Talent Edge Weekly - Issue #213

Best practices for AI in hiring and workplace assessment, talent management in the age of AI, skills-based organizations, identifying and mitigating talent and workforce risks, and employee sentiment study.

Author

Brian Heger
December 10, 2023

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THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Here’s a glance at this week’s content. A deep dive is in the section that follows.

Also, check out the 2023 job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer hire of the week.

Let’s dive in.

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

Organizations are rapidly integrating AI tools into their hiring and employment strategies to better match candidates with appropriate roles and streamline decisions in recruitment, hiring, and career progression. However, these tools carry inherent risks that, if unaddressed, could adversely affect job candidates and hiring organizations. While regulators continue to provide guidelines for responsible and ethical AI use, a gap remains as practices and knowledge continue to evolve. To help bridge this gap, the Future of Privacy Forum has published this 18-page report outlining Best Practices for the development, implementation, or expansion of AI tools in employment decisions. The report breaks down practices into six crucial areas: (1) non-discrimination, (2) responsible AI governance, (3) transparency, (4) privacy and data security, (5) human oversight, and (6) alternative review procedures. One recommendation regarding transparency is disclosing details to individuals affected by AI tools, including the tool's purpose and how it is used, what it isn’t used for, how the AI learns, and assessments for potential discriminatory bias. Since this report is full of ideas and practices, you will want to review it more deeply to obtain a complete view of practices across the six key areas. As a bonus, here is my playlist of 5 resources that address different considerations for AI-based tools in HR.

AI in the workplace has far-reaching implications for all facets of talent management. This article by LinkedIn's CEO, Ryan Roslansky, outlines three significant shifts that business leaders need to embrace as organizations integrate AI into talent management practices and processes. 1) Redefine jobs as a collection of skills and tasks, not titles; 2) Bring skills and workforce learning to the center of talent management; and 3) Embrace AI to focus teams on collaboration. Regarding reconceptualizing jobs as a compilation of skills and tasks, this approach enables organizations to identify tasks vulnerable to AI automation and focus on upskilling employees to handle more complex tasks while emphasizing human-centric skills like communication and collaboration. As organizations develop their capability to deconstruct roles into tasks and skills, this supplemental article by Gartner, Plan Your Workforce Without the Limitations of Roles, shares four steps to break down roles into a group of tasks and then analyze those tasks to determine optimal workforce strategies (e.g., automation) for task delivery. Although jobs won’t completely go away, deconstructing work from the job level to the task and skill level presents firms with greater flexibility in accomplishing those tasks through different work options (e.g., AI, outsourcing, full-time employees, etc.)

Numerous organizations aim to shift towards skills-based talent practices (SBTP), prioritizing individual skills over job titles, academic credentials, or years of experience for talent attraction, hiring, development, and talent redeployment. However, as highlighted in this 10-page Korn Ferry paper, embracing SBTP demands more than merely centering strategies around skills or establishing a skills database. It necessitates a comprehensive restructuring of organizational frameworks and a mindset shift in redefining the interconnection between roles, individuals, and business strategies. This paper proposes insights for transitioning to a skill-based organization (SBO), outlining the 6 Pillars crucial for an SBO. As talent practitioners think through the various aspects of this transition, I have curated 10 Q&As from various reports, such as Deloitte’s 101-page report, Building Tomorrow’s Skills-based Organization: Jobs Aren’t Working Anymore. The 10 Q&As address questions such as: How many organizations have successfully transitioned to being a SBO? How effectively are organizations classifying and organizing skills into a skills taxonomy or framework? Which areas are organizations starting with when introducing skills-based talent practices? Access the 10 Q&As HERE.

Many organizations invest considerable effort in crafting a talent and workforce strategy to support business objectives and deliver stakeholder value. Yet, they often give less attention to the various talent risks that could impede the execution of such strategies. Against this backdrop, I present four resources aimed at raising awareness of diverse talent and workforce risks— helping practitioners identify and mitigate risk vulnerabilities within their organizations.

  1. MercerMarsh Benefits' 85-page report, "25 People Risks," organizes ideas around 25 people-related risks into five pillars, offering a broader perspective on less apparent workforce risks.

  2. A one-page Critical Position Risk template I've developed helps assess four key risks in critical positions: incumbent risk, internal bench risk, development risk, and external talent risk. 

  3. Deloitte's article, "Managing Workforce Risk in An Era of Unpredictability and Disruption," delves into strategies utilized by leading organizations (termed Pioneer firms) to mitigate workforce risks in challenging times.

  4. Employee Retention Risk Template, which includes 13 indicators known as the 'cues of turnover scale' to help managers evaluate and strategize ways to mitigate retention risk in crucial areas.

How does your organization plan to identify and mitigate talent and workforce risks in 2024?

This 34-page report shares insights from a study conducted in Q3 2023 of 4,505 full-time employees in the United States working for organizations with more than 250 employees, spanning 1,300 employers. It provides insights into employee sentiments regarding various aspects of their employment and workplace. A few insights include: 1) Intention to Stay. The number of employees who are planning to stay with their employer has increased to 68%, compared to 64% in 2022, but remains below 2021 levels of 72%. 2) Drivers of Attraction and Retention. Pay and benefits continue to be the top reason employees are attracted to an organization – and the top reason they stay. 3) Impact of Pay Transparency. Those who believe they are paid fairly were twice as likely to have been provided with pay data from their employer – and were also 85% more engaged and 62% more committed to their organization. 4) Focus on financial security. As shown in the image, many employees have financial concerns as they struggle to recover from inflation stressors. Finances remain the number one concern of employees overall. 5) Office utilization stands at 50%, signaling the prevalence of hybrid work arrangements amid return-to-office mandates. Several other findings are discussed. As with other reports, this report is based on a sample segment of the population. Therefore, to gain a comprehensive understanding reflective of the broader workforce, it is recommended to integrate insights from other studies and reports alongside this one.

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

Explores approaches for hiring managers to fill competitive roles without surpassing pay guidelines. One interesting stat is that half of the surveyed job candidates prioritize non-monetary aspects of the employee value proposition (EVP) —such as wellness, career and learning, and flexibility— over a 10% pay increase. You can also check out my post on LinkedIn about this resource.

2023 JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Partial view of the tracker

Here is my tracker, which includes announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

A few firms that announced job cuts this past week include:

  • Nike (NYSE: NKE). Has been conducting layoffs over the past few weeks in several of its divisions, including HR, recruitment, sourcing, brand, engineering, digital products, and innovation. No numbers have been provided.

  • Spotify (NYSE: SPOT). Will lay off around 1,500 employees to reduce costs in a third round of job cuts this year. The company, which employs more than 9,000 people, laid off more than 500 employees in January and, in June, cut 200 employees from its podcasting unit.

  • Twilio (NYSE: TWLO). The San Francisco-based communications platform announced that it will cut nearly 300 more roles (5%) from its workforce in the wake of already sizable job cuts earlier this year.

Click here to access all listed announcements from 2023.

CHIEF HR OFFICER HIRE OF THE WEEK

​Duke Energy (CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA) [NYSE: DUK]—one of America’s largest energy holding companies— has announced the promotion of Cameron McDonald to the role of SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer, effective Jan. 1, 2024. She will succeed Ron Reising, who will retire at the end of the first quarter after an 18-year career with the organization and its predecessor companies. In her current role with Duke Energy as Vice President of Talent Acquisition and Talent Management, McDonald is responsible for talent acquisition, leadership and employee development, succession planning, and employee engagement. She has been with Duke Energy for 22 years.

Cameron McDonald

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TALENT EDGE WEEKLY REWIND

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THE BEST OF NOVEMBER

Did you miss the “Best of November” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #211, which includes 16 of the most popular resources from November. 

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​brianheger.com provides free access to +1,000 curated articles, research reports, podcasts, and more that help practitioners drive better business results through strategic human resources and talent management.

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​Talent Edge Weekly is a free weekly newsletter that brings together the best talent and strategic human resources insights from various sources. It is published every Sunday at 6 PM EST.

Talent Edge Weekly is written by Brian Heger, an internal human resources practitioner with a Fortune 150 organization. Brian holds responsibilities for Strategic Talent and Workforce Planning. You can connect with Brian on Linkedin, Twitter, and brianheger.com 3