In just a few days, the Human Resource Executive team will be in Las Vegas at the 2023 HR Technology Conference & Exposition, joining thousands of industry leaders. We will be reporting from the show and expect to have plenty to share. Watch this space for exclusive HR Tech Check releases and focused newsletters that will bring you up to speed on all the conference news if you aren’t attending.
If you will be there, our coverage will help you glean some of the themes from the expansive event, featuring more than 170 content sessions with more than 500 companies represented. You can also follow posts on social media with the hashtag #HRTechConf.
Women in HR Tech
One essential element of the conference is the Women in HR Technology Summit, scheduled for Oct. 10. Jeanne Achille, founder and CEO of The Devon Group and chair of the summit, shared with me that, while women are still outnumbered by male colleagues in tech, the last decade has seen a significant uptick in women-led—and especially women-founded—HR tech companies.
“The latter is particularly noteworthy since women only receive 2.1% of venture capital funding,” says this Top 100 HR Tech Influencer. “While previously, we applauded small wins such as women moving into product management, sales or marketing leadership roles—today, we’re in awe of HR tech’s women CEOs who are defining and driving the future of work.”
‘Pay your people, not your lawyers’
Speaking of money, Heather Bussing, an employment attorney with over 30 years of experience, will present at a Women in HR Tech session on building a culture of fairness with pay equity. It’s a topic garnering increasing HR attention and has become a foundation of DEI.
“It’s not just data; it’s evidence,” says Bussing. “Pay transparency and new reporting requirements mean pay is visible to employees, candidates and regulators.” She says organizations are obliged to effectively compare the work people are doing and regularly monitor pay within the company.
“Let’s stop worrying about dealing with pay equity claims and just solve the problem,” states Bussing. With new technology from firms, including those at the conference, that has never been easier.
Bussing says HR tech can make a huge difference in driving pay equity. “Computer programs do the analysis and tell you what it takes to solve the issue,” she says.
Bussing suggests that HR leaders can initiate pay equity compliance and build from there to tie in data and auditing to find and address issues. “Pay your people, not your lawyers,” insists Bussing.
HR tech in the news
In a sign of the global impact of HR technology, tech-focused investment firm Merak Capital concluded a $30 million investment round in Jisr, a Saudi Arabian HR management platform. This funding represents the largest Series A round in the MENA region for a SaaS company. Jisr is positioned with 3,000 clients and 350,000 registered employees, with a footprint in HR operations and workforce management.
SurveyMonkey recently introduced SurveyMonkey Forms, a platform with new features such as templates, integrations and configurations that enable users to add a form to websites. SurveyMonkey Forms is available as a standalone product and is automatically included in all SurveyMonkey paid plans at no extra cost. Though this isn’t necessarily an HR tool, we look forward to seeing how teams use this in communications.
Ceridian has revealed plans to undergo a rebranding to Dayforce, with the change set to take effect in January. This shift toward the Dayforce brand points to the company’s goals to bolster its presence in the cloud HCM sector. The announcement was officially made this week during the INSIGHTS 2023 event, the company’s annual customer conference held in Las Vegas. Visit Ceridian Dayforce in booth 3914 at HR Tech next week.
Simpplr EX platform recently acquired Socrates.ai, a generative AI-driven virtual employee assistant. Socrates.ai integrates into Simpplr’s suite of digital workplace solutions. This could prove useful to HR teams with distributed workforces, regardless of employee location or work schedule. Check out Simpplr in booth 4139 at the HR Tech Expo.
