Human capital management firms and others are diversifying their expertise and functions while working collectively to find solutions
Fifty years ago, filling shifts at a nursing home required a Rolodex and a rotary phone. Today, it’s impossible to conceive of staffing without a mobile app and reliable Wi-Fi. The right information technology could be key to attacking the workforce issues confounding the sector today: talent acquisition, engagement, credentialing, scheduling, time and attendance and more.
“During the pandemic and the ‘Great Resign,’ we’ve seen significant innovation,” said Majd Alwan, senior vice president of technology and business strategy for LeadingAge, and executive director of LeadingAge’s Center for Aging Services Technologies.
Alwan said nearly half of all CEOs in 2020 said they had invested in point-of-care devices and applications that streamline the care documentation process; applications that facilitate access to in-service and on-demand training from mobile devices; scheduling apps that allow staff to build their schedules; and financial tools that give staff early access wages.
There’s been an explosion of artificial intelligence tools that do everything from rapid resume scanning to building retention-prediction models, to engaging candidates before they accept other jobs.
Collaboration among IT companies also is increasing. OnShift develops most of its software in-house, said Mike Pumphrey, vice president of product marketing. But it’s not uncommon to see “make-buy” decisions in which one IT company relies on another to perform a specific task. For example, OnShift Wallet financial wellness software is powered by Payactiv, Pumphrey said.
With so many major players, it’s important that workforce solutions companies differentiate themselves with specific areas of expertise or addititive functions, such as predictive analytics.
But there’s also a collective sense of urgency among workforce solutions amid historic hiring and retention challenges.
Surveying the landscape of workforce solutions available to providers makes one thing abundantly clear: Based on the wealth of talent and sweat the industry is investing, IT may be just the thing to finally crack the code and bring workers back.
