AI helps to spark skills vs. seniority debate at HR Tech
Skills emerged as a major topic for debate at the HR Tech Conference this week, where discussions focused on the effects of this AI-enabled change in hiring.
LAS VEGAS -- The AI-enabled shift to skills-based hiring might take a wrecking ball to corporate hierarchies, minimizing the importance of seniority and experience while prioritizing skills and knowledge. This transformation has sparked subtle tension at this week's HR Technology Conference, as attendees consider the extent of the disruption.
Don Robertson, CHRO of Northwestern Mutual, a $36 billion financial services company based in Milwaukee, believes AI will do a much better job matching skills to people, opening the door to change.
"Today, we're still very heavily focused on roles and titles," Robertson said during an HR Tech Conference session. "We need to shift to skills and knowledge."
Robertson said he sees companies moving beyond traditional hierarchies, where seniority might not be a competitive edge. Being a more senior person "doesn't mean you're smarter, that doesn't mean you're better, that doesn't mean you know more," he said.
Ultimately, Robertson believes the focus should shift to a system where "it's all about skills," where skills and knowledge are the new currency. "I think AI can be very effective in helping with that," he said.
An opposite view
However, the motivation to adopt AI-based skills hiring isn't necessarily grounded in reaching some new version of corporate hierarchies. Some users see skills-first hiring for external and internal jobs as solving longstanding problems, such as improving retention. HR managers said employees might leave if they can't find paths to new roles at their employer, and AI can help fix that.
We need to shift to skills and knowledge.
Don RobertsonCHRO, Northwestern Mutual
Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. is deploying Eightfold's talent management system, which it is using to help move toward a skills-based approach. It took some selling, said Alyssa Chase, senior vice president of talent and culture at the beverage giant with headquarters in Burlington, Mass., and Frisco, Texas, during a separate session.
The initial reaction to the skills concept was that "jobs aren't going to matter, experience isn't going to matter, titles aren't going to matter," Chase said. Skills has become a "scary word," she added.
To overcome concerns, the HR leadership team was shown how to build out skills for a job and what that looks like in the Eightfold system. Chase said the platform's integrated approach would complement -- not replace -- education and experience.
Chase said the skills approach tackles management and employee needs. "Our leaders were saying, 'How do we know that we have the workforce for the future?'" Employees want to know their career path, she said, and a skills approach can help them do that.
It can also help the company find candidates more quickly, but it will especially help with retention issues, Chase said. "Because right now, when people leave, the No. 1 reason they leave is they don't see the next career opportunity," she said.
From the perspective of Tony Buffum, vice president of HR client strategy at Upwork, a freelance marketplace based in Palo Alto, Calif., the shift to skills will change how employers assemble workforces. A skills-based analysis of roles will lead to an increase in the use of freelance and contingent workers to meet specific skill needs.
"To me, this is an inevitability," Buffum said of this shift in an interview with TechTarget Editorial at the show. Companies that adopt skills-based systems will be "a lot more prepared for unpredictable economies," he said.
Tulie White, global vice president of enterprise learning and leadership development at The Estée Lauder Companies in New York City, said the AI technology "is at the very beginning of the innovation stage," during a session at the conference. But having skills intelligence is valuable not only for the company, but also for employees as they think about career opportunities, she said.
Patrick Thibodeau is an editor at large for TechTarget Editorial who covers HCM and ERP technologies. He's worked for more than two decades as an enterprise IT reporter.
