HR Tech 2023: Is Technology Really Improving Work?

I KNOW I should open this recap with a discussion of AI, since that’s the hot topic of the day. The best comment on AI came from Nathan Chistensen, the CEO of Mineral, who adroitly pointed out “In five years, we won’t be talking about AI at this conference just like we don’t talk about ‘the Internet’ anymore – it will just be part of everything”. Consistent with this, running a search in the conference mobile app reveals that 62 of the conference sessions had “AI” in either their title or description while only 1 mentioned “Internet”.

More on that later – I really want to set the table by talking about data because everything starts with data.

The Data Driving Change

The numbers don't lie - the workplace is undergoing a metamorphosis. Stacey Harris of Sapient Insights Group unveiled fresh research during her Friday keynote that signals some tectonic shifts underway. Friday was too late in my opinion – this information was baseline data that every attendee should have had a chance to absorb and leverage throughout the conference.

A few stats that jumped out:

• For the first time ever, over 50% of respondents said that HR is viewed as contributing strategic value to their organization. As recently as 2013, that number languished below 40%. Could technology finally be lifting the administrative burden enough for HR to become a strategic driver?

• Nearly 1/3 of HR Tech implementations (32%) fell short on training and 28% said they saw knowledge transfer shortcomings. Successful transformation clearly requires financial commitment beyond just software costs and only 28% of companies have change management budgets for implementing HR Tech.

• Fully in-office work has only increased? by 4 points, from 47% to 51% of workers, since 2021, despite the drumbeat of return-to-office mandates. Hybrid work is here to stay whether some leaders like it or not.

• When it comes to replacing existing applications, payroll is the most targeted with 28% of respondents reporting replacement plans. Time tracking and benefits follow at 17% and 16% respectively.

Delving deeper into the findings reveals areas of progress but also gaps needing attention. HR still frequently finds itself caught between competing priorities of administrivia and strategic vision. Tech can act as the liberating force - but only with careful change management and employee-centric design.

Everything You Wanted to Know About AI, But Were Afraid to Ask…

One of the most thought-provoking sessions was "The Disruptor and Disrupted" featuring Nathan Christensen and former OpenAI executive Zack Kass. Their bottom line? AI will permanently alter our lives and work. The only question is how rapidly and radically.

The word cloud below represents the responses to the polling question: “What word best describes how you feel about AI?” and paints an interesting picture --- a very high level of excitement along with lots of negative emotions as well.

So how do we prepare? Rather than rehash well-trodden advice (pro tip: start playing around with the tools and understanding what they do), I'll share my key takeaways from the session:

Invest in tasks and skills development around things that AI?can’t?do:

1. Vision?– what sort of a world/company we create
2. Wisdom?– the ability to discern or judge
3. Courage?– the mental / moral strength to face danger and fear

Make everyone’s work as purposeful as possible:

1. Valuable to the company
2. Personally fulfilling to them

Elevate our identities – choose purpose and discover potential.

Elevating the most human aspects of work will be crucial as AI offloads repetitive tasks. Without thoughtful leadership, AI risks dehumanizing jobs. Done right, though, AI could unlock more fulfillment and excellence than ever imaginable.

The Power of Love

One of the most provocative ideas discussed at HR Tech was Marcus Buckingham's research on love and work. He convincingly argued that love is a defining yet often overlooked ingredient for excellence.

When analyzing hundreds of interviews with top performers across industries, Buckingham found they all shared one thing - at some point, each used the term "love" to describe aspects of their work.

The old adage of "do what you love and you'll never work a day" fails to capture the nuance of Buckingham's findings. It's rarely 100% of any role that a person will love. But when at least 20% of tasks tap into someone's unique interests and talents, engagement and performance skyrocket.

As leaders, how can we design roles leveraging this research? Buckingham suggests taking inventory of which responsibilities and projects seem to energize your individual team members. Then creatively re-align work to allow more time to be applied to these passion areas.

The results can be profound. Our brains produce different neurochemicals when immersed in work we love. People often describe flow states or losing track of time. More meaning and identity become tied to roles. Recruiting and retention improve.

A few other key points from this presentation:

• We often wrongly think of performance on a continuous scale. Buckingham argues that there is excellence and then everything else-- in the same way that water is either liquid or gas (steam) or ice but never in between states. Now I finally understand why Talladega Nights’ Ricky Bobby is taught by his dad “If you aint’ first, you’re last”. The gap between excellence and mediocrity is far wider than between mediocre and bad. For leaders, this has deep implications. We invest endless time and resources striving for incremental performance gains in workers. Buckingham argues this near-continuous scale paradigm is flawed.

• Buckingham made one other profound point: love manifests uniquely for each person. What sparks passion and excellence in one worker may differ greatly from another, even in similar roles. Buckingham provided the example of 3 high-performing Disney housekeepers:One loved making sure that the vacuum lines on the carpet were perfect so that the room presented perfectly when guests returnedOne loved making sure that the blades on the ceiling fan were clean because that’s what the guest would see when they laid down on the bedOne loved to arrange the stuffed animals that children were collecting in the room.The key is helping each person apply their unique interests to make work their own art. When roles feel personally fulfilling, job satisfaction skyrockets.

Provider Nuggets & Tidbits

• When offers an offboarding platform that helps employees elect ACA marketplace plans rather than COBRA. COBRA alternatives have been around since the ACA, but this is the first I’ve seen someone try to systematize it. I particularly appreciate that their UI is chat driven which is what I believe all UIs will become in the near future

• Click Boarding is creating distance from its competitors in the onboarding and employee experience market and just signed a partnership agreement with Alight

• Whatfix sits on top of other SaaS systems to support adoption, training and analytics

• While Microsoft isn’t currently in the HRIS system – are they far away? This feels like a natural extension of everything they’re doing within Microsoft 365, particularly with Viva

• Businessolver has a large lead over competitors in AI experience, having launched their machine learning bot Sofia back in 2017. Expect them to exploit this lead in the coming year to improve the opportunity for HR departments to become more strategic

• Empyrean’s Precision Benefits offering has the ability to transform the definition of what it means to be a benefit administration company, especially if they couple it with their acquisition of Enspire

Thank you!

I’d love the opportunity to further discuss the conference as well as the broader HR Tech space with you and its implications to your company. Feel free to reach out to schedule some time.

[email protected]?or?schedule a meeting.