As companies struggle with a national labor shortage, many HR teams have their backs to the wall when it comes to recruiting and retaining talent. Since there is only so much HR teams can do amid a global pandemic, some companies are turning to AI technology to garner employee loyalty.
It is clear that people have reached a
Gloat, a tech startup that recently released a career agility platform, believes the solution to employee retention may lie in working with AI to empower workers to see a long-term future with their current company — somewhere with room for development and advancement.
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“People are looking at their careers in the flow of their lives,” says Jeff Schwartz, vice president of insights and impacts at Gloat. “They have to figure out what it means to have a 40 or 50-year career.”
Gloat’s career agility platform will become another component of its existing virtual talent marketplace, where companies can add requests for talent in different sectors of their company while employees can input what job opportunities and projects interest them. From there, Gloat’s AI technology can show employers and employees what type of talent and work are the most in demand. The career agility suite will specifically focus on helping employees answer three questions: What is this employee’s standard career path, what is their desired career path, and how can this employee fill gaps in skills and experience to take advantage of new opportunities?
Since the talent marketplace already offers employees a look into internal career mobility, Gloat hopes the new functionality will present actionable ways to change career paths within one’s company or advance to leadership roles. Based on the user’s desires and interests, the AI platform will provide potential project opportunities, mentors and skill development so employees will be better positioned for a future at their company, explains Schwartz.
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“The AI allows us to ascertain what people are looking for and make matches,” says Schwartz. “AI will also help us make suggestions based on the actual movement of people within the company.”
Schwartz also predicts Gloat’s newest platform will provide more opportunities for diverse hires by making users aware of potential connections and paths of advancement, regardless of background. Through the talent marketplace, it should also become apparent when certain demographics are either not participating or appear stagnant despite their participation, says Schwartz. However, the AI tech will not necessarily factor in the systematic barriers present in the career paths of women, BIPOC, LGBTQ, disabled and neurodiverse communities, just to name a few.
“It's an actionable way of helping people with diverse backgrounds,” Schwartz says. “People actually see what the opportunities are. The talent marketplace then allows us to review whether or not we're actually making the progress with diverse hires.” Gloat makes their platforms mobile as well, so frontline workers such as those in the healthcare or service industry have access to it while on the job.
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As for employers and HR teams, Gloat helps companies internally recruit and thus, retain talent. Considering that Glassdoor reported 86% of HR professionals feel as if recruitment has become more like marketing, it may prove productive to know and support current employees’ aspirations rather than marketing to constant cycles of new talent.
Just last month, 65% of U.S. workers surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers reported that they were looking for new jobs, which is nearly double the number reported in May. Employees are likely to continue to question their current jobs and what they want from their careers. Employers may need to meet employees in this space of questioning.
“Employees are saying through the great reassessment, ‘what do I want to do?” Schwartz says. “Employees have ambitions, so how do we give talent the agility to choose where they want to go?”
