Are your recruits more digital than your HR department?
The workforce is changing. Your ability to keep pace with those changes and meet ever-increasing employee expectations will be key.
After college, I got my first job through a friend. She had an internship in a local TV station sports department and heard about an opening. I brought my paper resume to the interview and was later hired.
It was about as old school as hiring gets. I even sent a snail mail thank you note.
Fast forward to my last job hire. We found each other on an online job board, and I communicated with the company’s recruiter on LinkedIn. Two of my four interviews were conducted on video.
Earlier this summer, I began working remotely for the same company, utilizing the intranet, shared calendars and video/teleconferencing to stay connected with my team.
Digital disruption has changed the look, feel, and location not only of my physical work space but of the HR processes that got (and keep) me on the job. (Trust me — I’m old enough to notice the difference.)
But Rajeswari Ramanan, VP of Human Resources at UST Global, feels the HR industry has not fully embraced a digital approach to certain key programs and processes.
“Only 26 percent of Fortune 500 companies offer tech savvy job application processes, and only 6 percent use social media,” said Ramanan while speaking at a recent GDS Group HR Summit. “Talent has gone digital, but not HR.”
Ramanan highlights new employee on-boarding, on-the-spot performance feedback, and learning and development as key areas of opportunity. “A more digital approach could decrease ‘pain points’ while, at the same time, allow HR to interact more organically with both employees and new hires on mobile and social media — where they are already,” said Ramanan.
She’s right. The average American checks their mobile phone 46 times a day, for an aggregate of 8 million views every 24 hours.
Ramanan also points out that businesses can integrate new mobile apps and community portals with existing programs like Outlook. And if employees want to send a thank you note via snail mail now and then, well —
They’ll really stand out in the crowd.
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