Not only has the pandemic transformed the way we do business, but it has also revolutionized the way we work. The pandemic sped up the adoption of digital technology in organizations by several years, and many of these new strategies are here to stay.Â
The McKinsey Global InstituteOpens a new window estimates that just 56% of all work could be automated with current technologies in the decade ahead. According to their research, one organization that automated key HR processes experienced a 66% reduction in processing time, improved compliance and gained the ability to move four full-time employees to more value-added work. Cloud-based, Wireless, and AI technologies all have a part to play in streamlining processes, enhancing user experiences and improving business agility. Organizations will need to embrace these technologies to grow and stay ahead of competitors in today’s market.Â
Some benefits of technology adoption are:
- Faster outputs due to automated workflows
- Reduced human error
- Increased efficiency and productivity
- Increased focus on analytics and data
- The ability to make better strategic decisions and outcomes
The Power of AI Technology and the Talent Marketplace
We are seeing more and more organizations leveraging AI technology in the workplace. While AI encompasses a variety of digital capabilities, according to Dr. Robin Erickson, vice president at Human Capital, “true AI mimics human thinking by making assumptions, learning, reasoning, problem-solving, or predicting with a high degree of autonomy.†With the evolution of AI in the workplace, talent marketplaces have become a powerful tool in empowering employees, driving talent mobility and creating workforce transparency.
A talent marketplace utilizes artificial intelligence to empower employers and employees to connect skills and interests to the right opportunities. It enables the mutually beneficial deployment of talent, where people can match their capabilities, skills, values, interests, and career preferences to internal opportunities available within their organization. As a result, this unlocks organizations and their talent and enables internal talent mobility.
See More: Navigating Workplace Safety in a COVID-19 World
Critical Automation
There are four things that an AI talent marketplace addresses that are critical for an automated HR program:
- Employee growth: It is not enough to recruit, get hired or hire. To retain talent, it is necessary to nurture employees and empower them to grow and succeed. Automating means that AI analytics can help employers identify longer-term solutions for the employee’s career that extends beyond training. The analytics can provide the insights to identify skill gaps or opportunities for portability of talent that align with what they want to do.Â
- Employee agility: One main goal of any HR department is to create a career path and (hopefully) use existing talent to fill gaps rather than hire new people. This empowers employees to be entrepreneurial and seek out their own career growth. But before that happens, an in-place AI talent marketplace can help surface what those skills are with data to support a strategic and realistic career path within the organization.Â
- Â Workforce mobility: It is not enough to empower one employee’s career path. Now the entire workforce needs to be optimized to ensure that all the moving pieces fit together. Doing this can save time and money in terms of recruiting since the organization can recognize where the talent in their organization lies to fill gaps. Getting a handle on where and when employee mobility needs to be considered is a much easier task when AI and analytics are brought into the picture.
- The future of work: Technology is evolving rapidly, and that can make employee skill-sets outdated or sometimes even obsolete. Few humans can predict when and where that might be. But AI can and does. Companies that do not have an eye to the future may not notice at first, but companies that do deploy automation are sure to see a difference as the company smoothly functions and grows. Employees, on the other hand, will begin to expect a more functional process in their careers. It will become ‘the new normal’.
Why Organizations Are Implementing an AI Talent Marketplace
Organizations are using AI to improve their talent management strategies, streamline hiring processes and retain top talent. According to Fuel50’s Capability Trends Report,Opens a new window the adoption of AI technology is critical for two reasons:Â
1) Organizations need to quickly hire, facilitate internal job moves, and develop and retain talent in response to changing business needs; andÂ
2) Employees expect exceptional recruitment and employee experience now more than ever.
The data management company, NetApp, has gone through a workforce transformation, evolving from a traditional data storage business to a cloud company. According to Larry McAlister, VP of global talent at NetApp, they had to renew their focus and spark a shift to a technology-enabled workforce. Larry saw a talent marketplace as an opportunity to evolve and future-proof their talent. NetApp implemented Mosaic, an AI-driven talent marketplace, to deliver customized career and learning journeys and exponential returns for employees. “Once we saw that AI is at our fingertips now, we decided we had to dig into this, or we were going to get leapfrogged by our competition in hiring and developing and retaining our people.†As a result, NetApp gained extensive talent visibility, enabling them to understand what skills and talents they already have vs. what they need to strengthen their workforce. Within 90 days of implementation, they had 6,200 unique users of the platform and over 21,400 skills AI mapped and assessed.
Trane Technologies, formerly known as Ingersoll Rand, saw an improvement of 67% in internal talent mobility since launching an AI talent marketplace, known internally as My Career Navigator. They have experienced a significant lift in lateral movement in the last three years since deployment from 37% up to 55% and are achieving 96% key talent retention across the business.Â
According to Industry Analyst John BersinOpens a new window , “Talent Marketplaces often start as a career-planning or job matching system, their benefits can quickly expand to help employees connect to mentoring, development programs, and job sharing and gig options. Hiring managers also can use these systems for filling job vacancies.†Talent marketplaces have the ability to increase Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I), decrease hiring bias and empower employees to own their career journeys. And, if designed well, they can help build a better network within organizations where talent is shared and networks are widened.
Overall, the rapid degree to which technology is evolving is astounding and can be daunting at first. But as organizations embrace the change towards a modern workforce, leveraging AI and other technologies to improve efficiency and boost agility, they will realize the promise automation can bring by delivering better customer and employee experiences. Â
Are you using AI talent marketplace in your organization? How has it improved employee experience? Let us know on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .