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Listen to the Introverts Among Us

Business Leadership Diversity and Inclusion General Insights Talent by John Yuva on 12/05/2022

“Introverts are more effective leaders of proactive employees. When you have a creative, energetic workforce, an introvert is going to draw out that energy better.” –Laurie Helgoe, American psychologist and author of Introvert Power

When it comes to workforce personalities, most workers identify as an extrovert or introvert. And while many people assume extroverts are the majority, data from The Myers-Briggs Company indicates that introverts account for 57% of the global population. This is significant for a few reasons. First, more of our work colleagues are introverts than we probably realize. Second, it brings into question how enterprise communication and collaboration occur and whether those methods benefit or hinder introversion. And third, a remote or hybrid work model could encourage a healthier, more productive workforce — as well as promote DE&I efforts.

Pandemic Brings Introversion into the Spotlight

The COVID-19 pandemic propelled introverts into a remote work environment that catered to their professional strengths and preferences. Overnight, introverts were working out of their own homes and communicating extensively through chat and video — no longer facing large, in-person group projects and meetings. The independence and empowerment that also came with remote work were welcomed by many introverts. Like a Freaky Friday moment, suddenly extroverts lacked dominance within the new solitary, virtual environment.

Even as companies transition back to the office, the adoption of full-time remote or hybrid work models is now giving introverts options that were not available pre-pandemic. Today’s Future of Work paradigm supports introverts and their workplace dynamic. However, introversion remains misunderstood by many.

Introversion Demystified

Despite the expanding workplace options for introverted employees, the term “introvert” is often associated with inaccurate characteristics and conditions. For example, an introvert is not someone who:

Cannot collaborate with colleagues.
Suffers from shyness or social anxiety.
Fears verbal communication.
Wants to be left alone.
Is unable to think strategically.

How introverts process and communicate information is much different from extroverts. In a group setting, extroverts thrive in the stimulus of the moment. They’re often quick to offer opinions and share ideas, feeding off the reactions and responses.

Introverts are quite the opposite. Many find the extrovert’s ideal environment overstimulating. Instead, introverts remain quiet while processing information and formulating an appropriate response. Only when they feel that their opinion can provide value to the conversation, do introverts voice their ideas. Introverts avoid competition for dominance in a conversation.

I can relate to these differences on a personal level. As an introvert myself, I faced difficulties contributing to large group discussions early in my career. During my tenure at an organization where I spent 18 years, there was an annual meeting to discuss the next year’s editorial content. Senior executives and managers from several departments participated in the four-hour meeting. Led by our editorial team, I remained virtually silent for the first two years that I attended.

However, in year three my voice broke through the chatter. The room grew silent at either hearing my voice for the first time or realizing that I was present. The floor was mine and I seized the occasion to share my insights and industry knowledge. It was simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating. That moment of courage set me on the path to future leadership opportunities and promotions with the organization. I quickly learned how to make my presence known as an introvert while appreciating my differences from more outgoing colleagues.

Michael Segovia, the senior consultant at The Myers-Briggs Company and TEDx speaker, states this fact well, “We need to honor our preference for Introversion, but that’s not what we tend to do. Don’t apologize for who you are and don’t be embarrassed to ask for help.”

Strategies for Future of Work Introversion

How can enterprises best support and utilize workplace introversion? Here are some important strategies for organizations to ensure that introverts are embraced and heard:

Understand the importance of remote and hybrid work models for introverted employees. Identify those employees who would benefit from remote/hybrid options, especially those requesting it on their own. Consider this part of the wellness effort in your organization. Knowing that certain employees are more productive and healthier as a remote or hybrid worker, is the essence of an effective wellness program.
Allow breaks in meetings to process information. There can be such a rush to begin and end meetings that appropriately processing information is forgotten. Introverts would be well-served by a short break following extensive discussions to gather their own thoughts and responses. Any questions can be followed up directly between the speaker and the employee before the meeting resumes. A meeting break considers the differences in how people process information, strategize, and communicate their ideas.
Check on introverted team members. As a manager or business leader, communication with all team members is critical. However, ensure you’re not overlooking crucial opinions and ideas from those employees with introverted personalities. Introverts thrive in one-on-one and small group discussions. It should be a strategic imperative to gain feedback and maintain an ongoing dialog with employees who are more introverted. When an introvert speaks, listen.
Examine how the office is designed? Introverts enjoy working in their own space that offers privacy and quiet. Several years ago, organizations were promoting an open office design with the belief it would spur more collaboration and strategic thinking. However, the removal of office cubicles for open spaces did little to achieve the desired results. While the Future of Work relies heavily on collaboration between employees and departments, ensure there are areas for one-on-one discussions and quiet concentration.

Introversion is not something to be mocked or ignored. Embrace introverts in the workplace and understand their unique ways of solving business challenges. Often, introverts can provide that unique perspective that is missing from group think. The Future of Work is about capturing the skillsets and values of all employees, a tenet of DE&I programs. Introverts now have a voice — it’s time to listen.

The Fourth Thing You Must Know About The Future of Work

Contingent Workforce Diversity and Inclusion General Insights HR Talent Technology and Innovation by John Yuva on 11/11/2022

The Future of Work Exchange (FOWX) and Ardent Partners recently hosted their complimentary webinar, The Five Things You MUST KNOW About the Future of Work, which discussed the critical capabilities that enterprises can unlock to truly optimize the way they address talent acquisition, extended workforce management, and, most importantly, work optimization.

Over the next five weeks, we’ll be recapping each of the five things discussed during the event.

In our fourth installment this week, we’ll be exploring artificial intelligence as a Future of Work centerpiece.

AI and the Rise of Total Talent Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the fourth thing to know about the Future of Work. If there was an informal poll asking to name the leading Future of Work technology, about 90% would say artificial intelligence (a not-so-surprising answer). Of all the technologies available to enterprises that help automate key workforce processes, AI is the pure representation of the Future of Work.

However, there are different shades of artificial intelligence helping organizations optimize the way they get work done and how they think about talent. It’s more than having an artificial persona to help figure things out and make decisions — instead, it’s enabling smarter decisions.

Consider the rise of total talent intelligence. Today, an enterprise’s workforce may consist of 35%, 40%, or 45% non-employees and extended talent. For some, those numbers may be lower, but for others, they’re also higher. Earlier this year, Future of Work Exchange research found that 47.5% of the average company’s total workforce was considered extended, non-employee, contingent, or contract (this figure also includes freelancers, contractors, temporary workers, gig workers, consultants, etc.).

Total talent intelligence is a gateway to understanding the totality of the workforce; a gateway stimulant, so to speak, for total talent management. It’s the idea that enterprises have enough information and data on the entirety of their workforce – including skills, performance, and productivity levels. All of this information allows business leaders and hiring managers to make near-instantaneous, real-time decisions about the talent they need for a new role, project, or initiative.

Total talent intelligence enables smarter, more perceptive hiring. And AI is the way to get there.

AI as a Conduit for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Assessments in Recruited Marketing

If bias can be removed from decision-making and technology, and AI is set up in such a way that there is no unconscious bias, then it is possible to understand how diverse the workforce truly is. The Exchange has long said (including many years ago) that a diverse workforce is the deepest workforce. Being able to bring in different voices from different cultures allows businesses to be more innovative and think outside the box. And AI is a perfect conduit for that.

With regard to candidate assessments, there is wonderful technology out there that helps organizations better understand how efficient and effective a worker can be. It helps the business that went through an AI-fueled candidate assessment tool to source the best talent.There are similar solutions for recruitment marketing that have robust AI capabilities. These solutions are more than chatbots; they’re ubiquitous in how they help a candidate feel more comfortable and engaged. A candidate can use a mobile app and understand how to apply for a job. Likewise, the process for onboarding is clear, especially as it relates to healthcare benefits, time off, and open shifts. It’s these solutions that benefit the recruitment and onboarding side of extended workforce management.

On the workforce management side, AI helps with recruitment marketing. The idea that enterprises can program a bot to fill their talent pipeline overnight is quite amazing. Beyond just providing data, artificial intelligence can spark some of these processes that are beneficial to the business.

Turning to the volatile economy and its potential impact on the workforce, predictive analytics and scenario building are about managing these uncertain times. If enterprises are preparing for a recession, it is important to understand where they’ll be in six months. Data can be fed into a solution to help enterprises build a scenario and predict their financial picture or the state of global markets. The same type of data can model where the workforce is headed based on rates of resignations and retirements. Will there need to be cuts based on finances? Artificial intelligence is the perfect fighter against volatility by providing a clearer understanding of the future and how the workforce may look.

Unretired but not Irrelevant

Contingent Workforce Diversity and Inclusion General Insights Talent by John Yuva on 09/14/2022

Since the beginning of the Great Resignation in 2021, millions of workers have left the workforce — many retiring from the job market altogether. However, some of those retirees have now unretired and reentered the workforce. According to Nick Bunker, economic research director for North America at the Indeed Hiring Lab, as of March 2022, 3.2% of workers who retired a year earlier are now employed. What does this mean for companies and the Future of Work? Essentially, there remains a large talent pool of unretired seniors who bring varied skillsets and interest in remote work — a perfect combination for a pipeline of contingent labor.

The Pandemic Spurs Mass Retirement

Most of the planet can relate to how COVID-19 affected our work lives. Throughout the first two years of the pandemic, many senior workers decided to retire from the workforce. However, it occurred in unprecedented numbers.

During a Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis podcast titled “Retirements Increased During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Who Retired and Why?,” Miguel Faria-E-Castro, a research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, remarked on the number and the reasons for retirements beyond what was expected as the baby boomer generation exits the workforce.

“… And actually, I find that there were about 2.6 million excess retirees on top of what those trends would predict. And there are many reasons why people are retiring during COVID-19. There’s the fact that older people tend to be more susceptible to severe illness from COVID-19,” he says.

“There’s the fact that many of these older workers had to care for loved ones who used to be in daycare institutions that were now subject to lockdowns, and there’s also the fact that asset values were rising very rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which might have influenced the value of pension and retirement accounts,” Faria-E-Castro adds.

Despite the reasons behind retirements, 2022 witnessed the return of many retired workers to the workforce.

A Generational Return

While retirement numbers reached unprecedented levels, the availability of COVID-19 vaccines, along with simpler and more obvious reasons like boredom and a sense of purpose, prompted retired workers to find employment.

Other reasons to return include:

Inflation. According to the latest U.S. Department of Labor data, the inflation rate for the United States is 8.3% for the 12 months ended August 2022 — an increase of 8.5% previously. Higher prices throughout a variety of industry sectors including food and beverage and consumer products are causing financial hardships for retired workers. Returning to the workforce is helping to ease that burden as well as pay for rising healthcare expenses

Tight labor market. A tight labor market means available jobs. Prior to the pandemic, employment opportunities for older workers were less plentiful and even scarce. However, with the enticement of flexible hours and remote work to fill open positions, enterprises are opening their doors to unretired employees — and they’re taking those opportunities.

Higher wages. Companies understand that the lack of talent requires a higher wage to lure candidates. Unretiring to supplement pension and Social Security payments is helping to offset inflationary pressures on monthly expenses.

Leverage Senior Talent for Greater Value

Now that senior workers are returning to the workplace, how can companies best utilize this unique talent pool? In her Forbes article, “Is the ‘Great Resignation’ Actually a Mass Retirement,” Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, CEO of 20-first, a global balance consultancy based in London, highlighted three critical areas for how companies can retain older workers.

Build senior talent into your D&I strategy. When examining the makeup of your workforce, how many are older employees? It is critical to know the age distribution of your workplace for a variety of reasons. First, it may be a sign that the enterprise lacks diversity in its senior talent. There is much to be said about a multi-generational workplace and the advantages of pairing younger workers with more seasoned employees. Second, tribal knowledge is rarely written down for the benefit of others. Whether it’s processes, procedures, or shortcut efficiencies, companies rarely capture that knowledge before employees retire and it’s gone forever. Third, transparency in your age distribution can lead to a strategic outlook on potential succession plans. It should also serve as a significant part of your knowledge management process.

Invest in professional development. As humans, we’re always learning. And in today’s enterprises, change is a constant. With that in mind, professional development should not be an investment for only younger talent. Despite many multi-generational workforces, ageism is still present within companies. Today’s D&I initiatives should focus on removing that practice and the barriers it creates for senior employees. Having purposeful work is just as important to the older workforce as any other segment. Unretired employees often want to learn new skillsets to broaden their experiences and provide meaningful outcomes to the enterprise.

Flex the workplace model. As retired workers return to the workforce, they’re looking for remote and work/life balance opportunities — which complements the Future of Work paradigm. Understanding the purpose of why an employee is unretiring can help shape how best to utilize their skills. It also opens a dialog about the potential tenure of a senior employee. Rather than a sudden departure that often occurs with traditional retirement, companies can plan eventual exits and ensure knowledge capture and a succession strategy.

The Future of Work is not generation-specific. It encompasses all generations within the workforce from Gen Z to Baby Boomers. In fact, it is Baby Boomers who can serve as a valuable source for continent labor. Those coming out of retirement to find a second calling or support a former company or industry in a new and beneficial way have much to offer. And leveraged strategically, the knowledge of this generation of workers can spark innovation and provide a unique dynamic within multi-generational teams. At the end of the day, age is just a number.

The Link Between Diversity and Direct Sourcing

Direct Sourcing Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 06/01/2022

Today, diversity is no longer a “check-a-box” factor for many enterprises around the world; rather, it has become a cultural movement within business that emphasizes the depth of talent pools, talent communities, and talent networks without bias or barriers. The truth regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is that direct sourcing programs (and extended workforce/contingent workforce programs) that are diverse tend to be more successful. If businesses can embed a spirit of inclusion within their direct sourcing processes and act in accordance with this mindset, they can broaden the existing talent landscape and improve upon it with new ideas and opportunity.

And, while established diversity programs previously existed in many enterprises, the events and civil unrest of the past two years have driven many businesses to develop and communicate more purpose-driven goals which are linked to societal, economic, technological, and sustainable shifts. To achieve these goals, a large number of businesses are trying to harness the power of a diverse workforce.

The Future of Work Exchange has long progressed the notion of “Direct Sourcing 2.0,” in which traditional direct sourcing phases and operations are “supercharged” to transform this strategy into a repeatable and scalable (not to mention more digitized) series of processes that can drive true talent sustainability:

As the overall labor market evolves in the wake of rising worker resignations, smart businesses will prioritize the need for deeper assessment and validation of skillsets and place a greater emphasis on the candidate and hiring manager experience. The starting point for most will be to build on their existing direct sourcing capabilities and work to develop Direct Sourcing 2.0 capabilities.

Simply put: much like the greater Future of Work movement, there is so much more to this than just automation and technology. Direct Sourcing 2.0 isn’t just a scalable strategy that is driven by next-generation software, but a program that relies on both technology and humanity to be successful in the face of an evolving labor market.

Layering DE&I into direct sourcing is about changing behaviors and removing hiring barriers and unconscious bias from talent engagement and talent acquisition. Utilizing technology to help guide and enforce a new mindset can be extremely valuable and create awareness that the deepest talent pools are diverse talent pools. Using direct sourcing to hire diverse talent gives HR teams a direct ability to link purpose with DE&I efforts. For example, businesses can opt to tap into professional networks that were already designed for diverse workers from various backgrounds, cultures, and genders and link these to talent curation efforts. Direct sourcing initiatives can also benefit from “diversity automation” that is enabled from direct sourcing platforms that have partnerships and integrations with diverse job boards and networks. They can also offer anonymizing functionality that can hide specific information about different candidates.

Diversity, as stated above, is more than just an objective; it is a facet of the new world of work that sparks new ideas, catalyzes innovation, and enables a business with the necessary skillsets and expertise to thrive in changing times. Direct sourcing, then, can be an effective gateway in developing a more diverse workforce.

The NFL’s Diversity Problem Is a Wake-Up Call For the Business World

Diversity and Inclusion by Christopher J. Dwyer on 02/17/2022

If you don’t know the story by now, here’s a quick recap from Mother Jones:

Earlier this week, former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit accusing the league of “systemic racism” and identified examples of teams conducting “sham interviews” with Black coaching candidates without any intention of hiring them.

As evidence, he included text messages with New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick that seem to show Belichick congratulating Flores for winning the New York Giants coaching job days before Flores had even interviewed. In fact, Belichick had meant to text Brian Daboll, who would eventually be named coach. Roughly 70 percent of NFL players are Black, but the only Black head coach out of 32 teams is Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin.

There’s a little more to this story, including claims by Flores that he was offered $100,000 per game lost in the 2019 season in order to secure a higher draft pick. That issue, which may end up costing Dolphins owner Stephen Ross his franchise, is only a piece of this entire saga.

The bigger trouble at hand, of course, is this: the NFL has a HUGE diversity problem.

At the time of Flores’ suit, there was only a single Black coach in the NFL (Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers). Years ago, to boost the diversity profile of its coaching candidates, the NFL introduced the “Rooney Rule,” in which the league mandates that teams interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior-level football positions. This clearly has not worked to improve the diversity across the NFL’s coaching ranks.

The rule was adopted and mandated in 2003, when there three Black head coaches in the league. Today? There are three Black head coaches in the league. Something’s not right.

During last week’s Super Bowl media week, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that “a diverse workforce is a better workforce.” (Has he been reading the Future of Work Exchange?) Well, clearly, Goodell cannot be trusted to follow through on this statement, especially because he’s more known for needlessly aggressive punishment for naturally deflated footballs than he is for his track record on diversity.

Granted, the NFL is a different beast than the typical organization in the business arena. Interviews are publicly known, there’s always conjecture about who is going to move where, etc. However, when a multi-billion-dollar entity (not to mention America’s most-watched sport) cannot effectively leverage its vast resources to improve its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) goals, what type of example does that set for every other corporation?

DE&I has become perhaps the most critical non-technological component of the Future of Work movement. Nearly 84% of businesses today say they expect to develop a more inclusive workplace environment over the next 12 months, a statistic that accurately reflects just how important it is for an enterprise to prioritize how it handles diversity and diverse hiring.

The NFL has incredible resources at its disposal; it could easily develop a Chief Diversity Officer (which nearly 70% of businesses expect to implement within their ranks by the end of 2023) that is accountable to all 32 team owners, not to mention the fans and the media. It could create reskilling and upskilling opportunities for diverse coaching candidates to ensure that there is no excuse for passing over diverse talent when major positions are open. And, it should re-tool the Rooney Rule in a manner that moves away from incentives and pushes a better strategy (one of Flores’ issues, which is 100% on point, is that Rooney Rule-led interviews are often shams, as was his with the Giants and Broncos).

For businesses across the globe, this should be a wake-up call. DE&I should be top-of-mind for every organization; “The Great Resignation” is tearing apart the traditional measures of talent acquisition, leaving businesses scrambling to find top-tier skillsets and expertise. Diversity is a gateway into innovation and business progression, enabling organizations with a deeper, more robust community of hyper-qualified candidates that can drive better business outcomes. The “Talent Revolution” at hand dictates that enterprises do all that they can to become more attractive to workers…and that starts by building a diverse and inclusive workplace environment (and culture!).

The NFL’s Rooney Rule has been nothing but a “box-checker” for nearly two decades. The parallels with “diverse spend” goals are uncanny, aren’t they? This is why the NFL’s diversity issues should hit close to home for business leaders. The NFL needs to do more; that’s wildly apparent. And so don’t typical businesses, as well. Fast Company published a piece nearly a year after the George Floyd protests and found that while dozens of the world’s biggest tech companies collectively donated nearly $3.8 billion to charities, there was little movement on the actual change within their organizations; even though societal change was at the forefront of talent acquisition, diverse talent represented a tiny percentage of engineering or leadership roles.

Right now, it is feared that the NFL will take a similar approach and throw money at charity, spin these issues into marketing and communications fluff, and hope that everything blows over. For the business arena, leaders should take a much, much different approach: start truly investing in diverse talent, provide opportunities for growth and upskilling, and, most importantly, view DE&I as a true gateway to innovation, a deeper workforce, and better business outcomes.

How Hidden Biases Can Affect Hiring And Diversity Initiatives

Diversity and Inclusion by Featured Contributor on 02/14/2022

[Today’s guest contribution was written by the team at Prosperix.]

Businesses often pride themselves on their diversity initiatives in the workplace, but the hidden danger of recruiting bias means limiting your candidate options during the hiring process. Maybe you don’t even know you’re doing it, but everyone has internal biases, whether consciously or unconsciously. Besides the most common bias that is already being tackled, like gender bias in hiring, the workplace is rife with unconscious bias, and since you aren’t aware of it, it’s hard to stamp out. It’s detrimental to both current and prospective employees, recruiters, and the companies themselves. Unconscious bias can inhibit diversity, recruitment efforts, promotions, and the retention rate in companies. For being an unknown factor, bias has a lot of harmful side effects.

Are You Guilty of These Common Biases?

The good news is that once you know about your own hidden biases, you can take steps to correct them with knowledge and training. This means that you won’t always be affected by them, or, if you are, at least to a lesser extent. What exactly are these biases that might be affecting your hiring decisions? Listed below are some of the more prevalent ones:

Confirmation bias: Confirmation bias means you only take in information that confirms your beliefs and ignore everything else. It also means you don’t look for details or under the surface since you believe your first impression. If you see a well-dressed candidate or resume or both, and you think that means they are a good candidate, then you will ignore anything negative about them after that. This generally means that you form your opinion, positive or negative, based on one detail (like from a resume) and simply see everything as confirming that opinion or as unimportant if contrary.
Affinity bias: This is where you identify with a candidate based on a similar or likable trait, so you act warmer towards them during the interview and speak better of them afterward. There was no fundamental basis for this warmth, just a feeling, which is subjective and can hurt other candidates.
Similarity bias (Ingroup bias): Similarity bias means you want to hire those most like you (same group interests or hobbies, etc.). While this is a great way to make friends, it’s not a successful tactic for hiring the best, unless they are applying for your job. You need to remember that most jobs have different competencies and, on top of that, you want diversity in the workplace.
Projection bias: You believe that others share your own goals, beliefs, etc., and so you think they’d be suitable for the company you are hiring for. But people have their own priorities and goals that have nothing to do with you and yours, so assuming this just leads to confusion and disappointment.
Halo effect: The halo effect is where you think that since the person is good at A, they will also be good at B, C, and D. But you need to see if they have the requisite skills and not judge the candidate based on one trait.
Pitchfork effect: This is the opposite of the halo effect where you see or hear something negative and then assume all of the candidate’s other traits are negative too. For example, during an interview, if the candidate answers the first couple of questions badly, you think they’ll answer everything that way and assume they’re not qualified for the job.
Status quo bias: The status quo bias is where you like everything the way it is and want it to stay that way. There are two sides to this coin: a) You are only looking for past experience to find a good candidate, which means you miss out on someone just entering the field, but who could be perfect. This means you keep focusing on those already in the field while ignoring fresh talent. Alternatively, if you are filling a previously held position by someone you liked, you’ll try to get a carbon copy of them in the next hire, which adds internal blinders to your search for the best candidate.
Nonverbal bias/Effective Heuristic: This is where you judge a candidate’s ability to do the job based on a superficial trait like tattoos or body weight. However, a one-dimensional characteristic doesn’t mean you can perform a full analysis to see if they are qualified. (It’s also dangerous on legal grounds, beware.) For example, if you think CEOs should be tall, then you will discount anyone shorter than your assumed cut-off height.
Expectation Anchor: If you are convinced that an earlier candidate was the best for the job, you don’t consider any of the later candidates even while still conducting interviews.
Contrast effect: The contrast effect happens when you see a ton of resumes or interviews in a row, and so you start to compare how they are to the previous candidates, even though you should be comparing individual skills and experiences to the job posting only.
Conformity bias: This bias is where, if you form a different opinion than the rest of a group, you’re more likely to change your mind to agree with them. This can be seen as the “Majority rules” idea or the “Mob mentality” that happens when a group of people form and one idea takes hold even when not everyone agrees with it.

There are quite a few biases you need to be aware of which makes hiring an even more difficult process. As, you don’t even realize that you might be missing out on the best candidates when you believe your first impressions and take things at face value.

Tips to Overcome Unconscious Hiring Bias

Refine Job Descriptions

Different words attract different candidates. Hence, it is essential to choose the right words while writing job descriptions. Job descriptions act as a primary filter and can in fact influence both the hiring process and the candidate’s opinion of the business brand, even before they get into the interview. While writing your job descriptions pay attention to making them standardized, job role-specific, and inclusive of supporting all forms of diversity.

Use a Hiring Marketplace

Hiring Marketplaces offer businesses a wide variety of candidates to choose from, with varying sets of skills and diversities. An open marketplace encourages anyone to apply and helps remove intrinsic bias. Rather than scrutinizing a worker’s background, this model gets to the heart of what matters most: finding talent that performs and produces results at the highest level. Moreover, modern-day Hiring Marketplaces built using the latest technology help in bias-free candidate matching by using smart algorithms and assessments to objectively match the best candidates with the right skills and motivations to the relevant jobs.

Improve Interview Processes

While conducting an interview, it is important to stick to a structured process so that everyone answers the same standardized questions. This makes it easier to compare candidate abilities without being influenced by superficial traits. It is also helpful to ask behavioral questions to see how candidates have reacted in the past to assess possible future situations.

Additionally, try to have many pairs of eyes on the interview, either with a transcript or with a panel interview. You could even try to have live or recorded phone or video interviews so that more people can hear the candidate and weigh in on the matter.After conducting the interview, take a minute to see if you are dismissing or pushing forward a specific candidate. Is this action based on actual concrete data from their resume, skills test, or interview, or is it based on something else like a gut feeling or a physical characteristic? If it’s the latter, then you are being biased. Once you recognize a bias, you need to get back on track for an objective analysis. You need to train yourself out of making decisions based on superficial traits (appearance, culture, comfort level during the interview, etc.) and look deeper. If you still have issues, you need to ask better questions during the interview or look into interview training. You need to avoid making snap decisions since they are not the best way to hire someone. Don’t forget to test your conclusions. This is where reference checks come in. Always verify that the candidate is who and what they say they are.

Explore Digital Solutions to Curb Hiring Bias

Just as we can’t remove emotions from people, we can’t suppress their biases. However, by deploying the right digital workforce solutions, businesses can eliminate hiring biases to a great extent. Prosperix aims to help businesses identify and conquer all forms of hiring biases to onboard exceptional professionals — regardless of who they are or where they came from. Our solution is a combination of the latest technology catalyzed with our white glove MSP/VMS services that guarantee organizations the best hiring outcomes. We reinforce technology with active human curation to handpick and thoroughly vet candidates before presenting them to businesses. Since we are a certified tier 1 diverse supplier, all hires made through Prosperix’s VMS count towards tier 1 diversity spend, and our built-in AI makes hiring outstanding candidates easy, matching you to the most capable suppliers and candidates in real-time.

The Link Between DE&I and Direct Sourcing

Direct Sourcing Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 01/24/2022

In 2022, diversity is no longer a “check-a-box” factor for many enterprises around the world; rather, it has become a cultural movement within business that emphasizes the depth of talent pools, talent communities, and talent networks without bias or barriers. The truth regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is that direct sourcing programs (and contingent workforce management (CWM) programs) that are diverse tend to be more successful. If businesses can embed a spirit of inclusion within their direct sourcing processes and act in accordance with this mindset, they can broaden the existing talent landscape and improve upon it with new ideas and opportunity.

And, while established diversity programs previously existed in many enterprises, the events and civil unrest of the past two years drove many businesses to develop and communicate more purpose-driven goals, which are linked to societal, economic, technological, and sustainable shifts. To achieve these goals, a large number of businesses are trying to harness the power of a diverse workforce.

Using direct sourcing to hire diverse talent gives HR teams a direct ability to link purpose with DE&I efforts. For example, businesses can opt to tap into professional networks that were already designed for diverse workers from various backgrounds, cultures, and genders and link these to talent curation efforts. Direct sourcing initiatives can also benefit from “diversity automation” that is enabled from direct sourcing platforms that have partnerships and integrations with diverse job boards and networks. They can also offer anonymizing functionality that can hide specific information about different candidates.

Future of Work Exchange research finds that DE&I initiatives will be boosted with next-level intelligence over the next year-and-a-half. DE&I remains a critical piece of direct sourcing and talent acquisition overall. Today, roughly a quarter of all businesses utilize AI within direct sourcing for DE&I purposes (27% for worker diversity data and 24% for general diversity and inclusion insights). More than half of all enterprises plan to use AI to drive these initiatives over the next 18 months. Businesses that invest in developing AI-led data collection will be able to cast a wider net within the realm of diversity, capturing gender, culture, background, neurodiversity, etc. These insights can provide hiring managers and executives with the intelligence needed to monitor and improve DE&I initiatives.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion represent, perhaps, the most important of the “strategy-led” Future of Work tenets and deserve a rightful place in the pantheon of work optimization approaches. Diverse workforces, inclusive workplaces, and an overall environment of equity can pay massive dividends for businesses seeking to spark innovation within their total talent community, especially in an unsettled labor market that will see a hopeful end to the so-called “Great Resignation” in early 2022.

Reminder: Join WorkLLama, Ardent Partners, and the Future of Work Exchange this coming Thursday (12pm ET) for an exclusive webcast on “Direct Sourcing 2.0,” which will highlight how businesses can develop powerful, repeatable, and scalable direct sourcing processes to drive next-generation talent acquisition and recruitment strategies. Click here or on the image below to register.

The Great Resignation, The Great Reassessment, The Big Quit…Let’s Just Call It What It Is: A Talent Revolution

Business Leadership Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 10/25/2021

My dear friend and fellow agile workforce pundit Jon Younger ends his frequent Forbes articles with a phrase that is essentially perfect for what is happening in today’s labor market: Viva la revolution!

Call it The Great Resignation. Call it The Great Reassessment, or even “The Big Quit.” No matter what name is tied to what’s occurring in this frenetic, volatile talent economy, it just means one thing: there’s a revolution of talent happening right now.

Yes, major pieces of the “worker-led” transformation of talent and labor are owed to a market that has been accelerated since Day One of the pandemic, as many talented professionals (and the businesses they work(ed) for) experienced the biggest disruption of their their corporate lives. Remote work became a norm, flexibility was a baseline, and empathy became a foundation for how leaders treated their teams.

However, there are other attributes that are a long time coming, such as equitable treatment, fair and living wages, and inclusive workplace cultures that promote safety and openness. There’s more discussion around worker burnout than ever before. And, critically, there’s a clear element of diversity that permeates through the job market, as well.

Looking at all of these elements converging, one would wonder, “Why would we ever go back?”

Those that worked remotely pre-pandemic can now validate the productivity concerns of such a work model. Those businesses that experienced an increase in productivity since the pandemic began now understand that they can trust their staff to get work done away from the office. And it’s not just a remote vs. in-office issue: think of the core societal changes that occurred in tandem with the pandemic. Think of the renewed focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I). From permanent hiring to extended talent, hiring managers and other business leaders are finally acknowleding real enterprise value of diversity.

Put it all together and this is what you get: millions and millions of talented professionals that know their value, know that they can work flexibly, and know that they deserve better working conditions from various perspectives.

Since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking statistics on the number of workers who voluntarily left their positions, there was no greater month for turnover than this past August, when 4.3 million Americans left the workforce (the previous record was May 2021, only a few months prior). The fact that the entire summer experienced somewhere in the neighborhood of 17+ million resignations (over 20 million if you count April in these figures) speaks volumes about where we are collectively headed.

Just a month or so ago, discussions revolved around whether businesses or workers would blink first. New BLS data proves that workers aren’t coming back unless organizations completely revolutionize their stance on the employer-employee relationship. It’s not just about compensation, it’s the fact that workers desire true flexibility. They crave work-life balance. And, most importantly, they want their own values and purpose to align with those of the businesses they choose to support.

Workers that traditionally “job-hopped” are finding that they can do so much more easily in today’s market, while workers that were once “lifers” question their career choices during a time that forced all of us (business aside) to reevaluate our lives in the face of the worst and biggest health crisis of our collective lifetimes. When people witness a family member falling ill and succumbing to a nefarious pathogen, and, when they see the terror across the nation’s hospitals as they collapse from surge after surge, it results in an “awakening” that has a cascading effect on both personal and professional thinking.

If workers aren’t satisfied, why would they stay put? With so many (read: millions!) of open positions across the country (and world), most of which offer consistent flexibility and a more soulful candidate and worker experience, why would any talented individual, in this current global landscape, want to “waste” their valuable months and years with an organization that doesn’t offer everything that they want and need? The pandemic reprogrammed many facets of human thinking; it was only natural that the same transformational mindsets would alter how we, as people, reevaluate our choices as business professionals.

Many of us lost family members, friends, and colleagues to COVID-19. Some of us attended funerals with limited family members due to social distancing guidelines. We’ve watched the horrors of the insides of ICUs on the evening news or on social media. Even though things are better than they have been in months, the pandemic is still a part of our everyday lives (even with the modern marvels that we have in coronavirus vaccines). When these morbid aspects of life creep into how we think about what exactly it is what we want from our lives (which, of course, include our careers), it’s very normal that we’d question why we spend time working for an employer that doesn’t offer flexible hours, doesn’t offer equitable treatment and wages, and doesn’t enable remote or hybrid work models.

Workers are human, and humans will always modernize their thinking due to the world around them. What is happening right now in the labor market is certainly a convergence of many factors that would have eventually accelerated critical shifts in talent engagement…however, these transformations are, to a greater extent, the result of humans questioning their choices moving forward and ensuring that one of the biggest pieces of their lives, their careers, are satisfying the personal, professional, and emotional aspects of their lives.

This isn’t just a reaction to a pandemic and its wide-sweeping business ramifications, it’s a true revolution of talent that will forever shape the Future of Work.

The Mom Project’s $80M Series C Funding Represents Opportunity for Both Moms and the Digital Staffing Industry

Diversity and Inclusion Solution Providers Technology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on 10/13/2021

Several weeks ago here at the Future of Work Exchange, we recognized The Mom Project as one of our select “Key Providers for 2021,” an exclusive set of solutions and platforms that are disrupting the workforce technology spectrum and impacting how work is addressed and done. In that feature, we wrote:

“The Mom Project is uniquely positioned to continue its rampant growth in the market from three perspectives: 1) it is one of the most visible workforce management platforms that is actively prioritizing and truly aligning DE&I within the very fabric of its functionality, 2) it offers one of the industry’s deepest communities of gender- and ethnically-diverse skillsets and talent, and, 3) its progressive technology platform enables a spectrum of innovative talent acquisition, talent engagement, and workforce management solutions that harness the incredible power of artificial intelligence and machine learning while forming a foundation of total talent management automation.”

So, in essence, it may not be so surprising that last week, The Mom Project secured $80M in Series C funding that will bolster the solution’s standing in the digital staffing marketplace, help it enhance its already-robust suite of functionality, and, most importantly, continue to connect talented mothers with open jobs, roles, and positions. This top-tier level of funding will augment the company’s teams and add additional headcount while boosting product development, a critical factor in an ever-evolving industry.

“We’ve demonstrated to the market that betting on moms is good business,” said Allison Robinson, CEO and Founder of The Mom Project. “We’ve seen 20x growth over the last three years and are eager to leverage this momentum and the trust and equity we’ve earned with moms and our customers and partners to continue building and expanding the reach of category-defining solutions that reshape how work evolves to meet the needs of modern families.”

FOWX analysis of this major market activity finds that the Leeds Illuminate-led funding (with participation from existing investors 7GC, Initialized Capital, OCA Ventures, Citi, High Alpha, Grotech Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank) for The Mom Project is both an opportunity for both moms and the digital staffing industry at-large:

This sizable level of funding, more than anything else, puts the focus on getting talented mothers, women, and diverse candidates back into the workforce. Just a couple of days ago, we wrote that 309,000 women left the workforce in September alone (on top of the tens of thousands of job losses across other backgrounds and races). The Future of Work Exchange fully expects The Mom Project to boost the power of its deep and diverse talent community, which was already a sizable component of its overall offering. With thousands of new and talented individuals added each day, the added investment will certainly help the platform expand its global reach, as well.
The Mom Project will be able to enhance its market-leading functionality in 2022 and beyond. AI-led neural network engine, equitable self-learning technology, functionality that takes into account DE&I and customer culture in candidate-matching and workforce planning…the Series C level of funding will allow The Mom Project to build on these innovative features as well as its unique WerkLabs solution, which harnesses the power of predictive analytics, workplace data, and talent experience intelligence to help enterprises design and develop the most inclusive and productive workplace environments.
This investment reflects the continued growth and impact of the digital staffing industry, which includes both digital staffing platforms and on-demand talent marketplaces. Ardent Partners, which has been covering the digital staffing space for nearly a decade, has found that there has been a 7x increase in the utilization of digital staffing solutions over the past six years, with more and more businesses opting to augment their greater talent acquisition strategies with on-demand talent channels that provide highly-qualified, pre-vetted, and project-aligned workers. A digital staffing outlet such as The Mom Project (which offers both workforce management functionality and a deep community of talent) securing $80 million in funding reinforces just how powerful digital staffing can be in the evolving world of talent and work. As businesses develop more flexibility into how they structure their workforce, digital staffing will become a relied-upon range of technology to enhance talent engagement.

The “Age of the Worker” Still Has Too Many Disparities

Business Leadership Diversity and Inclusion Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 10/11/2021

Across the world of talent and work, there are many factors in play that reflect perhaps the most volatile job market we have experienced in business history. The Great Recession of 2008-2009 brought a swift tumble to the labor pool, however, the economic recovery began relatively quickly and “only” hit a peak of 10.6% unemployment (in January 2010). Comparatively, in April 2020, during the earliest and perhaps the most confounding times of the COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate hovered around 14.7% (and considered higher in some circles given the panic and confusion around that period of time).

For all of the horror, unspeakable challenges, and both personal and professional disruptions that we all have faced over the past eighteen months, the labor market’s initial plunge was only the beginning of a series of major issues for the workforce that continue to this day.

In September, U.S. businesses only added 194,000 new jobs, a figure that shocked economists and labor market analysts alike. In addition, however, the true unemployment rate hit 4.8% in September; while this figure may seem like somewhat of a positive note amidst a weak rate of added positions, it’s really just hiding the many disparities that remain across today’s total workforce. And if we really want to dig deeper into how the lowest unemployment rate of the pandemic thus far just masks massive inequalities, there’s another stat that should shake business leaders to the core:

In September alone, 309,000 women (above the age of 20) dropped out of the workforce, according to the U.S. Labor Department. 309,000.

No, that is not a typo. 309,000 talented and hardworking women left the labor market within a 30-day span. That’s 309,000 women who are not part of a so-called “Age of the Worker.” These are women who are hitting pause on their careers due to factors way beyond their control.

Unemployment is low. The economy is thriving despite a Delta variant surge. One miraculous coronavirus vaccine has been approved and in use as a booster, with the two other major shots on their way. However, these same disparities in job growth are also occurring in other segments, such as in black men and both black and Hispanic women.

What is happening here?

The main problem is this: no matter how great the economy looks and no matter how low unemployment rates are, there is a foundational gap between 1) what we conceive the workforce to look like, and, 2) what that actual workforce looks like when broken out into gender, race, and cultural background, due to continued uncertainty in peripheral areas of the market that have a ripple effect on working mothers and people of color.

As we discussed previously here on the Future of Work Exchange, any level of uncertainty in the world of working parents is catastrophic. Any new COVID cluster in a school that eschews masks and precautions forces those parents to pause their professional lives and attend to remote learning. The continued shortage of staffing within daycare and pre-kindergarten facilities is astounding; too many working parents are having to make the difficult choice between their business personas and their roles as parents of young children.

Two years ago, if a third-grader woke up in the morning with a sore throat and runny nose, a parent could chalk it up to seasonal allergies or the common cold and send him/her off to class without a worry. Today, quarantining is disruptive and COVID testing can cause massive delays in a return to the live classroom. While some educational departments are leveraging “Test and Stay” models that enable quicker returns if children are asymptomatic, there are tens of thousands more that are not.

Those workers that are “between” pre-pandemic careers and a more settled return to the workforce are unsure of what is on the horizon. There’s no crystal ball that will tell them if the coming fall and winter seasons will spark yet another COVID surge. Millions of workers that were once toiling in more blue-collar-oriented positions are reevaluating their careers entirely, fighting as hard as they can for better pay, safer working conditions, and more flexibility in how they work before returning to work. Unfortunately, gender- and race-led disparities are caught in the middle of all of this and are suffering as a result.

So, what’s the answer here? It’s not so simple. The fact that organizations have implemented new diversity-led measures for gender diversity (82% of businesses are currently implementing these measures, according to FOWX research), cultural diversity (72%), and generational diversity (65%) speaks volumes about where businesses want to be, however, the hard truth is that they just aren’t there yet…and it’s going to take some time.

There are reasons to be both optimistic and pessimistic. COVID vaccines from Pfizer for 5-to-11-year-olds could be only weeks away, helping to curb some safety concerns regarding live and in-person learning. Not all of those 309,000 women that exited the workforce will remain out of the workforce permanently; between digital staffing outlets (such as The Mom Project) that promote on-demand and diverse talent, and the hiring managers that truly understand that a diverse and inclusive workplace culture is the best culture to build deeper talent pools, things can and certainly will change.

However, if there’s anything we’ve learned over the past eighteen months, it’s that planning for just a few months ahead causes nothing but disappointment in eventual retrospect. Businesses could stand pat in their months-long standoff with workers that are clamoring for enhanced pay, benefits, and working conditions. More COVID hotspots around the country could exacerbate the workforce inequalities that we’ve been facing since March 2020.

The question remains, though: will the “Age of the Worker” truly help those that aren’t just leaving the workforce because of culture or flexibility issues, but rather because they have no choice? The Biden Administration’s $650 billion initiative for childcare programs, universal pre-kindergarten, and the establishment of a robust paid family and medical leave program could be a boon here, although this is a measure that is months away from being approved and finalized. Many parents will choose to vaccinate their children as soon as they’re able to do so, and many will not.

Like everything else that’s occurred within the world of talent and work in this pandemic arena, there’s more ambiguity than anything else. Let’s hope it changes…soon.