Category: HR Tech

Rapid diversified growth in STEM-related industries will be their focus

Airswift, the global workforce solutions provider, announced on 2 March 2023 that they have appointed Anna Frazzetto as Chief Revenue Officer. This appointment aligns with Airswift’s drive to continue its diversification and growth across STEM-related industries.

Frazzetto is an established technology recruitment executive based in New York. She most recently held the roles of Chief Digital Technology Officer at Tential and Harvey Nash.

The company believes that Frazzetto’s deep domain experience in addressing critical business challenges and expanding digital capabilities will allow Airswift to maximize revenue growth opportunities.

Frazzetto has been listed as Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) Global Power 150 Women in Staffing for five years and has a recognised consultative approach that will generate powerful, tailored solutions for Airswift’s diversified clients and internal teams.

Janette Marx, CEO at Airswift, commented: “Technology is fundamentally changing every aspect of our lives – and the world of work is no different. Anna’s understanding of how to harness the power of technology and match that with the right skills will be critical as we continue to expand into STEM industries. As a fellow passionate advocate for advancing women in STEM, her addition to the team will not only drive diversified revenue growth, it will also increase the opportunity to enhance equity in the space.”

Anna Frazzetto, CRO at Airswift, added: “Workforce demand in STEM industries has never been higher across the world. Energy and technology sectors in particular need on the ground support to ensure the right people are recruited to propel these industries forward. I’m delighted to join the passionate team here at Airswift, who will support me in delivering the global growth strategy of the business. I’m looking forward to enhancing and diversifying our offering across STEM industries – ensuring we deliver the best tailored and scalable workforce solutions to our customers.

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TALiNT Partners & Mercury presents: Power of the Possible

On March 22 TALiNT Partners will be debating the future of staffing and recruitment at our dinner for CEOs and senior executives from leading staffing and recruitment companies.

This invitation-only event will bring together leaders from the sector’s most innovative and successful businesses to share their perspectives, priorities and predictions.

TALiNT Partners CEO and staffing industry veteran, Ken Brotherston, Country Manager, Ray Culver and Dave Cox of Mercury xRM will host a debate covering the the following questions:

  • How is technology transforming recruitment and enabling recruiters to achieve higher margins as professional service providers?
  • Are recruiters making the most of their tech and data, and how can it be optimised for more predictive applications?
  • How is talent tech enabling better collaboration between sales and marketing, or helping consultants to find and nurture future candidates?
  • What new problems will talent tech need to solve for recruiters and employers?

Come and join the debate, network with peers and enjoy an excellent dinner at one of New York’s finest venues.

Register here to confirm your place, free of charge!

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TALiNT Partners and Stratigens are proud to announce a strategic partnership which will provide an unparalleled range of talent intelligence solutions to the needs of our members, partners and clients.

Alison Ettridge, CEO of Stratigens said “Companies do research on their customers, their markets and their competitors to inform decisions all the time. With Stratigens, they can now do research on the greatest asset –access to the workforce and people they need to deliver their strategy. Our partnership with TALiNT Partners will support our mission of putting human capital at the heart of business decision making. We are really excited about working with the team to overlay the insight that TALiNT Partners’ network brings with labour market data to empower HR, TA and business leaders to make critical strategic decisions.”

Ken Brotherston, CEO of TALiNT Partners added “for some time we have been looking for a partner to support the insight generated by our network with global workplace data to bring a unique offering to the market. Stratigens is the perfect partner to help us achieve this and together we look forward to continuing to help raise capability in how employers find and keep the people they need, and how staffing and talent solutions providers can better support their clients.”

About Stratigens

Stratigens software is helping the world’s best companies make smarter decisions about where to grow, who to hire from and the diversity of their workforce. We join the dots between the labour market, economics and locations. Putting human capital intelligence at the heart of decision making.

We live in a world rich with skills and geo economic data, but the data is messy, unstructured, big and in thousands of places. Stratigens uses the latest in machine learning and big data to gather, extract, categorise and label the data, and put it into a format that’s easy to digest. So our clients can make smarter, faster, more informed decisions.

Stratigens – https://www.stratigens.com

About TALiNT Partners

TALiNT Partners connects the talent ecosystem. We bring together a global network of leading employers and solution providers to make better talent and technology decisions. Providing intelligence, insight and peer-to-peer networking that drives quality, innovation and improves inclusion across the talent ecosystem

TALiNT Partners – https://talintpartners.com/

 

If you would like to know more about the partnership, please contact Ken Brotherston, CEO of TALiNT Partners, ken@talintpartners.com

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Athena Academy provides an alternative path into the tech world

Sparta Global recently announced the launch of Sparta’s Athena Academy. The Academy is an all-women technology training and careers stream.

Sparta was founded in 2014 to help close the UK’s digital skills gap. Despite its growth, the company still feels that contributing to gender parity across the wider technology ecosystem is important.

The government-funded growth network Tech Nation recently revealed that nearly three million people, or 9% of the UK workforce, work in the UK tech industry, but only 26% of these are women.

The Athena Academy will provide women of all experience levels with an alternative path into technology:

  • 12 weeks of focussed Java development training
  • Learning alongside an all-women cohort
  • Training delivered by an in-house, all-women training faculty
  • A salary paid throughout the training
  • The opportunity to work for an established Sparta Global client in their first tech role

David Rai, Sparta Global CEO, commented: “While we have thousands of fantastic women Spartans and alumni who have come through the Sparta Global Academy, we know there are some who see training and working in a male-dominated industry as too daunting to explore,” says “Sparta’s Athena Academy is about empowering more women through technology, giving them the opportunity to learn alongside female peers and inspiring role models in a supportive and safe space that will push the limits of their potential.

The UK technology industry needs women to meet the needs of society and it is our hope that our Athena Academy will give more women the opportunity to positively impact our clients with fresh thinking, diverse perspectives, and passions.”

 

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37% of employees planning to look for another job in the next 6 to 12 months

According to research from Personio, an HR software company for SMEs, has found that nearly half (44%) of employees report that their business is being slowed down by inefficient processes, admin, and too many repetitive tasks – and a further 42% say too much of their time is taken up by workplace tasks that have nothing to do with their job.

On average, employees are spending just over three hours per week on these tasks. For someone working full time at 37.5 hours per week, this equates to over 8% of their working week – and means one working month of the year, on average, is lost to workplace tasks unrelated to an employee’s core role.*

The research suggests that not only is this deluge of ‘badmin’ damaging productivity, but it’s also threatening employees’ experience at work with 24% of employees saying they are unhappy with their employer and nearly 37% are still planning to look for another job in the next 6 to 12 months.

The research reveals that employees want more time to do their job properly within their working day. When asked what their employer could do to improve their experience at work, a quarter (25%) want more time and resources allocated to enable them to get their job done more efficiently, whilst 37% of employees say they want a better work life balance.

Pete Cooper, Director of People Partners, Planning & Analytics at Personio, commented: “As recession sets in in 2023, businesses cannot afford to waste staff’s time with unnecessary admin. The bottom line is that whilst staff are having to spend their time on admin tasks unrelated to their core roles, they’re unable to spend time on creative or strategic work – the value-adding tasks that will ultimately boost productivity, engagement, and growth.

“Automation is key here. By digitising processes that remove unnecessary admin for employees, their time can be freed up to focus on the tasks that matter. Not only will this improve job satisfaction in the short run, but businesses will also be better positioned to succeed in the months ahead.”

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41% of UK adults also wish they’d had access to more tech subjects at school

New findings released by Experis, global IT professional resourcing, have revealed that the country is harbouring an untapped reservoir of talent with huge potential. However, employers need to do more to communicate the opportunities and benefits of a career in tech alongside an expansion in the right training.

According to the research, more than a quarter of UK adults wish they worked in the tech sector – while nearly one in four would consider taking courses, like those offered through the Experis Academy, with the aim of moving into the industry.  With this sector continuing to face a significant skills gap in high-demand roles from software development to data engineering, this news is particularly encouraging for both industry employers and prospective candidates.

The research details other insights including:

  • Good salary: The greatest factor driving people towards a career in tech – 39% of UK adults believe the tech sector offers better pay than their current industry
  • Making a difference: One in five UK adults saying they would like a career in tech to help make the world a better place
  • Flexible working opportunities: One in five see flexible working are a key reason for wanting a career in tech.

However, the survey details some confusion with nearly a fifth of UK adults (19%) believing that a career in tech and a career in IT is the same thing ­– with more needing to be done by employers and industry to raise awareness of what such a career really is.

As the need for IT and tech skills accelerates, Experis is helping organisations transform their digital infrastructure, enterprise applications, cloud, and cyber security – through Experis Academy, a new solution from ManpowerGroup that helps organisations solve their pressing workforce challenges by providing access to in-demand talent today, whilst helping businesses build a sustainable talent pipeline for the future.

Almost half of those surveyed (41%) studied tech related subjects at school, but nearly as many UK adults (41%) wish they had access to more tech subjects and training at school. This indicates that businesses and training providers in tech and IT could leverage more homegrown talent across the UK by better highlighting the benefits of working in the industry and making sure that any skills and training programmes are effectively promoted.

Michael Noone, Academy Lead at Experis commented: “As demand for IT and tech skills outstrips supply, businesses continue to face talent shortages and bottlenecks, while our findings show there is great enthusiasm for working in these sectors – highlighting a largely untapped talent pool. While the appetite for working in tech and IT-related disciplines is clear from this survey, there remains a mismatch between the specialist skills that employers require and the broader untapped talent in the UK market. This is compounded by the speed of change in technologies and digital, making IT positions ever-harder to fill.

“But there is a way forward. As our recent international research into this issue has found – from talking to 40,000 hiring decision makers in 40 countries – employers in the sector must revolutionise their strategy, and think outside of the box to keep their businesses thriving and employees engaged.  There is huge potential to unlock hidden talent in the sector itself by reskilling and upskilling existing employees, especially those who occupy mid-level positions.

The survey is based on responses from 3,000 UK adults, aged 18+ and working in full-time employment. 

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New look shifts focus to frontline workforces

South African fintech company, SmartWage, known for pioneering the ‘on-demand pay’ model in South Africa has rebranded. The new brand aims to re-establish the company’s commitment to making HR and Payroll easier for companies with deskless employees.

Now called Jem, the organisation helps employees take advances without getting into a payday debt cycle. This comes off the back of accelerated company growth, an evolving product line and a renewal of their ambitious vision.

Simon Ellis, Co-Founder and CEO of Jem said: “We gave ourselves the literal name ‘SmartWage’ when our core focus was on our on-demand pay product, but after listening closely to our customers for the past two years, we realised that there was a need for so many other HR and Payroll products that satisfied the unique needs of companies with frontline employees. So we built those products – like our Payslips system which lets you send payslips to employees over WhatsApp. Our product range and ambitions outgrew the SmartWage brand. We needed a name that could reflect both who we are today and our long term vision.”

About Jem

Jem was founded in May 2020 by Simon Ellis and Caroline van der Merve. They started out offering financial wellness products to employers, including on-demand pay and financial education, and now give employers the ability to do much more. Over the past 12 months, Jem has cemented its status as the market leader for HR and Payroll Systems for companies with deskless employees. It has grown exponentially, with an eight-times increase in its user base and companies like KFC, Edgars, Defy Appliances, Mukuru, and Twizza are using their systems. This growth is a clear indicator that companies of all sizes with deskless employees are starting to acknowledge that enterprise software built for office-based employees does not suit the needs of their deskless workforces.

Caro van der Merwe, Co-Founder and COO commented: “In the world of HR, most processes are still done manually. Existing software like SAGE, Workday and Oracle are missing the ‘last mile’ of HR: connecting with deskless and distributed workers. What we see is that day-to-day, most large companies that employ deskless workforces haven’t found a way to digitally communicate with their employees, so despite plenty of HR & Payroll software, much of their processes remain paper-based. If we can save employers time and money through digitisation, helping them communicate clearly, efficiently and dynamically with their employees we can add real value to their operations.”

The numbers tell the same story. 90% of deskless employees don’t have or don’t use email, but 97% of formally employed people in South Africa use WhatsApp. In a country where the majority of people have less than five apps on their phone, it makes sense to leverage an existing distribution channel to help employers automate many of their HR processes. This is the fundamental reason why Jem uses WhatsApp to send payslips, process leave requests, manage salary advances and communicate with frontline employees.

Simon explained the origin of the name: “Since announcing the rebrand the most common question has actually been around our name. The oldest form of long-distance communication is through drums. They were used for centuries to connect people in faraway communities. The most well-known ‘talking drum’ of them all is the Djembe. Our name comes from the middle of that word. Connecting the office with its faraway, deskless employees is at the heart of what we do, and our new name is a constant reminder of our purpose.”

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Product usage surges in Europe and globally, UK lags

A new survey, released by product analytics provider, Amplitude, revealed that digital product usage has surged across industries, growing 16% year-on-year globally, despite an economic downturn. This figure increases marginally, to 18% in the UK. The UK however is lagging behind many other countries – including Germany (38%), France (33%) and Singapore (43%).

The global survey examined the evolution of the product landscape between August 2021 to August 2022. Executives in marketing, product, data, and growth management roles and across 12 industries and eight countries were surveyed.

The findings show the concerns and priorities of leaders during the current economic turbulence. The survey also revealed industry trends that reflect global shifts, such as The Great Resignation.

According to the survey:

  • 26% fear a potential loss in product strategy focus
  • 25% are concerned about not pivoting fast enough
  • 63% feel moderately or less equipped to shift their product strategy

However, despite fears, respondents are still doubling down on their product strategies. Their priorities include:

  • Customer retention (43%)
  • Product engagement (37%)
  • Product-led growth (37%).
  • Investments in competitive differentiation (25%)
  • Investments in product launches (22%)

The survey also revealed how global events such as Covid-19 and The Great Resignation shapes product landscapes. Staffing and job search products skyrocketed between 2021 and 2022 (118% globally), likely due to the upheaval global workforces faced following the pandemic.

Similarly, as workers seek to upskill themselves to become more employable, products related to continued education, language learning & skills coaching in adults also saw an increase of 48% during this 12-month period.

Fintech also continued to grow over the last year, hitting a 22% baseline between June and August 2022. The report revealed that several fintech apps have surged in popularity globally, including:

  • Italy-based Scalapay (123%)
  • France-based Qonto (75%)

Crypto, however, shows a more complicated growth pattern. After peaking at 78% growth in January, activity slowed significantly. Overall, crypto usage has still grown by 25.8% since August 2021 – greater growth than in the fintech category, indicating that a decline in crypto values doesn’t mean a decline in crypto users.

Daniel Bailey, Vice President EMEA, Amplitude, commented: “In today’s economic environment, the importance of investments in digital customer experience cannot be understated. Consumer spend will continue to decline over the next 12 months, and the businesses that do not invest in their digital product now risk losing market share to their competitors,”

 “If the past year proved anything, it’s that progress is not always linear. Despite market challenges, the companies included in our Next Hottest Product list like Paired, with 636% year-over-year user growth, are proof that investments in digital experience translate to increased engagement and sustainable growth.”

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Unemployment falls by 0.2%

According to the ONS’s latest labour market overview, the UK employment rate remained largely unchanged for July to September 2022 was 75.5%, and 1.1% lower than before the COVID-19 (December 2019 to February 2020). The data revealed that over the latest three-month period, the number of employees decreased, while self-employed workers increased.

Payrolled employees for October 2022 shows another monthly increase, up 74,000 on the revised September 2022 figures, to a record 29.8 million whilst the unemployment rate fell by 0.2% for July to September.

The big news of the week has been confirmed with the report stating that economic inactivity rate increased by 0.2% on the quarter to 21.6% in July to September 2022. During the latest three-month period, the increase in economic inactivity was driven by those who are long-term sick, who increased to a record high. In a recent article published by the ONS explored the economically inactive because of long-term sickness in more detail. It showed that over two-thirds of those becoming long-term sick in 2021 and 2022 were already economically inactive for another reason in the three months before interview.

Vacancies for August to October 2022, fell by 46,000 on the quarter to 1,225,000 but despite four consecutive quarterly falls, the number of vacancies remain at historically high levels. An increasing number of businesses are now reporting holding back recruitment because of economic pressures.

According to the report, growth in average total pay (including bonuses) was 6.0% and growth in regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 5.7% among employees in July to September 2022. This is the strongest growth in regular pay seen outside of the coronavirus pandemic period.

Average regular pay growth for the private sector was 6.6% in July to September 2022, and 2.2% for the public sector. Outside of the height of the coronavirus pandemic period, this is the largest growth seen for the private sector and the largest difference between the private sector and public sector.

In real terms (adjusted for inflation) over the year, total pay fell by 2.6% and regular pay fell by 2.7%. This is slightly smaller than the record fall in real regular pay reported in April to June 2022 (3.0%), but remains among the largest falls in growth since comparable records began in 2001.

Joanne Frew, Global Head of Employment & Pensions at DWF commented: “The latest ONS figures show a steady labour market despite the UK’s ongoing economic struggles. The UK economy is certainly facing a challenging period with soaring inflation and the Bank of England warning that the UK could be set for its longest recession since records began.  The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is due to deliver his Autumn Statement on Thursday 17 November and has already warned that tax rises are necessary to help tackle inflation.  Against this backdrop it is likely that the labour market will face a relatively turbulent time.  Despite the ongoing resilience of the market during the pandemic, it is likely that the economic difficulties will lead to more job losses over the coming months.”

Bev White, CEO of Nash Squared said: “Despite Big Tech recently putting a freeze on their recruitment plans or even shedding jobs, today’s ONS jobs figures show that UK Tech continues to buck this global trend by adding a further 92,000 jobs over the last quarter, and firmly cementing itself as the UK’s standout private sector job creator over the last three years – with almost 350,000 additional jobs created.

“This performance is even more startling when you consider that we’ve lost over three quarters of a million private sector jobs over the same three-year period in the UK.

Despite the downturn, there is little sign of a tech slowdown. Tech investment in the UK is expected to hit its third highest level for more than 15 years and over half (56%) of digital leaders running tech departments in the UK plan to increase their technology headcount this year.”

Lauren Thomas, Glassdoor’s UK Economist also commented: “As news of tech layoffs spreads, Glassdoor’s data shows that employees are increasingly anxious with discussion of layoffs doubling and mentions of recession up tenfold from last October. Hiring has also taken a hit, with mentions of hiring freezes up more than 450 percent.

“However, this isn’t 2008. Unlike the Great Recession, the current shortage of workers is much more acute and even a potential recession would be unlikely to result in the same peak of unemployment as we saw then. There are reasons to be hopeful – vacancies are likely to remain higher and both redundancies and unemployment are lower than before the pandemic.”

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LinkedIn issued a cease-and-desist letter to hiQ in 2017

LinkedIn has announced a win in a six-year lawsuit against hiQ Labs Inc., a now dormant company that had scraped LinkedIn data.

hiQ, which was founded in 2012, went dormant by 2019 after being unable to find further investors and the loss of major clients, according to court records.

hiQ’s products included “Keeper,” designed to analyze and predict the retention risks for the employees of a given employer and indicate which employees were at greatest risk of being recruited away, according to court documents. hiQ’s other product, “Skill Mapper,” aggregated and summarized the skills possessed by an employer’s workforce by analyzing all of the skills employees listed in their LinkedIn profiles, including from previous roles.

In its operations, hiQ attempted to reverse engineer LinkedIn’s systems to avoid detection by simulating human site-access behaviors, according to court documents. hiQ also hired independent contractors known as “turkers” to conduct quality assurance while logged in to LinkedIn by viewing and confirming hiQ customers’ employees’ identities manually. When LinkedIn’s defenses restricted the turkers’ real accounts, hiQ instructed them to create fake ones.

LinkedIn issued a cease-and-desist letter to hiQ in 2017.

Sara Wight, VP, Legal-litigation, Competition and Enforcement at LinkedIn, wrote in a post. “The court ruled that LinkedIn’s user agreement unambiguously prohibits scraping and the unauthorized use of scraped data as well as fake accounts, affirming LinkedIn’s legal positions against hiQ for the past six years. The court also found that hiQ knew for years that its actions violated our user agreement, and that LinkedIn is entitled to move forward with its claim that hiQ violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.”

 

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