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Your Employees are Financially Stressed. So, What are You Going to Do About It?

a person using a tablet to show data and charts while other employees take notes

According to research by the American Psychological Association, 72% of Americans are financially stressed. It goes without saying that financial stress takes a serious toll on an individual’s health, happiness, and overall well-being. But it also has a ripple effect on our workforce. When employees are stressed, productivity, performance, and engagement all plummet. So, what are we doing to help employees manage stress? Not much. New research from Aptitude reveals that 70% of companies have no formal process to manage employee stress. Given the impact of stress on our personal and professional lives, can’t we do better? Can’t we provide employees with the right resources and support to manage their personal finances and pay off debt?

Fortunately, some organizations are committed to doing more. Companies are being more strategic when they think about financial stress and investing in solutions that impact the bottom line. In our latest research, we found that 1 in 4 companies have financial wellness solutions. While it is exciting that companies are embracing financial wellness, many of these solutions do little to help employees manage the stress. Instead, they simply provide information and data without an action plan to help employees as they move forward. Financial wellness is an area that is still emerging and organizations must make better decisions around the providers they consider.

One of the financial wellness providers I have been most impressed with this year is Best Money Moves. Their solution helps organizations tackle the real issues impacting our workforce in a way that maintains employee privacy and empowerment. It is a mobile-first employee benefit solution that helps employees understand and take control of their finances. It also offers “money coaches” to help employees make better decisions about their finances moving forward.

Most companies understand that financial stress has become a crisis and that this is the time to address it. Yet, finding the right solutions can be tricky. Here are a few recommendations to think about as you begin tackling financial stress in your organization:

  • Measure It: Find solutions that do more than just make assumptions or generalize financial stress. Instead, consider solutions that truly measure individual stress levels and provide an action plan to help employees take control of their finances.
  • Keep It Simple: Finances are scary. The worst thing an employer can do is invest in solutions that overcomplicate financial wellness and make it intimidating. Companies should look for solutions that keep it simple and easy for employees to understand what they need to do.
  • Establish Trust: Privacy is a critical consideration in financial wellness. Employees need a solution that they can trust will maintain their privacy and provide the right advice.

We are excited to be providing more research on financial wellness this year and would love to hear what solutions you are using and what challenges you are facing.

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Top 10 Headlines of 2016

HCM technology is a dynamic market and this year did not disappoint. Providers announced new capabilities and products that covered everything from predictive analytics to data visualization to artificial intelligence. Partnerships were created, services were enhanced, and acquisitions were made. And after years of feeling left behind, HCM seems to have finally caught up to other areas of the business in terms of an improved experience and enhanced value.

Looking back, we have compiled the top ten headlines that we covered this year.

  1. Microsoft Acquires LinkedIn: Undoubtedly, the biggest news in the industry was Microsoft’s acquisition of social media giant and recruitment solution, LinkedIn. The acquisition presents an interesting shift in talent acquisition yet leaves many recruiters with questions that are still unanswered.
  2. Randstad Acquires Monster: Randstad announced its plans to acquire Monster for $429 million – that works out to be $3.40 a share (by the way, Monster’s share price was once $91). In my opinion, the acquisition does not disrupt the market or change the landscape in any major way. What it does do is present a few unique opportunities for Randstad.
  3. Salary.com Founders Buy the Company Back from IBM: The company was acquired by Kenexa (now IBM) in 2010 for $80 million and then, it was bought back by the original founding team in 2016 with the goal of helping companies pay competitively, improve efficiencies, and enable pay transparency. Nearly 40% of the original Salary.com team has returned to develop a comprehensive suite of compensation and data solutions as well as training and implementation services. They have returned to try to innovate a market that has gone stale.
  4. Infor Gets $2 Billion from Koch Equity Investments: This investment is one of the largest in technology this year. Infor plans to invest in its cloud-based ERP solution and other industry applications including HCM. We expect to see Infor establishing itself as a leading provider in this market.
  5. SnagaJob Acquires PeopleMatter: SnagaJob began as a job board focused on the hourly retail, hospitality, and food service industry. Its acquisition in 2016 of PeopleMatter brought them a unique combination of hiring, assessment, learning, and scheduling capabilities focused on the same industry segment. Their goal is to hire and schedule best- fit workers using a data-driven approach.
  6. Ultimate Acquires Kanjoya: Ultimate continues to expand into all aspects of HCM including its acquisition of cloud-based workforce intelligence and analytics provider, Kanjoya.
  7. Zenefits Fails Again: After a tumultuous year of compliance and culture issues that led to the resignation of Conrad Parker, Zenefits continues to face more turmoil. For example, in Washington State, Zenefits now has to charge companies $5 per employee.
  8. ADP Innovates Performance Management: With a new take on performance management and an improved manager and employee experience, ADP is reimagining performance management and enabling greater transparency and feedback.
  9. Mercer Acquires Thomsons Online Benefits: Mercer expands further into HCM by acquiring Thomsons Online Benefits.
  10. Recruitment Marketing Becomes an Established Category: SmashFly raised $22 million in Series B funding today led by Bessemer Venture Partners (an investor in Cornerstone OnDemand and LinkedIn). They have also had tremendous success by tripling the number of net new customers (mid-market and enterprise) over the past year. Other providers such as Clinch, Talemetry and Phenom People are offering impressive solutions that make this market one worth watching.
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Dog Days of Summer: What’s Keeping Us Busy

woman working from her tablet sitting outside at a wooden table

It has been an exciting summer for us at Aptitude. After several months of hectic travel schedules, Mollie and I have decided to stay local in August. We are busy publishing new research, prepping for the fall conference season, and collecting and analyzing more data. The best thing about less travel is that we get to have some amazing conversations with solution providers, corporations, and the broader HCM community. It has been eye opening and we have learned a lot.

If you are curious about what we have been up to this week, here are five things that have been keeping us busy:

  1. Research on the Rocks: In case you missed the news, we are now part of the HR Happy Hour Network founded by Steve Boese and Trish McFarlane. Our podcast series, Research on the Rocks, will highlight some of the key findings from our research and interesting trends in HCM technology. Our first episode covers payroll, communication, recruitment marketing, and assessments.
  2. Recruitment Marketing Index and Workforce Management Index: We published our first Talent Acquisition Index report a few weeks ago and we are already well on our way with the next two. The Workforce Management Index will provide insight on areas such as time and labor, scheduling, payroll, and absence management. The Recruitment Marketing Index will provide clarity around a very popular yet confusing space.
  3. Culture Survey: Culture is a powerful force within organizations, but one that remains mysterious to many. This survey will focus on how an organization communicates, what behaviors, skills and achievements it rewards, the work environment and “employee deal” of compensation, reward, and benefits, and even how it assesses talent. We are collecting feedback on the survey now and it will launch at the end of this month.
  4. New Technology: It is an exciting time to be in HR Technology, especially with so many new providers offering solutions that are solving business challenges. We have been conducting briefings with many of the start-ups in the space and we are getting excited for The HR Technology Conference.
  5. New Research: We have new research now available on our website that cover a wide range of HCM topics including: background screening, employee communication, the talent acquisition trifecta, and employee burnout. These are reports all based on data we have collected over the past few months and topics we feel deserve more attention.

So, we have been busy but in a good way. If you have a new company, new product, new strategy or new idea, send us a note. We would love to schedule a call and hear from you.

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The HR Technology Conference 2015: Trailblazers Don’t Make the Best Settlers

Many people holding up tablets in front of their faces with their pictures on the back

I first heard this quote at last month’s GlassDoor Employer Branding Summit when Spencer Rascoff called Zillow (the real estate tech giant) a startup. Some companies, regardless of their size or growth potential, still operate best when they are pushing the envelope, running at warp speed or getting messy with all hands on deck. Is this a good thing? I think so especially in a time when “startup” has become the flavor du jour. This sentiment is one that certainly rang true at The HR Technology Conference this week. Both emerging providers and traditional players were coming to market with new products and exciting announcements. Everyone from ADP (who announced significant enhancements) to Engage2Excel (who developed a novel approach to old-school recognition) to The Marcus Buckingham Company (who stole the show with its approach to building high-performing teams) had something interesting to share. The energy this year is hard to describe.

In the startup spirit, a few themes resonated with me this week including the need for a communication platform, a marketplace and recruitment optimization. Below are a few providers to watch in each category:

Communication:

It sounds basic but communicating with employees, candidates and managers is a critical part of any HR process or strategy. Yet, it is so often overlooked. Companies tend to rely on email as their primary method with little impact on engagement or retention. The good news is that several of the technology providers are offering a more effective communication platform.

  • GuideSpark: As a communication platform, GuideSpark bridges the connection between employers and employees through content generation tools, collaboration tools, user engagement, surveys, analytics and wellness.
  • PeopleFluent: Through its Talent Management solution, PeopleFluent supports communication with its Anytime, Anywhere Feedback feature, optimized for both desktop and mobile use.
  • The Marcus Buckingham Company: This tech solution is informed by Marcus Buckingham’s 20+ years of leadership research on the front end and supported by a deep coaching solution on the back end. Focused on building high performing teams, it is research based and action-focused – providing an effective solution for communicating and coaching teams and individuals.
  • Engage2Excel: This recognition provider has been around since the 1800’s but recently went through a rebrand, a strong partnership with Vestrics, and brought in a new team focused on measuring, managing and informing engagement and recognition.

Recruitment Optimization:

Without the right strategies or technology, talent acquisition is an incredibly complex undertaking. And, it has become more difficult over the past ten years. Today, talent acquisition deserves its own, integrated framework and its own suite of solutions. Organizations are looking at new tools and strategies to optimize their recruitment functions. Below are some providers that are committed to helping organizations improve their talent acquisition functions.

  • Yello: Yello was one of the companies I was most excited to meet with this week. They offer a suite of talent acquisition solutions for the enterprise, campus recruiting and the SMB market. Its smart team is focused on customer satisfaction.
  • Lumesse: Through a new interview management system, Lumesse is enabling companies to improve their time to fill while improving both the candidate experience and the quality of hire.
  • Findly: Much more than just a talent community, Findly offers a suite of solutions that helps organizations attract and recruit talent including ATS, assessment and sourcing solutions.
  • iCIMS: With significant growth over the past few years, iCIMS has demonstrated its leadership in the talent acquisition market. Its talent acquisition platform offers solutions that attract, recruit and onboard talent.
  • SmashFly: The defacto Recruitment Marketing provider, Smashfly is helping organizations through a complete recruitment marketing platform of inbound recruitment marketing, outbound sourcing and employer branding.
  • Entelo: Entelo, the leading sourcing provider, announced a new product, Stack, that helps companies manage resumes and applications and improve productivity.
  • SilkRoad and SmartRecruiters: This partnership between two leading talent acquisition players, SilkRoad and SmartRecruiters, will allow them enter into new markets and expand their product capabilities.
  • Greenhouse: This end-to-end talent acquisition platform recently raised $35 million to help companies optimize their talent acquisition efforts. And they have a very impressive team and product.
  • GreatHires: This solution focused on interview management and scheduling was one of the more innovative solutions I have seen in a long time. It gives candidates the information they need to feel comfortable in an interview and makes scheduling easy and flexible.
  • Randstad Sourceright: When you think of technology, Randstad Sourceright might not come to mind. But, this MSP and RPO might be the best kept secret in HR Technology. With its TalentRadar product, it extracts data and loads it into a themed database. The data it provides companies, is the data they need like when a requisition opens and when a job will fill.

Cool Companies:

Below are a few of the providers that I was most impressed with last week:

Appcast: I love Appcast not only because it was founded by Chris Forman (former president of AIRS) but also, because it is a simple concept. This solution changes the pricing model of job advertisement from click per candidate to pay per applicant and offers a powerful engine to help organizations make this shift. This change in the model helps companies reduce costs and improve the overall experience for recruiting functions as well as candidates.

Equifax: The people, the products and the vision are all impressive at Equifax. They do this by tackling very complex issues such as compliance, ACA regulations, and unemployment. While other providers are expanding their suite of products into different areas of HCM, Equifax has stayed focused on the bigger issues in our community- issues that impact the success and staying power of the overall business. A few of their solutions include compliance, ACA compliance, and unemployment. Check out what they have done with i-9 compliance and “the Work Number”.

Mercer: It is hard to find a provider that excels on both the technology and services side but Mercer is the exception. With a strong heritage in consulting and new products including Mercer Match (recruitment matching solution for sales teams) and a strong career development solution, Mercer is a force to be reckoned with in the HR Tech space.

The Daily Muse: Meeting with Muse founder, Kathryn was one of the highlights of the conference. If you missed her ignite session, The Daily Muse helps employers create a profile to strengthen their brand, use content marketing to promote the brand and support them as they weed out the “craplicants” and improve branding.

Marketplace:

During most of our conversations at HRTech, the topic of a marketplace came up. Marketplaces are a staple in the consumer world and are quickly becoming part of HCM. Below are a few providers to watch.

ADP: ADP’s robust marketplace allows customers to access 90 certified partners (with 400 partners in the pipeline. Other providers use a marketplace as a marketing tagline, while ADP has built one with real substance and credibility- one that will provide real value to customers and partners.

WorkMarket: This provider offers companies an end-to-end market for companies looking for independent contractors. It allows direct relationships between employers and workers and can be customized for any skill.

We will follow these providers and more this year and next and will be profiling them in our upcoming Aptitude Index reports. Also, we would love to hear from you about what providers were most interesting to  you at HRTech.

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