HR technology continues to revolutionize and streamline the entire employee life cycle, including recruitment, background screening and employee management.
According to the 2022-2023 HR Systems Survey conducted by Sapient Insights, 54% of businesses with over 500 employees will increase HR tech spending. Those companies will spend 21% more, on average. Meanwhile, venture capital funding for HR tech exceeded $10 billion last year, according to an analysis by Anita Lettink.
Explore three key trends in HR tech for 2023 and how they'll affect HR practitioners.
1. Recruitment Becomes Automated and Intelligent
Recruitment is one of the most time-consuming processes in HR, and this is where many promising developments have emerged in automation and artificial intelligence (AI).
The top of the hiring funnel is in focus right now, especially for healthcare organizations, says Zach Daigle, President at PreCheck, the healthcare division of Cisive. These employers are embracing technology to speed up hiring without sacrificing the candidate experience.
“How do we add a brand-positive way to engage people earlier in the process? Are there ways to use technology to pre-screen, or filter out the candidates better than we are today, to have a better chance of matching downstream?” Daigle says.
Recruitment today is about finding valuable talent in a tight, competitive environment.
“Technology enables data to flow seamlessly back and forth, allowing both the healthcare organization and HR to ask, ‘What does the talent pool look like?’” Daigle says. “And also, once I activate and decide, 'I need this person,' how seamless is that process for them to then become credentialed, screened, and ready to treat patients on the floor?”
2. Blockchain and the Internet of Careers Improve Verification
One of the biggest challenges for HR departments is verifying educational backgrounds and work credentials. Nearly one-third of U.S. adults say they’ve lied on their resume, according to a ResumeBuilder survey.
That’s why companies such as Cisive and PreCheck are helping employers implement the Internet of Careers, a system based on blockchain technology to store, issue, and check verified career credentials. Cisive and PreCheck recently helped a leading health system launch on the Velocity Network.
Blockchain can help employers conduct background checks more quickly — all while giving workers control over who views their information, Daigle explains.
“Think of your degree that you've earned as an airline boarding pass that is now in your wallet that you own and securely control access by a cryptographic key,” he says. “You decide who you want to share it with and who you don't. And they have to ask for it.”
3. HR and Vendors Grow Closer
Large employers often work with many vendors, including HR technology companies. One trend Daigle has seen in the past 18 months is companies and vendors getting closer: “Employers are trying to vertically integrate the business of the talent funnel to get their hands on and secure the talent before their competitors do.”
The Internet of Careers will also affect how HR vendors interact with companies and even with each other, Daigle says.
“You can't be an employer out there and say, ‘I'm not going to do this because I don't want my record getting out into the wild and helping competitors,’” he says. “I think that time has come and gone.”
Evolving the Ecosystem
HR technology, especially AI and the blockchain, continues to shape how companies manage their workforces, including background screening. Recruiting automation, the Internet of Careers and partnerships such as the Velocity Network are helping employers improve the speed and quality of the hiring process simultaneously.
