By Sheila Hoover, courtesy of SBAM Approved Partner ASE

2020 brought Human Resources a multitude of unprecedented issues to manage with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left many HR leaders with a bit of trepidation as we look to 2021.  What will go back to normal, what will change, and what will stay the same?  In other words, what’s next?

As stated in Human Resource Executive’s interview with Karin Borchert, CEO of Modern Hire, remote hiring is here to stay in 2021 and beyond.  Businesses quickly adapted to video interviews and online onboarding amid the pandemic.  It is now time for HR leaders to explore new technologies to support future virtual recruiting, onboarding, and hiring while ensuring a seamless candidate experience.

According to Bochert, “HR leaders should prioritize making the work-from-home situation as positive of an experience as it can be, as we’ve learned that it will likely stick around long after the pandemic is over. HR leaders must nail down the logistics of how their organization works, their policies, how they manage, how they engage, evaluate and promote their workforce and, of course, how they hire—all remotely. This will require organizations to adopt new technologies and methodologies in 2021.”

Remote work will continue to be part of the job in the future, as most companies have learned their workforce can be just as productive at home as they are in the office. This means remote hiring will continue, as it has proven to be advantageous throughout the pandemic, for a number of reasons.

One of the biggest perks of remote recruiting is it allows not only a more diverse workforce but enables employers to bring in expertise without regard for geography. Aside from expanding the candidate pool, there are several other benefits of remote hiring:

• Job tests and simulations, including pre-hire assessments, are easy to distribute remotely and can better predict job performance and retention than in-person interviews through the use of more sophisticated and powerful AI-based algorithms. This can also result in shorter overall hiring processes, which candidates and hiring managers alike can agree is an excellent outcome.
• During a remote hiring process, resumes, interviews and other unstructured sources of data can be parsed and analyzed scientifically using AI, which can lead to more standardized, fair, efficient and faster hiring. In the past, these types of data sources could not be processed automatically and would often be insufficiently reviewed or missed by overwhelmed recruiters, who are often bogged down by a high volume of applicants and administrative tasks like scheduling interviews.
• Overall efficiency can be increased substantially through remote hiring by reducing overlap in distinct steps of the hiring process, such as eliminating redundancy in scheduling candidates while also increasing the accuracy of automatic candidate communication tools like chatbots.
• To the extent that a hiring system knows a person’s protected class status, aspects of remote hiring—like algorithms—can continuously monitor how each class is doing and issue red flags or other alerts when they detect problems. In this manner, AI-powered remote hiring can help us identify and correct any sources of bias that can arise in the hiring process.

Richard Deosingh, a district president for Robert Half agrees.  “Not only has the implementation of the practice been successful, but so have the results: 60% said their companies shortened their hiring processes, and the same amount say they expanded their talent search geographically to attract a wider pool of workers.”  Video has become a part of our personal lives, so the shift to utilizing video in our business lives has been fairly seamless.  “It speeds up the process for everyone involved by eliminating travel and fitting in with schedules more easily.”

Although HR and job applicants had to adapt quickly to remote interviews, this trial by fire has opened our eyes to the many benefits it affords us.  Business and HR leaders are choosing to adopt the remote recruiting practice, at least partially, as they move into 2021 and post-pandemic.  How will your business progress?

Call To Action – Safely Reopen Michigan Recent hospitality industry surveys show that 33% of restaurant owners do not expect to survive the next 6 months. A shocking 52% of hotel owners report being at risk of foreclosure. As dramatic as these statistics are, they are just the beginning.   Take action now and urge Governor Whitmer to provide safety guidelines for businesses that have had mandated closures so they can begin safely reopening.

Tune in to The Small Business Briefing live today at 3 PM for a discussion on the new stimulus packages with hosts Rob Fowler and Brian Calley.

EEOC is Updating Its Religious Guidelines The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is seeking public comment on a proposed update to its religious discrimination guidance. The draft guidance is available for review here. During a public meeting on November 9, the Commission voted (3-2) to publish its proposed changes to the manual.   Read more MDHHS Updates Epidemic Orders Last week Governor Whitmer announced that the MDHHS has updated its epidemic order to allow indoor activities where Michiganders can remain masked. The new order is effective today, Monday, Dec. 21 and will last until Friday, Jan. 15. Under this new order, reopened indoor entertainment venues will not be required to collect names and contact information.   Read more FAQs About Tax-Free Disaster Relief Payments During the COVID-19 Crisis Many people are struggling to make ends meet during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, some individuals qualify for federal-income-tax-free disaster relief and disaster mitigation payments paid by some employers under Internal Revenue Code Section 139. Here are some FAQs and answers about how the rules work.   Read more

Join us as we discuss how to reach for new potential at your business with fractional resources. Hire experienced talent without the cost and commitment of a full-time employee. This week’s “Focus on Business” guests are from Chief Outsiders, Outsourced Sales Management Service, The Integrator Group, and Maner Costerisan CPA. Tune into “Focus on Business” Sundays at 11:30 a.m. on WLAJ, or you can catch the episode here after the show airs.