How can your business build a balanced workforce in the wake of a widespread skills shortage and complex industry challenges? The solution, as Daniel Zrno, VP Solutions at AbilityMap explains, is in next-gen human assessment technology.
What is next-gen human assessment technology?
It’s all about breaking free of the challenges of legacy assessments. These tools have a bad reputation because of human constraints and bad science. At AbilityMap, we remove the need for the interpreter in the middle; it is 100% consistent. Because we don’t need someone to interpret the results, everything becomes easier, better and faster. We also look at the science, which is focused on language and utility. With a completely democratised solution, the average hiring manager can use the information to make more effective decisions.
How is human resources changing?
The reality is that HR is moving beyond compliance. You see this in all the literature that HR is pivoting towards the employee experience. It’s about helping the employee. For decades, there was all this noise around HR getting a seat at the table and becoming a strategic partner. Well, COVID made that happen. The next step is HR is becoming more evidence-based in their decision-making. That requires data literacy, storytelling, business acumen – all these skills will support HR to become a more resource- and data-driven department.
What is the biggest pain point organisations face when it comes to their workforce?
Talent scarcity. I talk to HR leaders and talent managers all the time, and the lack of supply is just phenomenal. I hear about companies using search functions for roles that they would normally use for leadership positions. That’s how significant the war for talent is right now, and it’s constraining productivity. They are also still trying to figure out how to maximise the new hybrid workforce, but it isn’t as big deal as perhaps they expected at the start of the pandemic. Hybrid and flexible work arrangements are nowhere near as acute a problem as finding talent.
How critically linked is business success to finding high performers?
While we do use the term ‘high performer’, it’s more about organisations finding someone who can be a high performer in their environment. That’s why it’s more about ‘fit’. The search shows that for every team of three people, there’s one individual who the manager wouldn’t rehire, so clearly there is something missing when it comes to finding the right fit.
What role does data literacy play in making the right hires?
It comes down to the ability to understand data and know how to use it during the decision-making process. What does the data mean? How is it important? How will it help our business progress? What we actually need are businesses that are using data to take their operations to the next level, not just copying others. Being data-literate can help you identify the actual problems in your business, the potential actions you can take, and the best way to approach them.
A recent article in the Australian Financial Review revealed that Australia will need an extra 1.2 million workers – many of those in professional services – within the next four years. How can businesses better address the skills shortage?
One of the challenges of the talent scarcity is that employees have more power than ever, so they are able to demand more and they expect to be offered more. Sometimes that’s monetary, but not always. What we’re seeing in the upcoming generations is a desire for purpose. They want to know how their employer is going to develop them, and what their long-term career opportunities might be. So the hiring demands are not just coming from the business, but from employees as well. Hence the pivot towards the employee experience has been critical.
How is AbilityMap helping companies build a balanced workforce?
AbilityMap is a lifecycle tool. It’s not something you use once and then you’re done. Instead, it can be used to support HR decisions and planning throughout the entire employee lifecycle. All decisions can now be made with insight into employee strengths, preferences within the context of the business’s capability needs, with a click of a button. What every organisation wants to do is build a strong workforce – one that is balanced and optimised for productivity and performance. But a key factor is also being able to balance an individual’s career and experience at the same time.
Sometimes these can lead to butting heads, which is where AbilityMap really fits in. We can see things from both the business’s and the individual’s perspective, and we can show you when these two align. We’re a long way from the 1980s when it was all about productivity. It’s also about the individual needs and experience, and you must be able to balance the two.