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Is Sourcing or Recruiting Right for You?

Is Sourcing or Recruiting Right for You?

When I graduated with my Bachelor’s in Psychology in 2016, I thought that the four years prior would give me definitive clarity as to what career path I wanted to pursue. To my dismay, the only decision I had arrived at was that I did not want to pursue a second degree in Psychology (at least, not yet).

Since then, I have spent the entirety of my career sourcing and recruiting and have loved it, but realized it could have gone in a completely different direction.

For those who are considering possibly seeking jobs in the talent acquisition space, there are job responsibilities that differ for each type of role that can help you determine if the job is right for you.

When people ask me what I do for a living, I typically respond “I am a Recruiter!” While this may have been true in the past, it is not necessarily true now. I currently work as a Sourcer. However, many people outside of the TA space have never heard of Sourcing.

Sometimes, I even have a skeptical acquaintance respond with a mocking, “So what, you’re basically Dumbledore?”

I wish.

 

So what is sourcing?

The Oxford Dictionary defines the verb ‘source’ as to “obtain from a particular source,” or, “find out where (something) can be obtained.”

So, in a talent acquisition space, sourcing is to find where the right candidates can be obtained. Typically a sourcer will be gathering data about candidates from different data aggregations. For example, they may be searching through Google, LinkedIn, SeekOut, or other sites to find candidates to contact.

From there, a Sourcer will typically be the first point of contact with the candidate through a form of messaging (email, inmail, phone call). Sometimes, they will also host the initial screening interview with the candidate.

Sourcers tend to be data nerds. I was surprised to realize how fascinated I was while learning how Boolean language can optimize my search for candidates. Sourcers tend to enjoy doing research and learning. They also tend to be highly creative. They may sometimes be the type of person that dislikes working with administrative tasks.

Sourcers can be working internally for one company or work as a third party. Regardless of where someone is Sourcing, the responsibilities tend to remain pretty similar.

Recruiters can also work in house or at a third party, also known as an agency. However, an in house Recruiter’s day may look very different from an agency Recruiter. Before we dive into that, let’s go over the difference between a Sourcer and Recruiter.

 

In-house Recruiting

While a Recruiter may source candidates, they will also be responsible for maintaining the candidate relationship. They will continuously work with a candidate from the initial screen up until the offer stage. The recruiter will help schedule and prepare candidates for interviews and give them feedback after their interview. They will check in with candidates at each stage of the hiring process. They will often also be responsible for extending offer letters, running background checks, and onboarding candidates. Recruiters who do not source typically field their candidates from applications or from job boards.

So, how is an in house Recruiter different from an agency Recruiter? Typically, an in house Recruiter will maintain the candidate relationship but will often be responsible for collaborating with the Hiring Manager and/or HR about job requirements. They will have an intake meeting with the Hiring Manager to understand and possibly collaborate to help determine the requirements. They will be in contact with the Hiring Manager, as well as the candidate, for the entire hiring process. In house Recruiters may work to fill any open position in their organization, or may be assigned to one specific department.

In house recruiters tend to enjoy relationship building. They will have strong collaboration skills and may be the type of person that everyone in the office is friends with. They won’t have an issue with administrative work, and may even enjoy it.

 

Agency Recruiting

Recruiting agencies tend to have a person responsible for the relationship management with the client. This person is typically referred to as the Account Manager. They will be the ones passing on information to the Recruiter about the job requirements. From there, the Recruiter tends to work solely with the candidate experience. Agency Recruiters tend to be specialized to a certain industry.

Agency recruiters will make a commission for every role they fill, and therefore tend to be very money-driven. They are challenge seekers and are incredibly driven. Agency recruiters work at a very fast pace, are highly detail oriented, and tend to be risk takers.

All three jobs require different skill sets and suit different people. It’s important to consider what is most meaningful to you while pursuing a career– what will make you excited to wake up for work in the morning? If you decide not to pursue a role in the Recruiting industry, you will at the very least be able to tell the difference between your Sourcer friend Al, and Dumbledore!

Fireside chat with William Tincup & Randy Womack of Socrates

Fireside chat with William Tincup & Randy Womack of Socrates

Those of you that know me, know that I love talking about the candidate experience and in particular the micro experiences or moments that make up the candidate experience. I strongly believe that we need to give MORE thought and action to the experiences our candidates, employees, and alumni have (or don’t have) with our companies.

We need to orchestrate these experiences. We need to care enough to orchestrate. Well, that’s the backdrop for this particular interview.

 

Meet Randy & Socrates.

randy womack socratesRandy Womack is Chief Executive Officer of Socrates.ai, providers of the Employee Awesome Digital Conversation Hub. He has over 20 years of experience in the Software as a Service (SaaS) marketplace and 30 years in technology and operations.

Before Socrates, he was CEO at Aasonn, an SAP Partner. He also served as Chief Operating Officer of Castlight Health, where he helped pioneer the Enterprise Healthcare Cloud. He led Sales, Marketing, Product, and Operations to a successful IPO in four years. Previous to Castlight, he was the VP of Operations and Chief Information Officer for eight years at SuccessFactors, an SAP Company, which built the leading solution for Cloud People Management.

Mr. Womack also held sales, technology, and operations leadership roles at Greylock, Digital River, and Dell, and he has had the rare privilege to help lead three early-stage startups to go public (CSLT, SFSF, DRIV).

I really hope you enjoy this interview and keep an eye out for Socrates. I really like what they’re doing and the problem they’re solving. Please enjoy.

 

Q1: Work-related, what’s keeping you up at night these days?

Lately, it’s watching how employers communicate with their workforce and knowing that these organizations were already hard-pressed to provide timely, relevant, and engaging content pre-COVID-19. Now, these organizations are completely overwhelmed.

While the separation between work and home life, which was just beginning to disappear has completely dissolved. Employees have to juggle family health, childcare, and schoolwork on top of calls and assignments. At the same time, employees need information that can be accessed quickly. With the absolute minimum time lost to searching. And without the frustrations of interpreting technical or legal prose.

 

Q1: Continued

Most organizations don’t have team members whose sole responsibility is to author, publish, update, and circulate content to the workforce. Coupled with a lack of resources around evolving regulations and legislation, changes in business strategy, mergers, and acquisitions. It is no wonder that the typical “library” of documents or the “FAQ” page is sadly out of date and filled with difficult to understand jargon.

That means HR and service center staff spend hours answering basic employee questions, over and over again. This leaves them with little to no time for the complex issues that demand the full attention of their expertise. Employees who have grown accustomed to a fully on-demand personalized world of media, information, and products, are frustrated with the “You are caller number seven, we will answer your call as soon as possible” experience.

Given the technology and the SaaS models we have today, it makes no sense that companies cannot collaborate, share, and respond in real-time. For instance, many companies created their own COVID-19 material. They did the best they could on their own. Versus working with other organizations to compare what other workforces are asking and partner to create straightforward answers.

Please do not misunderstand. Company leaders killed themselves to get the information ready. They did a brilliant job doing their best to help their workforce. But it was very inefficient with everyone working in silos on the same problems.

 

Q2: What’s your short term (>3 years) vision for Socrates?

Socrates.ai is an employee experience platform. Not a development toolkit. Designed to create a more consumer-like experience within the enterprise by:

  1. Providing a single place for the workforce to go to ask questions or perform tasks, regardless of the channels they use.
  2. Saving employees time on every interaction with the company.
  3. Creating meaningful experiences in the moments that matter.

Just as Single Sign-On solved the problem of remembering usernames and passwords for all the applications and services in the enterprise. Our platform pulls all the apps, policies, services, and bots together while respecting the existing system of records. And then simplifying the employee experience for the workforce.

Socrates utilizes whatever technology or user interface creates the best experience. Whether that’s straightforward answers or a conversation dialogue, digital walkthrough, or chatbot. To save the employee time and create a meaningful experience. We look at every request and task to determine what interface will offer the best user experience and then make it happen.

Once you start mapping anything a person could ask or want to do it in a large enterprise, it gets complicated quickly. A lot of the information is in documents or websites.

Socrates.ai has a text-processing engine that reads content like a human and answers employee questions, with a single response or in a conversation. Rather than an employee searching through documents. We do the document or web site processing automatically.

 

Q2: Continued

Hence, customers simply review the answers for accuracy and decide if they would prefer a more straightforward explanation than is often delivered by the policy. We also cleanse the content of old dates, logos, and conflicting answers, so we provide the customer with a clean update.

In the case of a crisis like we are experiencing today, we can publish content in near real-time and understand what people are asking and where the existing content has gaps. Workforce communication should be two way and close to instantaneous. Not one way, and rear-view mirror. Because we are a SaaS model and a platform, enterprises can share their experience or content with others. And, we can share best practices, trends, and lessons learned.

Socrates.ai also personalizes answers through integrations. Simplifying complex workflows with natural language and making cross applications interactions seamless. For example, a new mom has to deal with a lot of applications and services to have a baby. You simply cannot have a baby and take advantage of everything a company requires and offers in this instance from a single application or service. When you optimize in this way, you need to pull all sources together to cover the entire employee experience.

 

Q3: What’s your long-term (<3 years) vision for Socrates?

Today, the market is really focused on giving accurate answers to questions. Personalizing the info when it comes from applications and services. Ultimately, saving people time. Some of the market is even exploring using memes or videos to make people laugh. It is a significant first step.

But as leaders, we have yet to realize the power of digital conversations. We need to move beyond standard corporate content like policies and informational portals into digital conversations. That share knowledge, experiences, opinions, and all the topics that people want to know from their colleagues and their company. We should be able to talk digitally to the company and understand the company’s viewpoint as well as ask our colleagues questions without having to call, text, or email.

Digital conversations are powerful. And, in some cases, more impactful than a person to person conversation. For example, if you planned how you would answer your daughter if she told you that she was pregnant while she was in high school. Would it be the same answer you would give her the moment you walk in the door after a tough day?

Your answer might change if you planned what you would say to her in advance versus reacting at that moment. We see the same thing at work all the time. The words that a male manager says when they find out a key performer is going out on maternity leave are often suboptimal and different from the way they would respond if they were not in react mode.

 

Q3: Vision on the Digital Conversation

Digital conversations allow us to create and store information and knowledge that can be accessed 24/7. In private. While delivering our optimal message, lessons learned, or company viewpoint.

Our journey into digital conversations starts with the workforce being able to talk to the company and the company listening to what the workforce is asking. Digital conversations enable the company to speak to each person in the workforce directly. And not leave essential issues to the manager or matrix manager.

A simple example is tattoos. The hiring manager is super excited about their new hire who has tattoos sleeves. And when assigned to their first project team, the matrix manager asks this person to cover up and says that their tattoos aren’t appropriate.

Which manager is right, and who decides? Whatever answer the employee receives will have a genuine impact on their attitude, engagement and longevity. The company should have a set viewpoint on tattoos and make it available via a digital conversation so the new hire can get the company’s position at any time and in private with a simple answer instead of policy. There are many issues like this, particularly around culture, that should not be left to managers who have experiences and opinions that may or may not align with the company.

 

Q3: Vision on Work-Life Experience

In the future, leaders, managers and some people in the workforce will load content for the entire company to access at any time. Think about creating a repository of knowledge and experience that can be accessed by the workforce via natural language questions. Leaders will create digital versions of themselves that will make them more accessible and human than they are today while still sharing their insights and perspectives. It is not just leaders. It will be all the workforce.

Think about the general tribal knowledge in the workforce and the things only a few people know, like how to correct an error in the payroll the night before the payroll run. Now that can be available digitally in a simple question and answer format by the person who fixes it but had a personal emergency and is not available.

The other thing to think about digital conversations is the real-time and longitudinal data from these will be a new frontier. It will offer a whole new world of real-time responses, forecasting future problems and continuous improvement of the workforce. The difference versus our consumer lives is that in the enterprise, this digital content and conversation will stay within corporate guidelines, meet security policies, have permissions and be audited and reviewed for compliance.

Our work-life experience will change dramatically as we embrace digital conversations, with the enterprise experience moving beyond the consumer because the knowledge captured is beneficial to everyone inside the organization.

 

Q4: You’ll know Socrates has reached its full potential when?

  1. The workforce can digitally talk to the company and get straight forward personalized answers.
  2. The workforce trusts the company to ask about any topic that is important to them as they do with friends and family.
  3. When the workforce engages with the company, it feels like the Jetsons instead of the Flintstones.

 

Q5: What advice do you give leaders regarding evaluating technology?

Think long-term, be part of creating the vision, contribute and, most importantly, give back and collaborate with your colleagues to drive the technology forward. Often it is the vendor driving the market when it should be a consortium of leaders driving the vendors.

How Recruitment Strategies Need to Change During COVID-19

How Your Recruitment Strategies Need to Change During COVID-19

COVID-19 has dramatically changed the world in a very short space of time. This has shaken us all and the result is that our world has changed. It is not surprising then, that the world of recruiting will change as a result of this.

We review what the most significant changes in Recruiting will be…

 

Factors Affecting Recruiting

The most obvious factor affecting recruiting as a direct result of COVID-19 is that the average number of applicants per job will skyrocket due to astronomically high unemployment rates. A follow-on effect from this is that a large proportion of these applicants will not be qualified for the jobs that they are applying for. This is going to cause a major problem for recruiters with the extra administration required to filter out unsuitable applicants.

The recruitment world lives in a constant balance of power between applicant and employer. We have been in an unusually long period where the applicant has held the balance of power as skill shortages ruled. This has now been flipped on its head and the employer has the power again. It will be a lot easier to find staff going forwards.

In the few sectors where skill shortages still exist post-COVID-19, it will be more challenging to recruit as talent will not be wanting to relocate for a new job or will not be allowed into the country. All of our life priorities have had a reset over these last couple of months and family, friends, and health are now at the top of the list for most people.

In addition, it will be harder to recruit for jobs where regular travel is involved. As people will have an underlying fear of COVID-19 in the back of their minds. Working from home is going to become the preferred option. We surveyed our team this week and 70% of staff now prefer to work from home. Before COVID-19, that number was 30%.

 

How Do Recruitment Strategies Need to Change?

Recruiters will forget about the hype and complex nature of artificial intelligence for a while.  The truth is most people never really got to the point of understanding how to make the most out of it anyway. AI will still be there. But it will become an underlying mechanism used by suppliers to get recruiters the results they need. As opposed to a tool they actively look for.

The top 5 Recruitment Strategies changes to consider are:

 

1. Use Automated Screening Technologies

Time is going to be your most important asset.  Implement technology that can identify the best talent from the hundreds of unqualified applicants. Automated ranking tools (AI based) will become more common. Older technology such as screening questionnaires that score and filter applicants can help too. These tools were sometimes seen as contributors to bad candidate experience. But now that the power has shifted and the volumes of applicants increased, they will become essential.

 

2. Cut Sourcing Costs

Job boards will start to become effective at finding applicants again. But the problem is going to be the high volume of low-quality applicants that they bring. This is an opportunity for organizations to slash their advertising costs on the more expensive systems like LinkedIn as the bulk of the talent will go mainstream.

Job boards are going to have to improve technologies to increase the quality of applicants. Or they may lose this opportunity to regain relevance. Ensure that your applicant tracking system (ATS) is fully integrated with the job boards that you use as the ATS should have screening tools that job boards do not.

If you are in an industry where there are still skill shortages, look for a talent acquisition system that has a web sourcing tool seamlessly embedded into its workflows.

 

3. Grow your Own Talent Pool

Organizations need to make the most of this unique situation we find ourselves in and grow their own talent pool (or data lake) as fast as they can, while they can. This situation is not going to last forever, and the talent shortage will return. Look for recruitment systems that can store all applicant data and easily mine and match that data to job requirements.

Job boards, employment branding, and candidate marketing promotions will bring the volume, and ‘suggestive technology’ will suggest which applicants recruiters and hiring managers should be talking to.

This will save a huge amount of time and money as the talent pool grows and organizations in effect can become their own LinkedIn.  This should be the immediate focus for Chief Human Resource Officers during these times as it will bring long term benefits.

 

4. Implement Video Technology into Your Recruiting Processes

Video interviewing and screening technologies are a must. Applicants and hiring managers are not going to like having a face to face interview anymore. With people not wanting to travel, even locally, unless they absolutely must, some form of video screening technology is required. The most efficient and easiest way to do this is to have it fully embedded into your applicant tracking system.  Pre-COVID-19, there was a lot of talk around video technologies focusing on using AI. This is less important right now. Just ensure you have a basic video platform ready to go.

 

5. Remote Collaboration is Required

Your team will be working from many different locations going forwards. Collaborative tools are essential with team members working from different locations and recruiting is best done collaboratively.

Look for an applicant tracking system that has been specifically built for this type of workflow is needed. Your ATS should allow you to increase the number of users without increasing the cost – if it does not, that is a sign that the system has not been built for collaboration.

Other things required are tools like scoring applicants, green/amber/red flagging, highlighting, commenting on applicants, interview notes etc so that hiring managers and recruiters can collaborate.  This will make the process faster and it has also been shown to increase the quality of hire.

 

Summary

These are unique times and the recruitment paradigm has changed suddenly.  Human Resource and Recruitment leaders need to be proactively looking at technology and strategies to make the most out of it.  Organizations need to be using collaborative tools, video and screening technologies, and growing their own databases of talent to become their own LinkedIn.

The technology is already here.  Go out there and grab it.

Recruitment Marketing Blackjack

Recruitment Marketing Blackjack

Automating everyday tasks throughout the recruiting process gives recruiters more time to focus on what only they can do – identifying the hottest candidates and then having meaningful conversations with them. Most teams want their recruiters to be able to fill 50% more jobs per person.

 

Here are a number of workflows that will get you daily hot candidate leads.

Candidates score 1 point for opening an email, and a further 5 points for visiting the careers site. They will then move from ‘warm’ to ‘hire-ready’ as they score more points.

Recruitment Marketing Blackjack

 

If they choose not to open the email at all, an SMS can be sent to them as an alternative method of communication.

Should the email bounce, an alert is sent to the recruiter. If there are no clicks on the SMS which is sent then, under GDPR, they are deleted.

Recruitment Marketing Blackjack

 

When a candidate searches your jobs, they are moved to ‘hire-ready’ and an alert is sent to the recruiter.

If they go on to view the job description, recruiters also receive an alert. They can even be notified when they don’t apply for the position. This can then act as a prompt for the recruiter to schedule a call.

Recruitment Marketing Blackjack 

 

If a new candidate joins your talent network, an alert is sent to the recruiter.

Alerts can also be created to match the job description. For example, if a candidate views the job description and is based in Chicago, the recruiter receives an alert. If a candidate views the job description and is manager level, the recruiter receives a further alert (shown below). Alternatively, they may view the Hiring Manager’s profile, triggering an invitation to connect on LinkedIn.

 

If a candidate swipes right to confirm ML skills:

They are then automatically added to the ML campaign (shown below). Should they view an AI video, AI is added to their skills.

 

Links through to activity on social media can also be tracked.

When a candidate follows your company/careers page on Twitter, an alert is sent to your Social Media Executive to give them a mention. If a candidate clicks on ‘job search’ from your careers Instagram page, or in this case the ‘careers site’ from your Glassdoor page, the recruiter is alerted.

 

Finally, if a candidate clicks ‘apply’ then the ATS is automatically updated:

 

This is everyday talent lead generation and these simple automation workflows will alert you to many more, hot candidate leads every day.

HCM Talent Technology Roundup – May 22, 2020

 

Potholes Appear in Virtual Hiring

Employers are hiring. Not a lot, but they’re hiring. And even though more than 38 million people are now on the job market, recruiters say they’re not rushing to hire just anyone when they have a critical role to fill. Pandemic or not. Employers are still seeking qualified candidates who’ll fit with their organization.

Not surprisingly in this world of social distancing, the number of in-person interviews has dropped by nearly 70 percent, according to the reference-check platform Checkster. In their place, hiring managers are relying on more telephone interviews, video interviews, assessment tests, and reference/background checks. 

Interestingly, 37 percent of hiring managers said their turnaround time had improved since they adopted more remote tools. And, many expect to continue using these tools after the crisis has passed.

This isn’t ideal, some recruiters believe. Mike Kahn, the executive senior partner at the Lucas Group’s Houston office, points out that less exposure to an actual place of work, and the actual people on a team, can hamper their efforts to sell a candidate on a position’s merits. Not only that, but arranging group interviews online is more cumbersome than getting all the players into a room. As is coordinating less-structured chats between candidates and team members or other managers.

“Eighty percent of hiring is connection and feel and fit. They’ve got to have this core skill set, but people hire people because they feel a connection,” Kahn said. “You just don’t get the same connection through a video chat that you do face-to-face.” 

 

iCIMS Wades Deeper into AI

iCIMS launched Talent Logic, which applies AI to its internal hiring data points in a bid to help employers identify and connect with candidates more quickly and efficiently. The product is based on the technology of the Dublin-based data science firm Opening.io, which iCIMS has acquired.

Opening.io’s “talent recommender engine” leverages machine intelligence for use in processes such as matching and ranking candidates, skills cataloging, salary guidance, analysis of resumes, and analyzing talent pools. iCIMS hopes Talent Logic will result in shorter times to hire, lower costs and better matches.

Given the number of workers now falling into the job market, Talent Match’s launch seems timely, especially if it helps employers improve talent-acquisition efficiency and workforce planning. It also help their diversity efforts, the company said, by allowing them to “cast a wider net.”

 

Doing Business

On the ground, the pandemic continues to drive activity throughout the recruiting space. Some moves this week:

LayOffers, which connects job seekers with recruiters, now includes contact information for some 370,000 recruiters. The information comes from ZoomInfo. LayOffers describes itself as “a supportive community” that allows laid off workers to share information, access job-search data and track layoffs. One interesting feature: The site allows recruiters to search candidates by previous employer, as well as job type, industry, years of experience and keyword.

AppVault added video capabilities to its virtual career fair platform. Customers also have the option of their own video system with the system’s live chat feature.

Staffing software platform CEIPAL improved its access to passive candidates. Its AI-Driven Passive Candidate Sourcing feature crawls public sites such as Google and Github, and delivers the results to recruiter’s CEIPAL dashboard. The system then ranks candidates to present best matches first. 

Snagajob, a marketplace for hourly and shift jobs, released On Demand, a platform that helps businesses adjust staffing needs on-the-fly in order to align with changing consumer demand. The company said the platform allows “push button” hiring when new staff is needed.

Recruiting platform BountyJobs announced a strategic partnership with the screening solutions provider Crimcheck. The integration will allow users to access employment screening and E-Verify solutions along with their search and screening processes.

How Businesses Can Help Employees Cope During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Four Simple Ways Your Business Can Help Employees Cope

With business leaders focused on immediate problems – cash flow, the practicalities of remote or distanced working, when and how to re-open their workplaces. It’s easy to overlook the vital need to focus on long-term workforce wellbeing.

The fast move to a very different way of working showed just how resilient and agile much of the UK workforce can be. However, it continues to be a time of enormous uncertainty and anxiety for employees. Failing to find ways to help them cope will sap morale and productivity. Which is bad for people and bad for the business.

Here are four simple ways you can help employees cope:

 

Share your thoughts for the future, even if they aren’t fixed.

Trust matters. Employees need to know their leaders have their backs and are taking what steps they can to keep the business running, and them safe.

Communicate often and as openly as you can, and don’t be afraid to arrange an online call or video conference at short notice.  In the absence of information, there’s a tendency for misinformation and anxiety to fill the gap. Responding quickly to changes in government policy or market context will make a significant difference in how employees perceive your leadership.

That doesn’t mean leaders should pretend a certainty that doesn’t exist. Be human, acknowledge this is not easy for anyone, and that everyone is struggling with different challenges. Leaders need to demonstrate both cognitive and affective trust. It is not just about what you say, but how you say it.

In uncertain times, honesty and authenticity are more important than ever before.

 

Get line managers talking.

A lot is being asked of line managers. Not only have they had to find new ways to manage, motivate, and support remote teams, but there is a huge expectation that they have all the answers. It’s easy for even senior staff to feel isolated and overwhelmed.

Arrange to meet online as a management group at least once a week. And make sure you have an agenda. Managers may be worried that raising personal anxieties, even if they are related to work, could jeopardize career progression. However, if the conversation is framed around practical issues, such as how to arrange for a return to the workplace or better support remote workers. Then concerns are easier to raise, and solutions can be explored collaboratively.

If you do spot signs that a colleague is struggling, it is essential not to ignore them. Pick up the phone and have a chat. Ask them what they are finding hardest, and what is distracting them right now. A conversation with a peer or senior manager can make all the difference. Sending out a positive and protective message that ensures they don’t feel they are alone.

 

Consider both physical and psychological needs.

Whatever industry sector you are in, and however quickly the government starts to relax the social distancing rules. The reality is that we are a long way from returning to any kind of normality.

According to the latest stats from YouGov, 55% of people in the UK are scared that they might catch the virus. 74% are staying away from crowded public places and 34% say they are avoiding going to work. It’s a clear indication that, while the government may be talking about allowing a phased return to work, many employees are not yet ready for it.

For this reason, if no other, employers should ask themselves whether they need people back in the workplace. Can they instead look to make remote working more sustainable?

This may mean systemising best practices. Such as daily team catch-ups and regular check-ins with managers. Both guard against isolation and can provide much-needed structure and focus. Or, create more opportunities for cross-team collaboration to ensure that people still feel part of the wider company community.

Other practical steps may include allowing flexible hours that fit around childcare responsibilities. Or adjusting roles to reflect new business realities.

If a return to the workplace is needed, start talking to employees as soon as possible. It’s important to explain what measures will be in place to protect their physical safety as well as allowing them to explain what returning to work means to them. And determine what concerns they may have.

Consider whether you can implement staggered start times or a phased return to work. Adopting different approaches for different groups of employees, for example, those most at risk, while ensuring transparency and fairness, could help those most anxious about returning to work.

 

Encourage employees to look after themselves.

For employees anxious about their future, or determined to do the best for their organisation. The message about how important it is to take care of the mind and body may not be getting through.

Make personal wellbeing part of your core messages. Remind employees that work-life balance matters. Physical exercise is important. People need to eat well. And, that advice is available if they need help in coping with anxiety or stress.

Not all organisations are equipped to provide counseling or mental health advice. However, you can help employees find support. Perhaps by sharing links to key organisations in your HR portal, or in the footer of company newsletters or email.

During a time of crisis, leading with compassion and kindness, and combining practical steps with a genuine concern for employees is more important than ever before.

By helping your employees cope better with uncertainty, you will help your business cope better too.

Why You Should Share Employee Stories Right Now

Why You Should Share Employee Stories Right Now

Talking to candidates about what’s happening at your company right now (in the midst of the pandemic, as everything changes rapidly) is challenging. Being empathetic and transparent when giving clarity on tough topics is an obvious start. 

But, adding employee stories gives your underlying message emotional and substantive heft. And it’s just what candidates want and need to hear right now. 

Here’s why you need employee stories in your candidate-facing content right now. 

 

Your audience wants to know how you’re treating your employees

According to a LinkedIn study on employer brand during COVID-19, coronavirus-related posts are getting more engagement than other posts. Especially those focusing on how companies are helping.

A major employer brand recently told us that their COVID-related recruitment marketing content is performing 40 percent higher than other types of content. Their candidate audience really wants to know what it’s like to work through the crisis at their company.

And, candidates aren’t the only audience searching for this content. A recent survey conducted by People Magazine found that more than 89 percent of respondents are monitoring the treatment of employees by the companies they work for during the crisis. The general public is paying close attention to who is laying off workers, offering paid sick days, giving back to the communities, and more.

As always, and especially now, how companies treat their employees form a public opinion of the company’s leadership and employer brand.

 

employee stories
Via LinkedIn

 

And Edelman reports that no single action by a company is more interconnected with its ability to build trust with the public than “treating employees well.”

Using your employee stories to build trust with candidates is always important, but especially in an uncertain world where every corporate action says something about your workplace culture. 

 

Your culture has just been defined for you 

Who are you? If you didn’t know how to define and describe your organization’s culture before the crisis, you know now.

Employee safety considerations, converting to a virtual workplace, maintaining employee engagement through Zoom, declining revenues, increased collective emotional stress … a swirl of circumstances has forced your company to make a variety of people decisions. And, most of these decisions showed your real values.

For some companies, the pandemic has just reinforced who you are. For others, it has completely reinvented you. 

Connect employee experiences to the larger story you’re already telling through your corporate actions. Emphasize impact. Candidates are already making assumptions about your culture based on what they’re hearing from your employees, but they need you to connect the dots. 

We did this with our messaging. Stories Inc. co-founder Scott Thompson publicly stated that he defines good leadership as doing everything to avoid layoffs. 

 

employee stories
Via LinkedIn

 

Then, one of our teammates shared her personal story about working at Stories during the crisis, and how that leadership action impacted her experience. 

Paired with Jessica’s perspective, Scott’s words and actions are more meaningful to an external audience because it shows the impact of leadership actions on a team member’s life. Connect corporate actions, their impact on the employee experience, and context to give candidates the ultimate insight into your culture.  

 

Employees want to share

Your team members have just been through a lot. They want to talk about their lives now, and how they’ve been supported at work (or not). You still want to vet employee stories to ensure they’re helpful to candidates. But, there is likely a plethora to choose from right now.

According to Nielsen, “During crisis events — snowstorms, hurricanes, or a global pandemic — media users ramp up their media consumption to stay informed, kill time, find solace and stay in touch with others. This bleeds into work life as well. 

Also, according to a study conducted by the New York Times about why people share content on social media, 84 percent of respondents said they want to spread the word about something they believe in. Your company’s actions have impacted your employees’ emotional, financial, and physical wellbeing.

You’ve likely given them a reason to share. 

 

employee stories
Via LinkedIn

 

Use employee stories

As you think through how to best communicate what’s happening at your company to candidates, remember to add employee stories. Use employee experiences that show the real, human impact of your company’s decisions on its people.

Specific employee stories further reinforce and define who you are an employer, and that’s exactly what the world wants to know right now. 

 

Nymeria increases email finding abilities with StackOverFlow and Dev.to

nymeria update email finding

 

Nymeria increases email finding abilities with StackOverFlow and Dev.to

 

We are talking about the upgraded, new, and improved Nymeria! You can find Nymeria in the Chrome store.

Now, this tool used to be just for profiles found on GitHub and LinkedIn. They have increased email finding abilities as well as added sources. They have added StackOverflow!! Really cool.

On the StackOverFlow profile, just click that extension icon and you can grab an email address for them. Easy peasy, simple.  They are also adding Dev.to, which we have discussed in the past is a great untapped resource.

This tool is just getting better and better. Check out Dean’s video below!

 

~ Noel Cocca

 

Look inside with Dean Da Costa:

The Quick Guide to Remote Workplace Safety

The Quick Guide to Remote Workplace Safety

As we continue to shelter in place and work remotely, cybersecurity becomes a greater concern than ever before. While there are certainly online risks during business as usual, they are much greater now.

With so many people working remotely, hackers have many more opportunities to access sensitive data, and abuse it in a variety of ways. Such as holding information ransom or using your credentials to log in to your bank account. In recruitment, dealing with sensitive information is par for the course.

So, how can you and your employees keep your virtual workplace safe?

 

Always Lock Your Device

This is an incredibly obvious suggestion and you might even wonder why it’s being mentioned. After all, when you’re working remotely there are unlikely to be outsiders near your device. However, it’s a good idea to maintain your habit of keeping your desktop away from prying eyes.

Besides that, you wouldn’t want someone else in your house to sit down and accidentally see sensitive data. Or accidentally send an email from your account.

Locking your device every time you walk away from it just makes sense.

 

Use Up-to-Date Antivirus Software

Antivirus software is another obvious suggestion, but it’s incredibly important. The software prevents hackers from getting into your system via malware. Usually by detecting and deleting or quarantining the malicious software.

Out-of-date versions can be dangerous, because criminals may have already worked out how to bypass them. They can also be irritating, because they won’t have all the latest bug fixes. The money that buys a good antivirus is definitely well spent. If your budget is tight there are several free options that work well.

 

Configure Wi-Fi Encryption

If your Wi-Fi isn’t properly configured, you’re in a vulnerable position no matter how impenetrable your desktop or mobile device is. If an attacker is able to get into your router or connect to your Wi-Fi, they can intercept whatever you enter or send online. Including passwords to sensitive business data.

To configure your network connection correctly and avoid information falling into the wrong hands, choose the WPA2 encryption standards as it is the most cutting-edge. Now anyone who wants to connect to your Wi-Fi will need a password. Make sure you set a very strong word or even phrase, using numbers, letters, and symbols, and change it regularly.

 

Update Your Operating System and Programs

Your system and programs must be up to date for the same reasons your antivirus software needs to be. Hackers are always working to discover new vulnerabilities in apps and overall operating systems.

Cybercriminals prey on the human vulnerabilities of ignorance or procrastination and go after anyone who hasn’t installed the latest updates on their device. To avoid this pitfall as much as possible, check for and install patches and updates on a regular basis.

 

Change Your Router Login Details

The default usernames and passwords for many router models are not only intrinsically weak, but they’re also widely known and easily searchable on the Internet. Often attackers simply write these details into malicious programs. If they work, your router is taken over and becomes a bot.

In addition, since everything that you send online goes through the router, hackers can spy on you. Tracking your activity at all times of the day and night. Change your details now, and then remember to do so again in a few months’ time. It’s also a good idea to implement a password update policy for your staff and ensure employees adhere to it.

 

Use Corporate Resources Only

The corporate Information Technology (IT) services that your company uses, such as Slack, Microsoft Office 365, or at least a corporate email, are all configured by the IT department. This is not the case with your personal email or other tools that you use, which can lead to security breaches.

When you send someone a link to a document and anyone who has the link can see it, search engines will be able to index it. If you save private data such as HR documents or employee wage breakdowns in your Google Drive and share the link, it could appear in someone’s search results. Whether they were looking for it or not.

The simple take-home message here is that whenever you’re exchanging business files of any kind, stick to official company tools and resources. Most cloud drives offer a business-configured version that is far more secure than the free personal platform and are a very sound investment.

Keeping work and personal emails separate also reduces the risk of missing any important correspondence in either of them.

 

Use a Reputable VPN

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) create additional virtual networks above the existing public connection (the Internet) below. A helpful way to think of them is as communication tunnels, which keep the information running through them completely private.

End-to-end encryption protects your data, and allows all employees working remotely to safely access the company’s files and resources. Any information sent from a device on the VPN is also encrypted. So sensitive details can also be shared with clients or outside colleagues who are collaborating on a specific project.

 

Above All, Stay Vigilant

Staying vigilant about cybersecurity when working from home extends far beyond making sure that you’re using the most recent versions of your antivirus, operating system, and programs. Hackers have always used phishing scams to try and access information like passwords and usernames. But now with COVID-19 they have an especially effective vehicle to do just that.

Whereas in the past any clickbait link would only appeal to a certain group of people with particular interests, everyone has a vested interest in the Coronavirus. Several apps that purport to keep users informed about the virus and then install malware onto devices when they are downloaded have already been reported. This is likely to continue.

To avoid falling prey to a COVID-19 phishing scam, never click on a link if you don’t know the source. Even if it seems to come from a person or organization that you trust. Criminals are preying on people’s anxiety about catching the virus and about the economy crashing. If you get a mail from your bank prompting you to click on a link, be sure to confirm it with the official customer service department first.

By implementing stricter security protocols, staying aware, and keeping software and passwords updated, staying safe when working remotely is relatively simple. In the recruitment world, cybersecurity should always be a priority. Even more so now than usual.

Let’s look at Hiretual’s new UI updates

Hiretual's new UI

 

Let’s take a look at Hiretual’s new UI

We are looking at Hiretual’s new UI. As you are already aware, Hiretual is a really good sourcing tool and does a lot. You can find people, contact info, really anything you want.

Let’s go to the sourcing piece to show you what’s new. They have redesigned the UI here and made it much easier to access everything you want to search for.

Add in all of your terms, and then you do your calibration. This is where matches to your terms appear and you decide if they are a good fit or not, telling the tool how to look at the rest of the data.

 

They have also added an IT/Tech search, and a US Healthcare search right to the sourcing function. Overall the UI changes are great, and a lot easier to use. Hiretual continues to be a tool that should be at the top of your list of tools to use.

For the full demo, check out Dean’s video below!

~ Noel Cocca

 

Look inside with Dean Da Costa:

3 Tips for Motivating Passive Candidates in Uncertain Times

3 Tips for Motivating Passive Candidates in Uncertain Times

Hiring the perfect candidate for your company takes time and effort. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is finding and filling your perfect pool of candidates, let alone snagging your dream hire. Instead, it is important to build relationships today so your pipeline is open to those more in-depth conversations tomorrow.

You may have accomplished half the battle of finding the perfect pool of candidates. But what happens when your pool is passive candidates? Most of the time, passive candidates can and will be the top performers. But they aren’t jumping on every opportunity. The next battle is winning them over and getting them motivated.

Passive candidates may need a little extra nudge in order to open up to new opportunities, especially at this high-risk time. It is fair for them to be hesitant toward switching jobs or even considering discussing open positions. Nurturing leads and building those relationships is crucial in order to get their attention and interest in your company, let alone showing them your great candidate experience. Don’t go into recruiting passive candidates with the ‘quick-win’ mentality, but don’t give up if these candidates just need an extra push.

Instead, here are three tips to motivating these passive candidates in uncertain times:

 

Give all the information upfront

Playing shy or hard to get is not the way to go when it comes to passive candidates. Instead, give candidates all the information they are going to need to know upfront. Define and outline anything and everything such as the obvious roles and responsibilities but also include things like the technologies they will use. Providing everything they can expect from salary to company culture expectations helps to ease their mind and give them a sense of security. Now more than ever, candidates don’t want uncertainty when it comes to their careers. Being open to answering any questions or concerns they may have goes a long way when it comes to making their decision.

 

Find out what means the most to candidates

When working with passive candidates, take some time to get to know them and their priorities on benefits and perks. For them, when looking at a new position, these added perks can be the make or break on whether or not they move forward with your company. Whether it be extra health benefits, more vacation days, flextime, or continuing education opportunities, see if you can accommodate these. Being willing to meet their needs can not only keep them interested but also motivated to move forward.

 

Keep it human

It is incredibly important to keep the human aspect of hiring at the forefront of all conversations. Be sympathetic to their concerns and questions. Allow for ongoing conversations and an open line of communication. Continue to check-in or follow-up with them regularly with as much human interaction as possible. Try scheduling virtual coffee or drinks. Or even invite them on a virtual walk to catch up with a ‘no-pressure’ conversation. Passive candidates can and will feel the investment you are putting into them and it will ultimately enhance their candidate experience.

 

Bonus tip: use automation

Being a recruitment pro is tough work. Taking the time to get to know these candidates and provide them with all the information they need can eat away at the much needed time for other important tasks. Utilize automation tools like applicant tracking software to streamline applicable tasks and processes. In order to free up time to focus on and build those relationships. In doing so, you can automate content to go out at the right time to the right candidates without burning yourself out.

Remember, some of the best candidates can and are the ones right in front of you. Taking steps to make passive candidates feel comfortable and open up is crucial for hiring your perfect candidate. As important as it is to provide the opportunity and information needed, it is just as important to make sure you are prioritizing a candidate’s feelings and concerns. It is your job to make sure their candidate experience is the best it can be. Taking into consideration these tips can help motivate these passive candidates to move forward to the next step with confidence.

Recruiterly: An All in One Recruitment Platform

Recruiterly is a recruitment marketplace, directory, and marketing platform that connects employers and job seekers with specialist recruiters. It has a lot of capabilities, and we like it for a lot of different reasons. Let’s take a look.

Let’s get into a new tool that was released recently, called Recruiterly. Recruiterly is a recruitment marketplace, directory, and marketing platform that connects employers and job seekers with specialist recruiters. It has a lot of capabilities, and we like it for a lot of different reasons. Let’s take a look.

We’re going to focus on the recruitment platform side. The promise is to increase productivity, reduce placement time, and reduce hiring costs. All good things!

Your dashboard displays a snapshot of your current status. See where you are on hiring spend and placements. You can also see the traction you’re getting, reviews and ratings, and more. This would be especially useful for agencies.

But wait there’s more! There’s also a sourcing component. For talent sourcing, you can keep yourself organized, find contact information, and enrich your candidate profiles with their people aggregator feature. Their people data tool boasts over 346 million people in North America. Plus, it’s not limited to LinkedIn data. Use full boolean searches or filter using their prebuilt keywords in the tool. Note that the sourcing feature could also be used to find clients, so this could be great for sales leads as well!

Go check it out, and see if it will work for you!

There’s a whole lot more coming on this tool. Stay tuned for more updates on Recruiterly!

 

~ Noel Cocca

 

Look inside with Dean Da Costa:

Recruiter and Sourcer Relationship – A Love Story?

Recruiter and Sourcer Relationship – A Love Story?

A few years ago, I worked in the biotech arena as a technical Sourcer.  Sourcing was relatively new corporately, and thus we made up many of our processes and procedures on the fly.  This “winging it” behavior included how and when I communicated with my Recruiter.

We didn’t have a Sourcer/Recruiter service level agreement. We didn’t have a playbook either. It was a grassroots type of situation where we let everything happen organically. The problem with relationships happening organically is you are not guaranteed success.

Fortunately, as a Sourcer, I had an experienced Recruiter who saw the value of a great Recruiter and Sourcer relationship, even when I didn’t.

 

The Progression

I was distant with my Recruiter at first.  As a Sourcer, I coveted my candidates and was unwilling to release the relationship over to the recruiter, for fear they wouldn’t give my passive candidate the time or attention I could. But my Recruiter insisted on building a healthy collaboration.  She involved me in meetings, required weekly one on ones, and discussed each candidate submitted.  That part was painful.  Sourcers don’t always get complete information, and to hear feedback based upon limited job data seemed unfair.  Didn’t she realize how hard I was trying?

At Christmas my Recruiter sent me candy. Then, on my birthday she sent me flowers.  She was committed to making sure we were in sync and that we had a united front with the hiring managers. But I wanted to work alone.

All in all, I did not make life easy for her. If I am being honest, it wasn’t until I left the organization that I fully appreciated the Recruiter’s professionalism and conscious effort to make us both look good.  But over time, we became a known partnership within the organization.  We were a powerhouse Recruiter and Sourcer duo that was revered by our peers. I have her to thank for that.

 

Mutual Respect and Problem Solving

Change is hard.  Humility is hard.  Servant-hood is hard. The Recruiter and Sourcer relationship is a marriage.  One can’t look good without the other.  The Recruiter must respect the effort and commitment it takes for a Sourcer to successfully woo a passive candidate into applying online.

The process from lead to applicant can take months. And the Sourcer must remember that the Recruiter is dealing with multiple responsibilities that include demanding hiring managers, and what I call tweaking and swizzling.  You know what I mean, sometimes the stars must be in alignment for a candidate to accept a job offer.

The best relationships refuse to finger point. They solve problems together. Does this sound like an envious relationship? It should. We should strive for a Recruiter and Sourcer relationship that is seamless, keeping the focus on fulfilling the needs of the candidate and hiring manager.

 

Steps to a Successful Recruiter / Sourcer Relationship

Have a Service Level Agreement (SLA).

The service level agreement is a written document that serves as a contract between the Recruiter and Sourcer.  It dictates transaction times meant to alleviate disappointment in expectations.  Anything that can be measured can be in a SLA, but I suggest tracking the time it takes to receive a Sourcing request, the time it takes from sourcing to first candidate submission, how often the Recruiter and Sourcer meet, and how long it takes to get feedback on a submission.

Communicate.

Communication is a weighted word.  Don’t underestimate the need to have agreed upon connection points between Recruiter and Sourcer.  Should the Sourcer come to the intake meeting? Should you have a weekly reoccurring meeting to discuss each candidate?  The touch-points need to be formal and placed on a calendar or they are easily overlooked when times get busy.  Two-way communication is the single most important part of having a successful Recruiter and Sourcer relationship.  As in any coupling, don’t be afraid to have hard conversations and challenge each other.  When we appreciate and understand each other’s situation, we become compassionate and freer to offer grace.

Monitor with Data.

We should be able to measure the amount of time it takes for a Recruiter to submit a sourced candidate to the hiring manager. We should be able to measure the time it takes for a Recruiter to receive feedback, and for the time it takes to get that feedback back to the Sourcer.  These are all measurable units of time. Use the data to communicate with your hiring manager about missed chances, or to share between Recruiter and Sourcer as areas of opportunity.

 

In summary, building a strong foundation between the recruiter and sourcer is so important to help keep the process consistent and our work lives fulfilled.

What can you do to improve the relationship with your recruiter or sourcer?  Challenge yourself this week.  Happy Hunting.

HCM Talent Technology Roundup – May 15, 2020

Recruiting Vendors Seek a Path as Labor Market Shifts

More than 45,000 workers at U.S. technology startups have lost their jobs since the COVID-19 pandemic took over the news cycle in March. That’s a drop in the bucket when you consider that 20.5 million Americans overall applied for unemployment insurance in April alone. But it’s a data point worth considering.

When we talk about layoffs, we tend to fixate on size. The higher the number of people let go, the more attention the news gets. We forget that, very often, lots of little numbers add up to big ones. So, a dozen heads laid off here and two dozen released there can add up to real economic impact.

That matters in HR and recruiting technology. Where new products are often trailblazed by startups. Of those 45,000 tech workers laid off, according to the website Layoffs.fyi, more than 2,000 came from HR or recruiting tech firms. Such as ZipRecruiter (400), Textio (30), Workable (25), and AngelList (20).

These casualties are part of a workforce whose unemployment rate stood at 14.7 percent in April. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an increase of 10.3 percentage points from March. As TechCrunch points out, the labor market has gone from being candidate-driven to employee-driven.

Today, job seekers must “get what they can get.” Said Carolyn Betts of Betts Recruiting: “There’s so much talent in the market that there are backup candidates for backup candidates.”

 

HR Tech Shifting Priorities

Combined with a general slowdown in hiring, the deluge of candidates has shifted the priorities of talent acquisition teams. Several recruiting technology vendors say their customers are now focused on keeping relationships warm rather than closing deals.

They want to be ready to quickly onboard preferred candidates when the economy recovers. Others are rethinking their processes with an eye toward optimizing them before business returns to something like normal.

Vendors are keeping their options open by pursuing solutions for both employers, who now must sort through mountains of resumes, and candidates who must swim harder to even break the surface.

 

Adding New Automation Tools

Dice, for example, just launched a service that supplements its customers’ internal recruiters by sourcing and screening technology candidates. Dice Sourcing Services teams use the company’s TalentSearch to develop a shortlist of tech professionals who meet each customer’s requirements. That way, the customer’s staff can focus on relationship-building and strategic work.

Meanwhile, Lever added new automation tools as part of its spring release. The features include automated workflows designed to increase TA efficiency by addressing the labor market’s changing supply/demand ratios. They include automated screening questions and internal push notifications to trigger onboarding steps. The release also includes customizable candidate surveys and improved analytics.

Paradox closed a $40 million Series B round, which it will use to “expedite its vision.” The company markets an HR-centric “AI assistant” called Olivia that automates routine tasks such as screening resumes and scheduling interviews. In other words, it’s recruiting automation with enough promise to warrant serious investor attention—even as employers dance along the edge of a depression.

On the candidate side, CareerArc added a video tool to help seekers evaluate their soft skills and character traits. Through self-guided interviews, users gain insights that help them refine how they present themselves during interviews, on their resumes and while networking. The company said this “AI-powered psychometric technology” enables users to describe the value of their skills, something many candidates find difficult.

 

Doing Business

On the ground, the pandemic’s fallout is driving activity throughout the recruiting space. Some moves this week:

Upwork enhanced its enterprise capabilities to help large companies identify and hire contingent workers. The new features are designed to simplify the tasks involved with centrally managing a remote workforce and accessing talent at the same time.

Dice released a new “remote jobs” classification for use in the U.S. The filter makes it easier for candidates to identify remote roles, using a simple keyword search.

ServiceMax and Krios announced a global job board centered on field-service professionals. The ServiceMax Field Service Finder is designed to help organizations find qualified workers for both full-time and short-term roles.

Alvius, owner of the talent-matching platform TalentPool, acquired UK Startup Jobs for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2011, UK Startup Jobs is a community of 10,000 job seekers.

HR Professionals: Many of Your Employees are in the “Perfect Storm” for Relapse

HR Professionals: Many of Your Employees are in the “Perfect Storm” for Relapse

Like everyone else, HR professionals are learning to navigate this unprecedented time in the world right now. Adapting to this change may cause even greater stress on HR and employees alike. Especially for companies unfamiliar with flex work and those that don’t normally have employee work from home benefits.

Maintaining performance and accountability amid this newfound flexibility and freedom is already challenging. And, the stakes are even higher. With more than 33% of employees admitting they are more likely to drink alcohol during working hours while quarantined. HR professionals must find a way to get ahead of this issue before it becomes problematic.

Below are three steps HR professionals can use to navigate this unprecedented time and adapt for future guidelines once work in offices resumes:

 

Invest in Remote Work Training

According to HR Acuity, 43% of American workers work at least some of the time remotely. Companies today must provide training on how to be productive, manage expectations, set, and achieve KPIs. Plus, how to avoid common work-from-home pitfalls. For managers, this includes training on how to diagnose performance issues and hold employees accountable remotely.

Offering proactive guidance, education, and training provides employees at all levels with strategies that can help reduce the stress and uncertainty of the situation. This can help to stave off the development of any unhealthy habits, including drinking on the job. In addition, offer training to all managers and HR staff about substance use in the workplace so they feel prepared to provide the right kind of support in those difficult conversations.

 

Understand the Signs

When faced with adversity, many may look to alcohol to alleviate their stress as it numbs emotions. Particularly when confined to your home with less work to do than usual. It can also be tempting to grab a drink during the workday. With no physical contact, these signs are more difficult to spot. Especially for those with no experience managing remote employees or navigating the sensitivities around employees and addiction.

HR professionals can start by educating managers and company leadership on the signs of drinking during work hours, and the risks involved with increased alcohol consumption. Encourage managers and teams to use both phone and video conferencing to check in regularly, and perhaps more frequently than usual. At least several times a week.

If an employee routinely looks tired, lacks engagement, repeatedly refuses to use the video function, displays slurred speech, or is often tardy. It’s time to bring the issue to the attention of HR.

 

Reinforce Your Open-Door Policy

While it cannot be an employee requirement to self-report addiction or substance use disorder, it’s extremely valuable to create an environment in which they feel comfortable to do so. A great example of this is in some organizations. If an employee self-reports a relapse, leadership takes action to make sure they get the treatment and support they need to get back on track. However, if it is found that the employee is using, it can be grounds for termination. That’s a critical distinction.

Approaching the situation from a non-threatening, non-judgmental perspective, creates a context in which employees know they can get help. Rather than hiding in secret.

For the 1 in 10 Americans that struggle with addiction, the pressures of isolation, stress, and fear amid this pandemic is a recipe for relapse. It is crucial to keep lines of communication open. HR professionals should empower employees to ask for help and reach out to a mentor or HR if they’re struggling.

Now is the perfect time to reinforce education around the risks of alcohol use in the remote workplace.