact and what they would like to see and get, and you have a working system that can continue to track and reason. The IBM Cognitive Assistant is one such tool that is already being applied in use cases such as customer service and student onboarding, for example.
The people at a company are number one, and listening to them will always be key, so using a tool called IBM Employee Voice allows employers to track and address employee concerns in real-time, rather than six months to a year later. They can also analyze data recorded during onboarding to reduce the stress and load of bringing on new hires – all of these things that take valuable time and resources away. And what’s better than a system that actually learns with you? According to Bob Schultz, general manager of IBM Smarter Workforce, over the course of the next 6 months, IBM plans to have a system that will allow HR leaders to make data-driven decisions around recruitment and provide a better employee experience, as well as drive employee engagement. Then looking forward, over the next year or so, they plan to have a system that fundamentally changes their “competitive advantage”; one that can show patterns, draw from history to build expertise, and build workflows, and that can be coached by humans.
HR is no longer simply sending out messages to interested parties. The way companies like IBM are helping organizations of all sizes find and keep the best talent is proof of how competitive and complex the market has become. So whether it’s the perks that draw someone in, or the salary, great experience or opportunities that keep them there, having a technology that can help to find, analyze, and track all data, candidates, and employees will revolutionize how the new world of HR is tackled.