Climb Aboard the HR Technology Train

As the conductors (HR leaders), we are certainly being asked to change our function away from compliance, administration and collecting yearly performance reviews (can you say 1990’s for many companies??) to continuing our journey as a more strategic and an advisory function, to managing growing employee needs and expectations, to ensuring the organization has an engaged and productive workforce. To fulfill increasing demands, while hiring and retaining top talent, HR must implement new workplace technologies.

But first, are HR teams tech ready? Note, I did not say tech “savvy”, I said tech “ready”. This is a question for all members of any HR team to consider. As I think through this question for our team, a few topics come to mind when assessing tech readiness.

Are we current or lagging? 

When it comes to expectations around an evolving HR function, the bar continues to rise. The expectations around driving business change fall squarely on our shoulders.  The expectations and opportunities around the intersection of technology and people in business is almost endless.  Arguably, no other business function is undergoing the dramatic changes that HR is experiencing. We are charged with becoming more strategic than ever before, we must become exponentially more tech-savvy and simultaneously more focused on the softer side of our ever changing (more educated, more involved, more demanding) workforce.

At work – do our technologies provide­­ an experience that employees are accustomed to?

Outside of work, our employees log on to their Facebook or Netflix accounts, everything they see revolves around them. Their name, their recent activity, their recommended next activity, etc.  And this hasn't just made it easier for them to shop and entertain themselves; it's conditioned them to operate in a personalized environment, where their needs and preferences dictate the process—whatever the process may be. So when it comes to work, our employees have come to expect a similar degree of personalization.

How often will we need to adopt change in order to stay ready?

Change in our HR function and technology is continuous and consistently moving faster.  Let’s take a look at just the growth of devices since 1992.  In 1992 there were about one million connected devices.  In 2003, about a half billion.  The Internet of Things inception was around 2009 and by 2012 there were over 8.7 BILLION connected devices.  By 2020, we will have over 50 billion connected devices.

Technology in our workspace design

Typical office buildings are in use for around 40 years.  The actual workspace design typically lasts around a decade.  Your workforce turns over about every 7-8 years.  Organizational changes happen about every 2-3 years.  Technology capacity and speed doubles every 15 months.  15 months!  Today, our physical and digital worlds continue to merge, as our workplace is reshaped by artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), voice recognition (conversational platforms), drones and bots, blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), predictive software and augmented reality (AR).  The list goes on.

"We'll no longer need to learn the software," says Rephael Sweary, president and co-founder of WalkMe, a technology company based in Raleigh, N.C. "AI is already learning more about our individual roles, behaviors and actions to personalize how we use HR and other business software."  If you don't factor these technology trends into your innovation strategies, you risk losing ground.

What can we do?  We can start by creating business scenarios using technology to inform new HR business designs – at Gannett we are looking at voice recognition software to assist with basic employee service issues (as an example).  That said, we need to create a more natural and immersive user experience for our employees with conversational platforms and augmented reality.  And… we need to support and understand how the Internet of Things is developing and exploiting greater use of the cloud and edge computing.  With all that, we must also adopt a strategic approach to security and risk. 

How can this help?  Well, we can use these technological advances to greatly improve communication, improve our people data analysis (sometimes less is more),  enhance our employee data security, improve our training and development opportunities, enhance “whistle blower” platforms, implement more mobile availability, enhance video interviews and conferences, take advantage of the big data in talent explosion, create more connected wellness apps, enhance feedback tools, and enhance self-service – to name a few.

HR technology is growing at breakneck speed as we all look for better ways to attract and understand talent, as well as boost our employee experience.  HR consultant, Steve Boese agreed. "We've been talking about [HR technology] for almost a decade, but a lot of things are finally maturing," said Boese, who serves as the co-chair of the HR Technology Conference. (SearchHRSoftware publisher TechTarget is the media sponsor for the HR Technology Conference.) "The next couple of years will see HR technology focused on how to actually drive more business value out of investments rather than just improving HR systems."  From programs that gauge employee performance to employee-facing chatbots that accept feedback on sexual harassment, there are several "must-have" -- or at least "must-consider" -- HR technologies on the market, according to Boese, Hamerman and other industry observers.

Technology is more important now than ever in our personal lives as well as in the HR environment. With the digitization of everything and the fact that we all have better technology in our hands than most of our workplaces provide, technology is and will be a key part of the employee and candidate experience.  We need to understand, evaluate and implement or risk being left behind in the battle for talent.

Jump on the train. Together.  We.  Win.


Dave Harmon
People Division
“Kindness is Currency”
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidharmonhr

Look for us on: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram,  Facebook, The Muse, Glassdoor and Gannett Careers

Ask and Listen

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration says those two things are most important if you believe someone may be thinking about suicide.

Kate Spade, Anthony Bourdain, Robin Williams, Kurt Cobain, Jovan Belcher (KC Chiefs), Junior Seau, Simone Battle (X-Factor), Don Cornelius, Michael Hutchence (INXS), Freddie Prinze, the list goes on.  I Googled this list and Wikipedia had too many to even fathom.  Mental health needs to be part of our everyday discussions.  This is not someone else’s problem.  We all are touched by it – our families, our friends, our neighbors, our kids….

I wanted to take my blog this week to help bring more awareness to this issue.  Suicides are on the rise.  U.S. suicides overall totaled nearly 45,000 in 2016, a 35% increase compared with 10 years earlier, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.  There is a suicide in the U.S. every 13 minutes.  13 minutes.

Not surprisingly, workplace suicides are also on the rise compelling corporations to re-think how we talk about mental health at work.  Suicides in the workplace totaled about 300 in 2016, the highest number since the government began keeping track 25 years ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And, a new study by researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) analyzed census data and found that workplace suicides have increased every year since 2010.  NIOSH researchers found that people in certain occupations faced higher risks, for example, first responders who experience high stress and have easy access to guns.

From the pages and articles in our own USA Today (Oquendo, Guynn, Powers, O’Donnell, Saker, Zoroya, and Posner): 

“We often assume that people who commit suicide are mentally ill, but this isn’t always the case. There are many other factors that have nothing to do with mental illness, including loss of a relationship, loneliness, chronic illness, financial loss, history of trauma or abuse and the stigma associated with asking for help.  Even for those who do ask for help, friends and family can be flummoxed by “successful people” planning their own deaths.

Some of the puzzlement has to do with a misunderstanding about what leads to suicide.  Most people think of suicide as a catastrophic reaction to a stressful event.  Whether it is a marital, financial, legal or academic problem, the lore goes, the person cannot deal with it and takes their own life.  But that is far from accurate. After all, most of us are beset by stressors. Often. And while suicide rates continue to climb at an alarming pace, the vast majority of people do not turn to suicide when faced with a problem, no matter how devastating or overwhelming. 

Research clearly shows that the effects of external stressors are dwarfed by the effects of psychiatric conditions. Depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol or drug misuse, psychosis — all of these greatly increase risk. 

What happens in the mind of the suicidal individual? The individual feels that their existence is wretched, the pain is intolerable, and the problem without solution. This conviction occurs regardless of whether an outsider would agree with the assessment.”

First, it is essential to note that asking someone about suicide does not “put ideas” into their head.  We know from research conducted in many populations, including high school students, that it is safe to ask about suicidal thoughts. To the contrary, the person is often quite relieved because they had not previously felt comfortable talking about these very frightening and disturbing thoughts. 

Next, it is imperative to get help for the suicidal person. If your community has a mental health clinic, that can be a good place to start. Some may prefer to start with their own family doctor or pediatrician for advice on what to do. National crisis hotlines such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) can also provide assistance. If the risk seems imminent, the local emergency department can evaluate the person and refer him or her to appropriate resources, including hospitalization.”

Alarming new statistics show that our children are increasingly at risk of suicidal thoughts, attempts and deaths.  A new study led by Vanderbilt University, published in the academic journal, Pediatrics, reports a more than doubling from 2008 to 2015 of school-age children and adolescents hospitalized for suicidal thoughts or attempts.   Just more than half were youth between the ages of 15-17, followed by those between the ages of 12-14 (37 percent), and those ranging in ages from 5-11 (nearly 13 percent).

All told, suicide takes more lives of our youth than automobile accidents.  The sad truth: Suicide among our youth ages 10-24 was the second leading cause of death, behind unintentional injuries, in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The pace has quickened since 2006.

Even as psychiatrists and public health specialists struggle to explain the growing numbers, people who have survived their own suicide attempts say there are things that ordinary people can do to help someone they know who might be at risk of suicide: ask and listen.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration says, here’s what to do if you believe someone may be thinking about suicide:

• Ask them if they are thinking about killing themselves. (This will not put the idea into their head or make it more likely that they will attempt suicide.)
• Listen without judging and show you care.
• Stay with the person, or make sure the person is in a private, secure place with another caring person, until you can get further help.
• Remove any objects that could be used in a suicide attempt.
• Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) and follow their guidance.

If danger for self-harm seems imminent, call 911.

Some additional workplace resources:

• Suicide Prevention Resource Center
• Working Through It
• Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention
• Heads Up
• Each Mind Matters
 

The takeaway advice from me for all of us (and I read this somewhere): “When in doubt, reach out.”  Ask and Listen.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 800-273-8255.

As USA Today’s Kelly Posner stated, “Suicide can be prevented — which sets it apart from other sources of pain and suffering in the world. We need to get to a place where everybody, everywhere asks the questions that help identify at-risk individuals and get them the help that they need. Together, we can prevent these unnecessary tragedies”

Together.  We.  Win.

Dave Harmon
People Division
“Kindness is Currency”
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidharmonhr

Look for us on: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram,  Facebook, The Muse, Glassdoor and Gannett Careers