6 Benefits of Democratizing the Employee Experience of Hiring

Today’s employees are overburdened with technology. Any given employee is likely to use email, Slack or Teams chat, documents, spreadsheets, and project management software. Depending on their role, they might use development tools, design tools, a ticketing system, an HCM system, an applicant tracking system (ATS), and so on.?

No one needs another login. Yet companies keep enlisting new technologies to manage various aspects of work and the employee experience without considering how these tools work together.?

When it comes to HR tech, the picture is bleak. According to Fosway Group , today only 33% of HR professionals think that their HR systems are fit for the modern workforce. With 59% expecting to increase their investment in HR systems over the coming year, decisions on which tech to implement and how to roll it into the flow of work become increasingly important.?

Jim Milton , Chief Strategy Officer at SmartRecruiters, considers the big questions surrounding hiring problems in this era of ubiquitous work tech. He partners with Chief Product Officer and Interim CEO Rebecca Carr to build innovative recruiting software that answers the biggest challenge of all: getting the right people into the business on time and within budget. This lofty goal has many implications for the recruiting software interface.

The user experience is the employee experience

“We’re in an era of radically rethinking the user experience,” Jim said. “By focusing on extreme ease of use, we can help hiring teams achieve better outcomes.” The Fosway study found that usability (44%) and the quality of employee experience (39%) are the leading factors in the decision to change HR systems.?

Hiring Without Boundaries? is SmartRecruiters’ visionary tagline, which evokes many implications. “We want to break down every barrier between hiring teams and hiring success,” said Jim. “It's an infinite game that will never be over. Hiring without boundaries is a message of freedom.”?

What does freedom look like in recruiting today? “Eliminating manual tasks—like scheduling and sending out assessments, where there’s not much risk of taking a human out of the loop—sets teams up to hire faster and smarter,” Jim said. Other ways include bringing tasks to them via Slack and Teams integrations and offering access to a partner marketplace and open APIs. In the future, it might include a conversational AI interface with the software from inside Slack or Teams.?

“In the early days of computing, it was all about the command line interface,” Jim said. “Then we moved the graphical user interface. But that’s only one way that humans are equipped to interact. The rise of LLMs could result in a conversational interface that democratizes access to computing.”?

Improving the employee experience of hiring

More equitable access to technology gives hiring teams whose primary expertise lies away from the computer (e.g., medical, retail, hospitality, manufacturing, transportation, etc.) the power to complete tasks with greater efficiency. Jim suggested these six ways that ATS functionality improves the employee experience.?

1. Reduce friction

Constant switching between tasks degrades productivity and impacts the employee experience. In a survey by Qatalog and Cornell, 69% of respondents “there could be more efficient ways of using my company’s online applications to do my work.” When employees can see a better way, there probably is.

Hiring managers and interviewers are more likely to complete tasks in the systems they already use every day than by logging into a system they use less often.?

2. Hire faster

“Getting interviewer feedback is one the biggest pain points for recruiters,” Jim said. “When feedback can be collected in the app hiring managers and interviewers use most, they can make decisions faster.” Anyone who’s been part of a drawn-out hiring process—and perhaps lost a key hire due to timing—can get on board with technology that reduces delays.

3. Make better hiring decisions

“When everybody adopts the system and everybody gives feedback, you can make more informed decisions on who to hire,” Jim said. Hiring scorecards leverage the forcing function of technology to capture interviewer feedback in a structured way. When that feedback can be collected more quickly and with less friction, teams are supercharged to bring the right people into the business instead of making subjective or partially informed decisions.

4. Ensure compliance

Few people love to talk about compliance, but everyone has to take part. Recruiting software's ease of use has several implications for compliance. “Hiring managers fall out of compliance when they go outside the system and use email,” Jim said. “An ATS is an essential part of a company’s compliance umbrella.”?

But it goes further than that; product adoption ensures accurate data in case of an audit. Additionally, it impacts hiring decisions. “How do you know you’ve made a fair decision if you’re missing scorecard data on two out of four candidates?” Jim asked.?

5. Provide a better candidate experience

Speeding up the process is always beneficial for candidates. Additionally, a system configured to automatically schedule interviews, provide interviewer toolkits, and prompt feedback collection is more likely to result in positive perceptions of fairness among candidates. Selected candidates are your future employees, and their experiences during the hiring process set them up for what to expect as new hires.

6. Collect data for actionable analytics

“Better user adoption gives you better data,” Jim said. “Analytics helps teams improve processes.” The HR professionals surveyed by Fosway agree: 79% highlighted analytics as a driver of systems change.

When hiring teams work together to accomplish measurable goals, they build bonds and create memorable stories they can share with colleagues. If teamwork is in your employee mindset, equipping teams with the tools that enable transparency and collaboration sets them up to win.?

Hire where you are

In today’s world, hiring managers could be anywhere: a small office on a remote mining site in South Africa, a retail shop in Norway, or a factory floor in Spain. With tools that help them hire faster and smarter, business opportunities become boundless. “A platform that's deeply connected with the technologies teams are already using breaks down barriers to hiring and helps businesses withstand change,” Jim said.?

With this approach, perhaps in a few years' time, the majority of HR leaders will agree that their technology is fit for the modern workforce.