Chris Russell's Top 5 Trends from HR Tech

HR Tech...it houses the world’s largest HR tech marketplace, and Chris Russell, our September webinar guest, is no stranger to the conference! Just in case you weren't able to attend the show, we wanted to bring the biggest trends heard at HR Tech to you. Moderated by Edisa Rodriguez, Pillar's Head of Growth & DEI, Chris counted down the top 5 trends that were most prevalent.

Check out the full 1-hour webinar below or read on for a brief synopsis of each trend.

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Before diving into the trends, Chris provided his overall thoughts on HR Tech. Not only did he walk 14 miles, but he mentioned that it's the "golden age" of HR tech. There's so much money being invested into the space right now, and it's truly exploded over the past 3-4 years. And the most exciting part...conferences are back! With 8,000+ attendees, proving that people are ready to be back in-person, Chris likes to call the conference a one-stop shop to learn all you need to know about HR tech.

Now, onto the top 5 trends...

1.) The Changing Role of HR
One of the biggest things to note about how the role of HR has changed is that it's become very technical. HR professionals need to know how to leverage technology to hire or else they're at risk of being left behind. This is why Chris recommends that you have someone on the team that specializes in HR tech and to also schedule a couple demos of new HR tech products every month so you're familiar with what's next in the market.
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2.) Biggest Buzzword = Intelligence
We're in an era of data right now, and so many vendors are arming talent teams with the data they need to make more intelligent, people-focused decisions. When we think about interview intelligence, Chris mentions that it's one of the newest sectors in the space, and it's definitely needed for Hiring Managers to learn from their mistakes throughout the interview process.
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3.) The Maturing Skills Market
Upskilling and reskilling have been major focus areas, especially when we talk about internal mobility. Internal mobility is BIG right now, and it's something that Chris recommends to have on your roadmap over the next few years. A lot of companies have actually created an internal talent marketplace, which is also helping to retain employees.
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4.) Employee Experience Is Now the Core
Employee experience is something that was relatively unheard of before the pandemic, but now it's become a topic that's at the forefront of the HR tech space. It's all about helping employees live a better life...almost like a life coach to help employees deal with stress and burn-out at work. Any way that you can help employees nowadays is imperative, and many candidates are choosing companies that are leaning into employee experience now more than ever. Chris quoted Josh Bersin saying that a recruiting-only focus is not enough...you have to focus on recruiting, retaining, reskilling, and redesigning.
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5.) The Year of Grace Is Over
There was a lot of talk that HR tech vendors are going to need to step it up. What does this mean? To Chris, it means giving your customers an "aha" moment and wowing them. There's so much technology out there right now, that it's all about being different. These days, HR teams are looking for partners, not just vendors.
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Chris closed out the webinar with a list of must-attend events to close out 2022 and his #1 tip for what HR teams can do to better manage their tech.

Here's a few of the events he mentioned:

1.) InspireHR
2.) Gartner ReimagineHR
3.) Cornerstone Convergence
4.) SourceCon
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...and his #1 tip is to find the power users for each HR tech product you're using within your organization and do a 1-hour lunch & learn on each so that the entire team can learn tips and tricks on how to find success within each platform.

Be on the lookout for our October webinar topic and guest announcement soon. See you then!