Leveraging technology to combat turnover

HR is crazy if it doesn’t leverage the power of technology to attract, motivate and retain employees. Today’s workforce expects that and an employer brand will suffer if it doesn’t look modern and polished in its practices and processes. That takes technology.

Paychex has just published their third annual Pulse of HR Survey and it reveals that the top two issues for HR professionals are now talent and technology. The labor market is extremely tight and it’s more important than ever to use technology such as social media to reach the pool of potential applicants and attract them as well as network to find them.

HR professionals are eager for new technology and tools that will give them a competitive edge with recruiting, collaboration, and task management. Strategies include

·         Recruiting technology to reach high-quality candidates

·         Workplace collaboration tools such as Slack, Chatter and Jive

·         Voice recognition

·         Virtual reality interfaces

·         Chatbots

Bridging the generational technical gap

I believe that the bridge of technical difference between generations is narrowing and will continue to do so for various reasons.

·         We need to design to close the gap of technical difference between the generations

·         Accessibility of technology improves all the time – that’s built in to the definition of technology.

·         Demographics will close the gap. As people age and die, the generation with the least experience of the latest technology (the silent generation) takes themselves out of the equation (no easy way to put this). Of course, new technology is being born all the time but if it’s designed well, it’ll be easier for baby boomers who are embracing technology in bigger numbers every year to adopt than ever before.

·         We can educate to close the gap – and make technology less scary to those waiting to try a smartphone, for instance.

·         Convenience is always the driver for innovation – all generations appreciate convenience

Ironically the percentage of Americans who believe that technology companies are having a positive impact on the United States has dropped from 71% in 2015 to 50% now.