Kronos created quite the buzz at their user conference last week. Not only through significant product announcements but also by addressing the internal and external workforce pressures facing today’s leading organizations.

What Has Changed?

HR technology customers certainly have a clear advantage in today’s shaky market. With limited resources and tightening budgets, they are asking more from their solution providers in terms of functionality, innovation, services and customer support…and they are seeing results. Over the past year, solution providers such as Kronos, Inc, have responded in a big way by investing a significant amount into product enhancements and the customer experience. At last week’s user conference, they highlighted several of these improvements including:

• Hiring Solutions for Small and Mid-Sized Businesses -This product launch provides the same selection science that has helped enterprise companies such as CVS CareMark reduce turnover and improve quality of hire.
• The Next Generation Workforce Management- This impressive new release to Kronos’ workforce management solutions includes a new user interface using Adobe Flex as well as mobile scheduling (taking various aspects of the system and making it available on mobile devices).
• Retail Labor Index- Kronos is providing more information on employment targeted at the retail market.

How Will You Manage?

Workforce management has dramatically changed over the past year and in order to gain competitive advantage and provide product leadership, solution providers need to address both the internal and external challenges facing today’s organizations. Kronos’ “How Will You Manage?” video sheds light on today’s workforce dynamics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY3AgpmQ6ZU.

We have addressed many of these same challenges and strategic responses in our research this year including:

• Multigenerational Workforce: As a result of today’s recession, the tides have shifted and organizations are now being inundated with résumés from every generation, including baby boomers, Generation-X and Generation-Y. In today’s workforce, organizations are faced with the following realities:

• Retirement of the baby boomers is a challenge for only three percent
  of companies;
• Organizations fear the transfer of knowledge, communication in the company and defining the company culture;
• Baby boomers are seeking involvement in the workplace; and,
• Baby boomers are technology-savvy.

Baby boomers are either unable to retire or are being forced to seek new employment opportunities. As a result, 69 percent of organizations are
hiring baby boomers today. For more information, please visit http://www.bersin.com/Lib/Rs/Details.aspx?Docid=103311651

• Resume Overload: The war for talent has been replaced with a different reality. Organizations are no longer facing a shortage of talent; they are inundated with resumes from both top-talent and under-qualified applicants. The talented job seekers that organizations were trying to recruit for positions five years ago are now actively seeking employment. As recruiters sift through the large number of resumes for a smaller number of positions, the task of finding these high-performers is an even greater challenge. Automating this process can help lift the administrative burden on hiring managers and recruiters. For more information, please visit http://www.bersin.com/Lib/Rs/Details.aspx?Docid=103311498

• Mobile Recruiting: Mobile is certainly dominating today’s global environment and this trend is reaching beyond Generation Y as the majority of Generation X and Baby Boomers own mobile devices. Using mobile phones and SMS text messaging to reach a geographically diverse pool of candidates can help enhance any sourcing and recruitment strategy during a strong economy. For more information, please visit http://www.bersin.com/Lib/Rs/Details.aspx?Docid=103311498

• Social Media: Social networking has exploded in talent acquisition over the past few years. While most solution providers avoided this topic in the past, they are beginning to recognize a strong demand from their customers to provide more support for features that enable connectivity such as video, social networking, and RSS feeds. According to our research, 41% of companies indicated that social networking is a “must-have” when considering advanced features they would like included in their talent acquisition systems. For more information, please visit http://www.bersin.com/Lib/Rs/Details.aspx?Docid=103311498

• Recruiting an Hourly Workforce: The majority of today’s workforce is comprised of hourly workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Population Survey, 75.3 million American workers (58.2 percent of all workers) age 16 and over were paid at hourly rates. High-volume organizations are historically unsuccessful at attracting and retaining high-performing workers. Given a highly competitive global market, leading organizations (such as McDonald’s, FedEx and Wal-Mart) are recognizing that recruiting “the best of the best” is critical. In fact, a talent acquisition strategy aimed at frontline workers can have dramatic effects on employee productivity and link directly to the organization’s bottom line. For more information, please visit http://www.bersin.com/Lib/Rs/Details.aspx?docid=10339542&id=10339542

What is your greatest talent challenge today? We are currently working on our High Impact Talent Acquisition report and would love to hear from you.