How HR And TA Can Accommodate High-Volume Hourly Workforce Hiring

Remove friction from the hiring process

Our world changed fast in 2020. The global pandemic brought uncertainty and challenges for many organizations, but especially the workforce behind them. According to the Associated Press, roughly 10 million workers will need to find a new employer as we emerge from the pandemic, with some needing a new profession altogether. Needless to say, talent acquisition professionals will face a surge of applicants of all experience levels.
 

An area of particular importance for HR and TA professionals is the hourly workforce. Industries like hospitality, retail, restaurants, manufacturing and logistics all look to hourly workers to operate. In 2019, more than 58% of workers were paid hourly, but 2020’s workforce looks entirely different. We all must adjust; and, there are major lessons TA professionals can learn about high-volume hourly hiring from the past year as we look ahead.

Hourly Workers are Essential Workers 

Through the pandemic, societies worldwide have relied on “essential workers” to handle the services that keep our economies moving. Essential workers make up services like food and agriculture, transportation or warehouses, manufacturing and more — meaning the hourly worker is shouldering much of our nation’s success.
 
Society has long touted white-collar roles as the pinnacle of success, but the essentiality of our hourly workforce has illuminated the shortsightedness of this perspective. In future, I believe we’ll see more and more celebration and support of the hourly workforce, and rightfully so.

Accessibility Challenges Must Be Addressed 

The TA and HR industry has, unfortunately, put so many technological barriers in front of its potential workforce. The pandemic has only exacerbated this, with new issues like: how could applicants ever know if their application has been viewed amongst the pool of thousands; or, why do some platforms allow for applicants to begin on a mobile device, yet force people to switch to a desktop to attach files or re-fill in answers that have already been submitted? There are major accessibility issues, like a lack of a laptop or resume, that need quick solutions for both the applicant and the hiring team. 

For example, we work with a food manufacturer with many rural locations, where the majority of their talent pool, as much as 80%, don't have email or access to a laptop, yet all have phones.  So, when the first step of a recruiting process is to create a login with an email, the recruiter or hiring manager instantly misses out on the majority of job seekers. If a business is looking to hire in more remote locations or less affluent areas, they need to take all possible accessibility challenges into account.

Worse yet, if an applicant doesn’t hear back in a timely manner, should they apply elsewhere? If people aren’t left in some type of recruiting purgatory, they’re likely facing frustrating and unnecessary data-input experiences. There are many companies today, including those expected to have modern processes in place, sending emails asking applicants to allow 45 days for a response and, if they don’t get one, to try applying again. Unfortunately, this is extremely common when it comes to hourly hiring. In 2021 and beyond, I believe companies will use this unique period in time as an accelerator to invest in digital transformation that gives brands a high-volume hiring competitive edge and offers applicants the respect they deserve.

In light of these lessons, I believe the charge to recruiters and TA professionals is to remove the friction from the hiring process. As I said, we have put many technological barriers in front of applicants that are unnecessary. If hourly workers are essential, we need to treat them as such. I believe there are two major ways technology can address the accessibility issues for applicants and give the dignity to hourly workers they deserve. 

Humanize the Hiring Process

The HR industry is familiar with automation. But many of the past tools or platforms have focused on simply running data. This is not going to help companies stand out as they compete for talent. What will be a competitive differentiator is a humanized process. There are instances where some locations see an influx of applications and others of the same company don’t receive enough. In these cases, automating the administrative portions of the hiring process frees up the recruiter to turn personalized efforts to the areas lacking in applicants. They can focus on building out their community presence, make 1:1 outreach and more.

Furthermore, there is a case to be made for automation granting hiring managers the time to humanize the process they might not have had before. In one instance, a top fast food chain received 108 applications for a single front-of-house position. Automation narrowed down those 108 to the most qualified candidates, allowing the hiring manager to focus on preparing for the interviews and discussions with the best candidates, rather than spending that time sorting through numerous applications.

Recruiting is about the conversation. Businesses need to look to automation that helps humanize the experience and leads to conversation. There will be a surge in hiring hourly workers and most hiring managers are already overwhelmed by the number of applicants applying for roles. Leveraging automation to humanize the experience will help create a better hiring experience for both parties.

Build a Mobile-First Hiring Experience  

More than 5.19 billion people use mobile phones. If that is where the talent is, businesses should be there as well. Now is the time to shake things up and transition to a mobile hiring process. Not only should an application be mobile-friendly, but so should the entire hiring experience. Building a mobile-first experience offers the convenience hourly workers are looking for. 

2021 needs to be the year we begin respecting all jobseekers. The hiring process should build jobseeker confidence, not knock them back. We need to treat hourly workers like the essential part of the business they are. This means identifying and removing friction in the hiring process, leveraging technology such as automation to humanize the experience and creating a mobile-friendly candidate experience.

Jerry Collier is Managing Director of the Product Division at AMS, the team responsible for imagining and launching Hourly, a new conversational hiring experience.