Eightfold.ai and Harris Interactive unveil the breadth of hiring challenges in new survey

With record levels of employment in the US, 78 percent of CEOs and CHROs surveyed by Eightfold.ai and Harris Interactive reported they had specific roles that were hard to fill, yet 75 percent of U.S. employees felt it was harder to find suitable roles in the last few years. Despite many thousands of open positions, candidates are struggling to find roles that are the best fit for them. This mismatch between employers and candidates continues to stress both companies looking to hire the best talent and employees looking to advance their careers.

The second annual "Talent Intelligence and Management Report" was broadened beyond the original 2018 U.S. scope to include CEOs, CHROs and employees in the U.K., France and Germany. The results were released today as part of Eightfold's presence at HR Tech in Las Vegas.

When asked about important topics such as succession planning, internal mobility, and bias prevention, only some organizations have taken action, though most see value in developing better processes to address these emerging business mandates.

"In developed countries around the world, we are undergoing a seismic shift in employment where employers cannot match individuals to jobs, employee tenure is approaching historic lows and skills gaps are widening at companies everywhere," said Ashutosh Garg, CEO and Co-founder of Eightfold.ai. "Though the talent crisis is worsening, executives and employees alike tell us AI tools can help close the gap, and focusing on succession plans, internal mobility and the employee experience can solve these challenges. These results show that taking action is no longer optional."

Survey highlights include:

• 64 percent of U.S. HR teams are not capitalizing on all available new technology
• 65 percent of German companies can't find enough suitable candidates
• 73 percent of French companies would benefit from more efficient succession planning

Roles Go Unfilled While Candidates Find It Harder to Find Suitable Roles

The most glaring disparity, and the greatest need that AI solutions can address most urgently, is the feeling among CEOs and CHROs who say they can't find enough qualified candidates, and candidates who indicate it is becoming harder to find suitable roles. 

This situation in which qualified candidates and willing employers cannot find each other can be solved with AI matching technology. In the survey, both CEOs and CHROs and employees respond that they see the potential for AI technology to ameliorate these and other challenges, and executives say their companies are increasing their use of AI to do so.

Employees Continue to Face Discrimination and Bias

Despite efforts by many companies to address bias, 43 percent of U.S. employees surveyed felt they were impacted by discrimination based on age, gender, race, parental status, marital status or disability. About one-third of participants in France (32 percent), Germany( 36 percent) and the U.K. (34 percent) reported similar bias.

Additional key findings:

• 79 percent of U.K. employees say they would be more motivated to remain with their current employer if they had a clearer career path while 64 percent felt the same way in the U.S.
• 60 percent of French candidates say they will not consider working for a company that does not respond when they apply for a job
• 75 percent of U.S. CEOs and CHROs say that internal mobility is a key focus, yet they acknowledge job hopping is up
• Candidate masking is important to reduce decision-making bias, but it is more widely implemented in the U.S. where 79 percent of CEOs and CHROs agree it makes the recruiting process better

Interest in AI is Very High

To address the talent crisis, CEOs and CHROs say they are turning to AI to find, engage, recruit, and retain a diverse workforce. Most companies have not yet started using AI for critical tasks, but most are planning to do so in the coming years. In the 2018 Talent Intelligence and Management Report, just 22 percent of U.S. CEOs and CHROs reported using AI for talent functions, while in the current report, those numbers jump to 47 percent using AI for recruitment, 44 percent using AI for repetitive HR tasks and 73 percent indicating they plan to use more AI within the next three years.

SOURCE Eightfold.ai

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