A New Era of HR: Employee Experiences & Hiring in 2022

Leveraging technology to evolve the employee-centric organization 

We’re living in a world where flexibility, change, and employee wellbeing are at the forefront of the most respected organizations. The urgency of action to deal with unforeseen challenges, including fluctuations in the market/consumer and employee sentiment and the rise of new paradigms - such as remote work, great resignation and then boomerang employees, reskilling for a digital world, and post-AI processes is bringing to the forefront a new class of leaders, management practices, archaic policy shifts, technology solutions, and data use. 

Workers—in the field and at home—need support to prepare for and gain access to the jobs of the future, as well as experience fulfillment and belonging. HR professionals are being called on to figure out how to evolve their organizations and leverage technology to facilitate this shift with agility, velocity, transparency, and control. UNLEASH created an opportunity for HR leaders to share best practices and find inspiration to make lasting change and continue the important work of evolving their organizations.

Key takeaways from UNLEASH 2022

If you weren’t able to make it to UNLEASH this year—or if you were lucky enough to join—we’re wrapping up some of our highlights from this exciting conference.

1. Regulation is not coming for AI for HR, it is already here.

Compliantly-built technology solutions will be a key focus of governing bodies that ensure fair and equal employment opportunities for all - digitally or manually - the rules and regulations are the same. This will have wide implications for how HR leaders vet, buy, and deploy AI for HR solutions, nationally and internationally, with a focus on explainability, bias audits, and transparency.

EEOC Commissioner Keith Sonderling made it very clear—it’s not a question of if we should use technology in HR processes; it’s a matter of how we do it. But, every HR leader needs to be aware of the laws that govern the industry, HR practices, and ensure fair and equitable treatment for all, which have digital and product implications and governance requirements.

"Sonderling notes that many companies "want to genuinely diversify their workforce and take out some of the bias in recruiting. I like tech, I really think tech can eliminate a lot of bias".

2. Retaining talent in 2022 and beyond is not just about compensation - it’s about upskilling talent aligned with future work needs, innovating on employer flexibility, genuine actions and investment in their well-being and belonging, and enabling managers to be better managers of their talent. These requirements are urgent, causing companies to need to design, implement, and adopt technology, data, and new practices to keep up and meet the demands.
   
   
3. Technology and AI solutions can support inclusion and belonging in new ways, especially in the areas of hiring and promotion:

        a. Moving from nurturing and engaging diverse talent communities and pipelines to finding them roles         in your org

        b. Supporting new types of diverse talents - such as refugees and displaced talent—with a myriad of         services—from new roles, to mental health, to flexible time off

        c. Mentorship and coaching to spur training and development of new skills and career paths for
        underrepresented talent

Blair Bennett (SVP, Global Talent Acquisition) at PepsiCo showcased how her HR team innovates like their snacking business with creativity, resourcefulness, innovation, and employee-focused way. She shared an innovative use case of technology in how to support employees in any situation. One such example was the use of one of our AI solutions, Internal Fetch, to spin up a technology solution to instantly and automatically offer Ukrainian employees jobs across Europe as soon as they open and when they quality: