Top Takeaways from Talent Summit: Future of Work

Conference recap from temp agency

 

That’s a wrap! Star Staffing’s Talent Summit: Future of Work has concluded, and feedback indicates that it was wildly successful (even as we grapple with COVID-19). Simply stated, one attendee said: “Excellent, thanks for this experience.”

HR and Talent Acquisition leaders who attended Talent Summit received tangible ways to keep the “person” in personalization when it comes to automation; create a more diverse workforce with resources groups that provide a sense of community; use current HR data to search for potential problems and find solutions; and how to harness your own power and create a vision and path of success while inspiring others.

 

Here are some key takeaways from the event:

 

Admit to Automation

Katrina Kibben, CEO of Three Ears Media and a two-time speaker at Talent Summit, spoke about the state of automation. While important to utilize it as a tool, recruiters must understand how important it is to keep automated encounters as human as possible. Considering the average person sees 3,000 messages a day, Katrina listed three positive results from this type of message: 3% increase in opens, 1% increase in clicks, and 80% more likeliness to do business with a company that personalizes experiences.

Another great takeaway is to admit that you are using automation tools. If you’re using a chatbot, say it’s a chatbot at the beginning of the conversation, ask clarifying questions but ultimately ensure an opt-out option to contact a human. These small shifts will result in a positive and human experience. Clarity is more important than creativity, being transparent and personal will help you win trust and loyalty in the end.

 

Launch an Employee Resource Group (ERG)

Alison Crawford of Uber explained how the culture has evolved at Uber and how Dr. Robert Rodriguez’s 4-C Model has changed the way employees connect at work. The 4-C model helps companies assess their organizational health based on Culture, Career, Commerce, and Community. Alison recommended starting with smaller group sizes, and just a handful of resource groups. Starter kit ERG’s include any of your protected class employees (working parents/caregivers, veterans, women, and LGBTQ to name a few).

The HR team should be able to help decide which groups to offer. Alison strongly advised having a non-identifying sponsor in each group. This is someone who can be an ally as well as help the group reach their goals. Most importantly getting executive buy-in is key to launching successful ERG’s. HR leaders should convey that these are not only attractive perks for current and potential employees, but they can turn into very productive referral networks.

 

Data is Evidence

Heather Bussing of HR Examiner taught us that while data is always evidence, it doesn’t always provide the answers upfront. As HR leaders we need to search through the data to find “trouble”. HR Data provides clues to indicate problem areas, proactively researching this data will help uncover issues ranging from sexual harassment, discrimination, and highlight retention issues. If one department has more turnover than others, it’s time to look at the data and ask the tough questions to find the root of the issue. The questions may lead to a leadership issue, a harassment issue or something completely off your radar.

Heather also shared the importance of employee surveys both current and past. Current employees should be asked questions often, catching data during a company transition, the implementation of new technology or when there is a high-level personnel change. This will give you the active pulse on the company and how to handle these transitions in a human and resourceful way. 90-day follow-ups with former employees can also shed great insight. Scheduling a follow-up meeting 3 months later gives them space between roles to reflect and provide important data as to why they left your company. While many employee surveys can fall flat, this is one that’s sure to enlighten leaders and spark valuable change.

 

The Secret is Trust

Keynote speaker, Margaret Graziano of KeenAlignment reminded us that the beauty of our field and the work that we do is that we are in the human business. Our job as HR Leaders is to be the constant in the chaos. To have the mental agility to stay calm and handle whatever comes in our path and react with human intention.

Margaret suggests identifying our strengths and take charge to ignite change. She gave an example of this: work harder not smarter. A team working on a group project going on and on with no success. The timidest team member had the best plan of action, scared to use their voice, hours went by and no progress. After standing on a chair to belt out their strategy the team quickly got to work and completed the project within minutes. Moral of the story use your voice; be your own advocate and you will see results.

Margaret also touched on the 21st-century talent challenge. 51% of your current employees are not engaged and that 70% are poachable. Considering these stats, Margaret shared the secret of what’s missing and encourages us to align the employee life cycle and our personal goals with your company’s mission and vision. The secret, trust.

She recommends asking yourself these questions: “Are you inspired by your vision?  What needs to happen for you to inspire others?”  This means that we need to take a few minutes out of our day to just be present, have balanced decision making, and allow time for resilience and recovery to maintain engaged and happy employees. Margaret encourages HR leaders “to measure what matters.” Homework: What matters to you and how will you measure your effectiveness?

 

The future of work is just getting started, we’ve gathered your feedback and are already planning for Talent Summit 2021. If you learned anything from this blog, imagine all the tangible takeaways you’ll learn from attending. You’re in luck! Presale for Talent Summit 2021 is live and ON SALE! Get your tickets today!

 

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