HR Tech Quick Hits: UKG’s new CEO, Guild raises gold, PayLogix expands

Welcome to the HR Tech Quick Hits column, featuring the latest in HR tech partnerships, funding, people moves and compelling data. To make sure you don’t miss any content, subscribe here to receive HRE‘s weekly HR technology newsletter in your inbox. 

UKG’s New CEO

Chris Todd, CEO at UKG
Chris Todd, CEO at UKG

Human capital management provider UKG announced that Chris Todd, president of UKG, has been appointed chief executive officer effective July 1. Current CEO and chairman Aron Ain will transition to executive chair where he will “remain actively involved with UKG,” per a press statement. As CEO, Todd will lead day-to-day operations, serve on the UKG board of directors as well as lead and communicate the company’s strategic, operational and cultural agenda.

HR Tech Number

According to data from HR platform and payroll provider Gusto, being a fully remote worker correlates to a 9% to 13% decrease in the odds of quitting within three months of hire. The HR tech company also found that 35% of workers believed location flexibility to be the primary deciding factor to accept their last job offer, above those who said that total compensation was the defining factor.

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HR Solution Spotlight 

In these troubled times, there’s a new way to help victims from war-torn countries. Global hiring firm Oyster has debuted “Oyster for Refugees,” a feature that helps employers to find and hire refugees for remote jobs in over 180 countries, including those with high refugee populations like Turkey, Colombia, Lebanon, Pakistan, Germany and Bangladesh. This is personal for Oyster CEO Tony Jamous who fled with his family from his native Lebanon during that country’s civil war in the 1980s.

New HR Tech Partnerships 

ServiceNow announced today that it has acquired Hitch, a skills mapping and intelligence company Hitch. ServiceNow says Hitch will add a new layer of AI-powered skills insights to its Now Platform to help customers address talent gaps by tying employee learning and development with workforce planning. Companies will be able to more effectively match people to projects within a single platform, says ServiceNow.  

Private equity firm Alpine Investors unveiled Axcel, a professional education platform, and acquired two education companies: Michael Management Corporation, an SAP training platform, and Web Age Solutions, an IT training company.

Employee financial app provider Salary Finance’s suite will now be available in Paylogix’s Pro-Enroll platform for participating employers that use Paylogix for voluntary benefits enrollment. Through the Paylogix platform, benefits brokers can merge multiple products from multiple vendors and carriers into one online bill.

People analytics and hiring solution provider Crosschq has acquired TalentWall, creators of the recruiting analytics platform aimed at talent acquisition teams. The deal allows users of Crosschq’s Talent Intelligence Cloud to now use TalentWall’s recruiting pipeline visualizations and enhanced recruiter planning functionality. This acquisition comes on the heels of a year of strong growth for Crosschq, which recently completed a round of $30 million in Series A funding.

HR Tech Funding 

Employee education provider Guild raised $175 million in Series F financing. The upskilling and coaching provider counts Target, PepsiCo, Hilton, Macy’s, Kohls, and the parent company of Dollywood as clients. It also plans to expand into healthcare and financial services. (Read about how Guild helped Macy’s with upskilling here.) 

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Benefits tech company Noyo started its Series B financing round, which is being led by Norwest Venture Partners with HR tech providers Workday and Gusto. Noyo is an API-based tech that enables its partner firms Ameritas, Humana, Unum, Zenefits, Rippling, and Gusto, to develop consumer-friendly employee health and insurance benefits.

HR Tech Conference 2022 Update

The full program for the 2022 HR Tech Conference, which takes place at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino on September 13 – 16, is available here. You can register here.


Do you have HR technology news or insights to share? Contact HR Tech Editor Phil Albinus at [email protected].

Phil Albinus
Phil Albinus
Phil Albinus is the former HR Tech Editor for HRE. He has been covering personal and business technology for 25 years and has served as editor and executive editor for a number of financial services, trading technology and employee benefits titles. He is a graduate of SUNY New Paltz and lives in the Hudson Valley with his audiologist wife and three adult children.