Newsletter and Subscription Sign Up
Subscribe

Employer Survey Predicts More Workplace Automation

Published Friday Feb 24, 2017

Technology will likely take over certain functions on talent acquisition and management teams, according to a new survey from CareerBuilder. Based on a poll of over 1,000 management HR professionals, 72 percent of employers expect that some roles within hiring and human capital management will become completely automated within the next decade.

The national study included a sample of 719 HR managers and recruiters at companies with more than 250 employees across industries in the private sector. The rate at which companies with 250-plus employees are adopting automation varies considerably. Although more are turning to technology to address time-consuming, labor-intensive talent acquisition and management tasks – that are susceptible to human error – the study shows a significant proportion continue to rely on manual processes. One-third of employers don’t use technology automation for recruiting candidates, 44 percent don’t automate on-boarding and 60 percent don’t automate human capital management activities for employees.

“When companies expand and add more and more employees, there’s a certain tipping point where things can no longer be managed efficiently and accurately by hand,” says Rosemary Haefner, chief HR officer for CareerBuilder. “As certain functions on teams become more automated, we’ll see those workers’ roles evolve and concentrate on the strategic, social and motivational components of HR that technology cannot address.”

What’s Being Automated?

The study shows that most of the automation is centered around messaging, benefits and compensation, but there is room to increase efficiencies across a variety of basic functions. Among employers who automate at least one part of talent acquisition and management, here are the percentages who do so for the following areas:

  • Employee messaging automation: 57 percent
  • Set up employee benefits: 53 percent
  • Set up payroll: 47 percent
  • Background screening/drug testing: 47 percent
  • Archiving candidates: 37 percent
  • Centralize candidate profiles: 31 percent
  • Interview scheduling: 30 percent
  • Search third party resume databases: 29 percent
  • Performance reviews: 29 percent
  • Employee learning and development: 28 percent
  • Request candidate feedback from hiring managers: 27 percent
  • First day orientation: 26 percent
  • Continuous candidate engagement: 21 percent
  • Tailored career site experience: 20 percent
  • Employee referral process: 20 percent

Benefits to Automation

Of employers who have automated a part of their talent acquisition and management processes, the majority said automation has saved the organization time and money while decreasing the number of errors and enhancing the employee and candidate experience.

  • Saved time and increased efficiency: 93 percent
  • Improved the candidate experience: 71 percent
  • Reduced errors: 69 percent
  • Saved money and resources: 67 percent
  • Improved the employee experience: 60 percent
  • Improved employee satisfaction: 40 percent
  • Improved employee retention: 28 percent

How a Lack of Automation Can Negatively Impact Organizations

Employers who perceive a currently underutilized amount of automation for their talent acquisition and management processes pointed to longer turnaround times, higher costs, frustrated team members and issues with company leaders among other concerns:

  • Everything takes longer because of manual processes: 61 percent
  • High level of stress/frustration on the HR team: 50 percent
  • Loss of candidates because the process takes too long: 46 percent
  • It ends up costing the organizations more money because of inefficiencies: 43 percent
  • Higher incidence of inaccuracies: 39 percent
  • Poor candidate experience: 39 percent
  • Strained relationships with company leaders and hiring managers: 33 percent
  • Poor employee experience: 29 percent
All Stories