For example, the CEO of Greenhouse says that 2021 will be the great rehiring. Here are more predictions from the Greenhouse staff and some of its partners.

Greenhouse Staff

Daniel Chait, CEO and Cofounder

What are the major trends we expect to change or continue in 2021?

“Remote work is here to stay. Companies have already made the investment in remote infrastructure, culture changes (such as reworking schedules, meeting formats, etc.), and tools purchasing, as well as started to realize the savings of not having physical offices. Most of all, they have started to see the amazing talent benefit of having a vastly expanded hiring pool; no longer limited to the people in commuting distance from their office, companies are able to hire the best person, anywhere, for their jobs.  

Certainly, some in-person work will return, but there are good reasons to expect that remote is here to stay as a major factor.”

How will the talent industry shape businesses and lead to success in 2021?

“‘The great rehiring.’ When COVID is mitigated and life can start returning to normal, businesses will need to quickly gear back up. If things go well, it’s possible that more people will reenter the workforce in 2021 than in any single year on record.  

The opportunity for our industry is to help impact that momentous period—help companies be smarter, more efficient, and fairer in how they build this workforce. Are companies able to find and connect with the right talent amid an unprecedented sea of online profiles? Are they able to stand out from the crowd and deliver compelling experiences to their candidates? Will companies be able to make great hiring decisions, becoming smarter, fairer, [and] more data-driven, so they can confidently identify top talent while avoiding hiring mistakes? And can they build operational excellence in hiring, building modern talent tech stacks, delivering data and insights to the business, and enabling continuous improvement?

Those are the opportunities for our industry to shape business in the year ahead.”

Mike Boufford, CTO 

Artificial intelligence (AI) explainability will become a hot topic.

“As more decisions are made by AI, it’s becoming increasingly important to be able to answer the question [of] why a certain conclusion was reached. In 2021, we’ll see companies put in the hot seat and faced with having to explain why a candidate was rejected for a job or why an employee was ranked as a low-performer. Decisions made by an AI on behalf of a company is still a decision made by that company, and both candidates and regulatory bodies will want to ensure that systems are fair and decisions explainable.”

Jon Stross, President and Cofounder

“The continuation of remote work and remote hiring in 2021 will see companies rethink how they help new hires become productive and active team members. Onboarding will make the jump from being viewed as an IT and paperwork exercise to a strategic function that plays a critical role in helping integrate new hires into a remote community. Implementing a structured onboarding process with the right strategy and technology in place will allow employees to focus on absorbing company knowledge and exploring their new community from day 1, even if it’s not in a shared physical space.”

Cheryl Roubian, VP of People

Companies around the world woke up this year to the depths of their challenges with diversity.

“Companies that thought they didn’t have a [diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I)] problem realized they had one. Companies that knew they had a problem started to see how much deeper-seated the problem is. And companies already on the path to improving the lives of the underrepresented folks in their organizations were reminded of the long road ahead. 

More and more companies are looking for tools to help them operate in fairer, more equitable ways—from rooting out bias in the hiring process to building systems that promote and develop employees in equitable ways. This is far from being a new idea. But the confluence of increased awareness, the availability of talent, and geographic flexibility will continue to amplify the importance of investing in the right tools to build more diverse teams and, by extension, more differentiated products and more successful businesses.”

Carin Van Vuuren, CMO

Millennials and Gen Z talent will make job choices based on their assessment of a company’s visible DE&I commitment. 

“As companies start to hire more in 2021 and competition for great talent heats up, a new dynamic will start to play out, shaped by the events of 2020 and the Black Lives Matter movement. [DE&I] in the workplace will become a real driver of employment decisions. Increasingly, the best talent will look for visible evidence of a company’s commitment to diversity within the interview process, within the hiring team, and within the executive leadership of the company. 

The next generation of talent consists largely of Millennials and Generation Z, who are already vocal about the importance of [DE&I] when evaluating and selecting their next role. Companies [that] need to compete for talent will need to ensure that their employer brand communicates intentional diversity and a positive, inclusive workplace culture...

Source: HR Daily Advisor