From hiring tools that help reduce bias to digital learning platforms, there are several ways digital transformation is helping HR professionals.
As the world becomes more automated, companies are looking to leverage the power of HR tech to improve everything from recruitment and onboarding to employee engagement.
Fiona Page, a senior talent acquisition specialist for Liberty IT, said reducing bias in the hiring processes is a priority for the company.
“We’ve moved away from solely using CVs in our recruitment process. This means that regardless of someone’s gender, education or professional experience, we’re hiring you for your experiences and knowledge and your willingness to adapt and grow,” she said.
“When we look towards our recruitment tools, we continuously use data and analytics to assess our processes. Doing this allows us to identify underrepresented groups and proactively change this.”
Through this data, Page said the team is able to improve the recruitment process by updating role requirements to be more inclusive.
“This could be something as simple as adjusting our desired skills; putting less of an emphasis on technical skills which could deter people from applying even when they’re fully qualified for a role. This allows for equity in our recruitment process,” she said.
“Another way that we’ve built inclusion directly into our selection process is by reducing the reliance on verbal communication. Digital tools have also allowed us to introduce problem solving and technical metrics within the interview process that can help to elevate a candidate. Rather than just talking through their experience and CV, they can now highlight their abilities through their skills and capabilities.”
Employee engagement
Once a diverse team has been recruited and successfully onboarded, HR’s next challenge is to ensure employees stay engaged, productive and happy.
Michelle Daly, recruitment manager at Workhuman, said it’s important to optimise tools that benefit both the people the company hires and the employees they already have.
“It is so important that we don’t just consider how we attract new talent to the company, but also what we offer to our existing humans. We are very fortunately to have a combination of in-person human-led training sessions at Workhuman as well as digital learning platforms, which enable us to grow our knowledge within our own roles, but also for future career aspirations,” she said.
“We have a video tool to help us engage talent and communicate effectively internally, in a human way that is thoughtful of people’s time and ensuring we don’t overload them with too much reading.”
Workhuman’s own product also focuses on thanking fellow employees through recognition and celebrating colleagues’ milestones and life events.
“We have another one of our own products Moodtracker to consider. This is a pulse survey tool to ask each of us ‘how we are’ regularly and the feedback is reviewed and heard,” said Daly.
“I believe technology is phenomenal for any company when implemented in a thoughtful human-centric way.”
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