Recruitment is a never-ending task for all organizations – and a challenging one for most. The holy grail in hiring a candidate who has all of the desired skills shows enormous potential for future success and development and is available exactly when and where the company needs him or her. This issue of AccruePartners HR Insights presents some strategies that can help companies improve their chances of finding that candidate, especially if they’re willing to shift their perspective on talent searches. 

In the feature article of this issue, “Using Data to Recognize Reward, and Retain High-Potential Employees,” Adam Rogers explains how organizations can leverage Big Data to gain insight into the potential of candidates and employees.“Armed with this information,” he writes, “organizations can build succession plans, consider future compensation or professional development, and decide which top performers are worth long-term investments.” By developing high-potential employees, companies can help create the talent they need rather than simply hope to stumble across it.

If you are having trouble finding your perfect candidates “in the wild,” take some time to reconsider how—and where—you’re searching for and evaluating them. Maybe your holy grail is already right under your nose! At AccruePartners we can help you reframe your search criteria and focus your efforts in new directions so you have more success in finding what you need.

In every edition of our HR Insights Magazine, influential and wide-ranging thought leaders in HR, recruitment, staffing, management, and other fields discuss themes that are relevant to our clients’ businesses. The subjects differ from issue to issue, of course, but they are always connected to the latest industry news and trends. In this edition, we help you prepare for the future now.

In this issue’s feature, “Get Ready for AI to Change the Workplace,” Nicholas McQuire describes how organizations can use artificial intelligence technology to improve their security and services as well as employee productivity and satisfaction. “Companies that want to benefit the most from the shift toward more AI in the workplace,” he writes, “should start preparing now—not later—for its arrival.”

Another contributor, Rebecca S. King, also turns her thoughts toward what happens when tech applications replace some of the tasks that have been traditionally fulfilled by humans. In “Replacing Human Managers with Programming in the Gig Economy,” she examines what a case study of one automated platform reveals about the advantages (and pitfalls) of growing use of AI for certain managerial functions.

It is impossible to stop the future. But it is possible to prepare for it. Are you ready for what is coming?

We all know full well just how expensive recruitment, hiring, and training can be and we are always looking for new ways to reduce turnover rates. In today’s low-unemployment job market, you have to work harder than ever to keep employees on board. This issue of HR Insights offers several strategies you can implement to help keep your employees satisfied and engaged—and not looking for greener grass elsewhere.

In “How to Improve the Employee Experience,” Stacey Kervin boils the issue down to one factor: manager involvement. Many policies are created at “the top,” but middle managers are the ones who work closely with employees and know them best. Therefore, she explains, “organizations that want to move the needle on their employee experience must figure out how to get managers to embrace the company’s vision and actively make positive contributions to the employee experience.”

Employees who feel connected to and invested in their organizations are more likely to stick around, and good communication can play a key role in helping them feel that way. In this issue’s feature article, “It’s Time to Revolutionize Workplace Communication!” Mark Sawyier describes how to make sure that such communication both informs and engages employees.

No matter how good a company’s employee experience is, it always has room for improvement. Sometimes all that’s needed is a small tweak; sometimes an overhaul is in order. AccruePartners can help your organization figure out what it needs to do in order to decrease turnover—and increase productivity and competitiveness.

Even as technology increasingly mediates our interactions with the world and with each other, interpersonal relationships still form the foundation of our society. In companies, such relationships exist between employees and management, among workplace colleagues, between organizations and their clients and vendors, and in many other areas. The articles in this edition of our HR Insights describe what companies can do to strengthen the connections with their employees—and thereby strengthen themselves.

Part of building a strong relationship involves

meeting the needs of everyone in it.

As the workplace model shifts from one in which employees expect to move up the ladder in one field to one in which they prioritize exploring several fields in order to find meaningful work and opportunities, companies need to be ready to accommodate those preferences. In the feature article for this issue, “How to Support Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,” Ashley Goldsmith suggests strategies that organizations can implement in order to navigate this shift successfully.

Sometimes one of the best things companies can do to help foster connection is to encourage employees to interact directly with each other more—or maybe even insist on it. In the Watercooler column for this issue (“A Radical Proposition: Phone-Free Conference Rooms”), Mike McKerns writes that maybe companies should “just keep phones out of the conference room entirely” so they don’t interfere with “living in the moment and building real face-to-face relationships.”

We believe strongly in the power of connection.

Your business depends on having the right people doing the right jobs. As the job market gets more competitive and companies increasingly vie with each other to attract the best talent, they run the risk of hiring too quickly—too rashly—and ending up with the wrong people. Fortunately, this edition of HR Insights is full of information about how to avoid this mistake.

In this edition’s feature article, “The Best Candidates Aren’t Always the Ones with the Best Degrees,” Ira S. Wolfe presents a cautionary tale about the dangers of placing too much emphasis on candidates’ educational credentials and not looking closely enough at what they can actually do. “Fortunately,” he points out, “there are ways to use education and experience more reliably” to get a sense of a candidate’s potential to fill a particular position well.

Whether an organization is hiring onsite or remote workers, it needs to make sure that candidates know what they’re signing up for. Many companies are exploring new ways to convey this information, and in “Realistic Job Previews: 5 Questions Recruiters Should Ask” Sharlyn Lauby discusses one hiring strategy that, if properly implemented, can pay off big for companies and candidates alike.

Does your organization have a plan to meet its staffing needs in the near and long-term future? Whether you know that you need to reevaluate your hiring strategy or are just starting to think about this subject, we can help you figure out what you need to do to get to where you want to go!

As one year draws to a close and a new one is on the horizon, it’s worth remembering that in the business world the pace of change doesn’t follow a calendar: organizations that want to stay ahead of the pack must reevaluate and retool themselves constantly. This issue of HR Insights offers suggestions for how HR and companies can adapt to current and future trends and prepare their workforces for whatever is coming down the pike next.

This edition’s feature article, “6 Megatrends Changing the Face of HR and Business,” pulls together the discussions held during the recent WorkHuman Executive Forum organized by Globoforce. These conversations have focused on the big issues that are reshaping HR and highlight the need “to provide a more ‘human’ employee experience that strengthens connections between people and teams and ultimately drives stronger employee and company performance.”

Because good HR leaders and strong managers play a critical role in shaping their companies, a number of authors explore ways that organizations can ensure that they have the most effective managers possible. In “‘Leadership’ Isn’t ‘Management,’” David Flotten presents a cautionary tale about conflating “being a good employee” with “being a good manager.” And in “The Right Way to Deliver Negative Feedback,” Ashley MacInnis offers strategies to help managers fulfill one of their most difficult—and most important—responsibilities.

A new future arrives on our doorsteps each day—and each one brings both unpredictability and possibility. That’s why it’s important for organizations to keep anticipating, preparing, and adapting.  AccruePartners can help your company be ready for whatever future it encounters!