Previous Meeting Notes - Talent Acquisition

Mark McGraw - Research Analyst, i4cp

June 10, 2020

Please note that going forward, meeting notes are included with the recordings of the weekly calls.

6/10/2020

The talent acquisition function continues to feel the impact of COVID-19, from the volume of job applicants they’re seeing to where work for the positions they’re filling will be done and much more. Meanwhile, the effect that the death of George Floyd and the civil unrest that has followed continues to impact the workplace and every other facet of society. Talent acquisition leaders from organizations such as ServiceNow, Domino’s, Bank of the West and many more gathered to discuss these topics on i4cp’s June 10, 2020 Talent Acquisition COVID-19 Response series call. Some highlights:

- Post COVID-19, talent acquisition leaders figure to take a bigger role in their organizations’ “Future of Work” projects. Nearly half (42%) of participants on today’s call indicated as much when asked to choose from a list of things they are doing to align their hiring with future business needs. Another 39% said they our building their organizations’ talent maps to identify the deepest talent pools for critical needs, followed by “partnering with your organization’s leadership development and/or learning organization to identify skills gaps,” at 36%, and “building longer term business need questions into the approval process before a role is open,” cited by 30% of participants.

- In addition to reconsidering the scope of work that can be done anywhere going forward in a post-pandemic environment, organizations are rethinking the physical workspaces that employees will return to when the time comes. For example, many call participants noted that their companies are scheduling work space for teams, bringing back employees in a phased approach, and mapping out social distancing in their offices.

- The workplace continues to be impacted by the death of George Floyd and the subsequent civil unrest. Recent i4cp data confirms as much, with 56% of organizations with 1,000-plus employees saying recent events have added stress and productivity drains on their employees. Another 47% said their company has been impacted, and has an obligation to address the issue and take a stand. Companies appear to be addressing this topic internally and externally, with several TA leaders on today’s call sharing steps their companies have taken, such as issuing external statements from the CEO and discussing race issues in all-hands meetings.

- Recent events have underscored the importance of evaluating candidates’ cultural competency as part of the hiring process, assessing for factors such as social intelligence and other skills such as managing remote employees, for example.

4/22/2020

The way employees are onboarded has changed drastically since the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S., with companies making the process exclusively virtual for new employees working remotely.

Indeed, the topic of onboarding was the primary focus of this week’s Talent Acquisition COVID-19 Response series call, where talent acquisition leaders from companies such as Zillow, Smartsheet, Pizza Hut, Land O’ Lakes, and many more, discussed how COVID-19 has led their organizations to revamp onboarding practices to accommodate an overwhelmingly remote workforce. Some highlights:

In terms of onboarding duration, most companies’ current onboarding design is for one month or longer. For example, one of today’s polls found 39% of organizations saying their current onboarding process is designed to last for 30-plus days, with 29% of organizations saying one to two weeks, 17% saying one day or less, and 15% reporting their onboarding process is designed to encompass a new hire’s first 30 days.

Culture plays an equally critical part to compliance in the onboarding process as well. A second poll asked the group which of the following their organization emphasizes most in the onboarding process: Organizational culture, getting to know the people, compliance (policies, procedures, benefits, etc.), roles and responsibilities, or other. An equal number (43%) of respondents said organizational culture and compliance. This was the most common response, followed by getting to know the people, at 13%. No one indicated that their organizations focus on roles and responsibilities as part of onboarding.

Count onboarding logistics among the many challenges the coronavirus pandemic presents to organizations and HR functions. Zillow’s Corina Kolbe, senior director of learning and development, and Sarah McLamb, onboarding project manager, discussed changes the organization has had to make to onboard remote employees during the pandemic. The onboarding process involves much more coordination between functions than it did in the past, they said. For example, a first step in revamping its onboarding process to acclimate large numbers of remote employees was to identify key stakeholders in the process – facilities, IT, HR, etc. – and assemble a team of roughly 25 to talk through the necessary considerations. Logistically, major changes including how the company shipped out laptops to new hires and issued credentials in a safe and secure way.

Companies are measuring the effectiveness of their onboarding practices primarily through surveys. A poll of the group found that 73% said they survey employees and managers, with 16% reporting no measurement in place with regard to onboarding, and another 8% saying they use surveys plus performance measures such as time to full productivity, for example. In terms of survey frequency, the consensus among the group was that surveys should be issued anywhere between 30 and 90 days after hire.

3/18/2020

Guest: David Nason, Co-founder of Hirebrain

1. Virtual interview vendors in use by call participants:

HireVue (high end, relatively expensive)
Zoom
CoderPad (Technical Interviewing - Virtual White Board)
Microsoft Teams
WebEx
RIVS - Interview Stream
Skype
VidReach

2. Current concerns: We need people to be engaged and productive even if they aren’t actively recruiting

Three current tracks of thinking:
Health/Wellness/Safety
Short-term response
Help Hiring Managers to adjust
Some companies are still in full recruitment
Some companies are redeploying into crisis management
Share the forecast for hiring with the team
Question to ask:
Is the project something that can be done at home?
Can/should the project be delayed
What are we doing every day to be productive?
Long-term strategy
What can we do today to make a long-term impact?
Design Approach
What’s the full map look like?

3. Virtual Onboarding

What are we doing for critical roles where people are starting?
Build a partnership with the IT team fulfilling request at the point of offer, two to three weeks before the start date to allow the provisioning team to get ahead
Every role/location is different
Some are delaying starts where they can, but when they cannot, extending/delaying start of relocation benefits (and relo payback agreement time frame)
Weekly webcast that’s live and being recorded that goes beyond the basic needs of job, but also drives social connection
Offices are closed but there are still no virtual I-9s happening
I-9 Resources/Solutions
https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/whats-new/completing-form-i-9-remote-hire
https://www.dwt.com/blogs/employment-labor-and-benefits/2020/03/i9-new-hire-deadline-2020
https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/whats-new/completing-form-i-9-remote-hire
https://www.dwt.com/blogs/employment-labor-and-benefits/2020/03/i9-new-hire-deadline-2020

4. Interns

Orgs are asking if now is the right time to bring on interns
It’s unlikely that the interns can go somewhere else
Take things case by case
Aiming to not cancel; may switch to virtual
Maybe start virtual and transition
Maybe keep everyone virtual
Questions: What are the student’s needs? Can the student afford to wait? Can the student get credit for virtual?
Hiring managers developing virtual onboarding plans
10-week internship to shorter plans (6 to 8 weeks)Front end of program virtual; second part of the program is where you get the cultural component

3/11/2020

Topics covered during the first talent acquisition-focused call included:

Interviewing issues
•Is anyone making offers without site interviews?

•Accommodations for hires without video technology (video loops, WebEx, limit on-site interviews)

•How do we transition to virtual interviews?

•Share video call best practices with candidates ahead of calls (Zoom, WebEx works)

•How do we ask about health risk of interviewees?

•Create boilerplate questions to ask all candidates to avoid stereotyping concerns

•Ask candidates about their comfort level with coming onsite

•Hiring Events Onsite? Orgs are experiencing lower turnout rates

•Emailing directly about precautions and offering alternatives to in-person interviews

Contractors & Vendors

•What’s the impact when working with RPOs? Other vendors?

•Opportunity to do proactive, real-time coaching

•Candidate sensing from vendors

TA Teams

•Are you providing recruiter education on coronavirus?

•Provide pre-screening questions

•Capture questions (i.e. Google Doc) from vendors/ candidates to respond with accuracy and alignment

•How do we handle contractors for TA?

•Deep dive sessions and ensure they know how to comfortably address these questions

Campus Recruiting

•Impact to college recruiting?

•Internal hires?

•Accommodations for hires without video technology (video loops)

•Pull out of on-site job fairs and interviews at college campuses

•Alternatives to recruit college students?

•Adjustments to seasonal hiring impacted (i.e., delay to a summer timeframe)?

Brand

•Messaging around caring for the health, safety, well-being of the workforce (asking what people feel comfortable with to show understanding with candidates)

Misc

•Candidate background checks and workarounds?

•Facing delays in background checks that could delay hiring

•Onboarding? How are supporting the initial networking touchpoints for new hire onboarding?

•Re-evaluate workforce planning needs to drive recruiting strategy

•Other impacts of remote work?