But we are also seeing on the generational front, this is the first year that we've seen Gen Z show up as part of the people who responded to our survey, which means they're either buyers or at least administrators of their systems. And Gen Z. My son's a Gen Z and he's 24, 25. So we're at an age where we're starting to see that generation get into the market as not just, ooh, their employees, they're now part of the buying community, right? Which means they have a say in it and a perspective on it. Welcome to Paychex THRIVE, a Business Podcast, where you'll hear timely insights to help you navigate marketplace dynamics and propel your business forward. Here's your host, Gene Marks. Hey, everyone, and welcome to the second episode of our four-part special series on Paychex at HR Tech 2024. I'm Gene Marks and I am so excited to share with you the
latest insights right from the center of the action with none other than our guest host, Rob Parsons from Paychex. Rob dives deep into the series and talks with leading analysts, industry thought leaders, and Paychex partners. And today we're thrilled to bring you an enlightening conversation with Stacey Harris and Cliff Stevenson from Sapient Insights Group. As leaders in HR research, they share groundbreaking insights into the latest trends and technologies shaping the future of human resources. So let's jump right in and hear from Rob. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Paychex THRIVE Podcast. I'm Rob Parsons,
live from the show floor here at HR Tech 2024. I'm here today with Stacey Harris and Cliff Stevenson from the Sapient Insights Group. Stacey is the chief research officer and managing partner of Sapient Insights Group, where she oversees the industry research work, including the esteemed Annual HR System Survey and White Paper. Now on its 24th year, 27th, 27th year. 27th year. You can take three years off our ages, not over a research report. Cliff is the director of research and principal analyst at Sapient Insights Group. He holds SPHR certification and is a writer, researcher in management and general business. And specialties include data analysis, organizational design, compliance,
human capital analytics, and innovation and creativity. Cliff, Stacey, welcome to the podcast. Great to be back again. This is what I think our third year now fourth, maybe third year. So, Cliff, Stacey, you're speaking a lot at this year's conference. There's a lot going on. How's it going, first of all? And then can you give me some highlights what's been happening? Yeah, it's been a busy conference. Our feet are sore. That's we all know that that happens. We had some really great sessions. So, the first session we did this year was actually done. by our CEO,
Terry Zipper, and Daniel Booshan, who is one of our clients at Sanofi, and they talked about data governance. And that was a packed room, which surprised us a bit because it's kind of a topic that doesn't seem like it's going to pull in a lot of people to kind of esoteric. But the room was filled and so that was excellent. And then the second session that we've done this year,
which is our big reveal at the Annual HR System Survey, we did the voice, the customer focus. I had 20 minutes less than I did last year, so I talked faster. But. And, you know, Cliff could probably give a better insight as to all that we were because I was zipping through it. But it was really good to be able to get a chance to share what the customers are saying about the market and where it's at. And there's been a lot of shake ups in the market,
a lot of things going on, but a lot of focus on what's beyond AI in the conversation. And then, Cliff, we're going to be doing the next session. You want to talk a little bit about it? Well, we are going to be talking about AI and how that is being used in skills management. So, skills management in the era of AI, in the age of AI. And, you know, obviously we're going to be talking about how AI is being used because for a long time, for, I would say almost the last year, the conversation about we have AI features. We've got AI as if that solves the problem, but it doesn't. Right. How do you apply AI to the daily work that we're doing to solve
business problems? And that's what we're trying to get at. And I do want to mention, you had 20 minutes less, but 20 minutes more information. And one of the big sort of pops, one of the times we noticed that one taking pictures was from a moment when you mentioned those that put AI into, you know, their work had actually an increase in business outcomes. It wasn't major, but it does show that it is having an impact. It is showing it's having impact. And as we always tell everybody the first year, it's interesting to see it. What, you want to see this for several years to make sure that it's statistically, statistically significant, but we are starting to see some outcomes from it, which is exciting.
That really is exciting. And it's. I like that you brought up Cliff, that topic of skills and AI. I feel like HR leaders, business leaders, people implementing it have to think a little differently. I mean, it's a different, it speaks to the importance of data governance. Even,
you know, garbage in, garbage out. What did you see in the survey? What are you seeing just out there around how HR leaders and business leaders are having to adapt? Cliff, do you want to start with that. Yeah, I will. I think what, not just the leaders, but the buyers, you know, anyone that's in the market, that whole group is really coming to understand the importance of a true all in one platform. Now, I don't mean that it's one platform does everything we all know that doesn't exist. But those that are able to unify the data from all of these disparate inputs can get better outputs because it is one system. There's fewer points
of failure when you have that and when you can have that sort of inbuilt data governance to go along with hopefully your own processes to improve the data governance, it's not just the tech then you will get better uses of your AI because AI can only be as good as the data that powers it. It's not a system on its own. Right. It's just the. The data is the fuel. Yes. There we go. Yeah. And I think the thing that we're calling that kind of picture is more of a platform cluster. Not best of breed, not enterprise. Right. But all in one kind of solution, but a platform cluster, which means you're kind of siloing the key things that are important to your company, getting a few key systems, and then you're making sure you're working within the marketplaces. Right. The partners that that organization has. Right. And that really seems to be making
difference in outcomes. We always tell people no one vendor does any different or better than others. I know they all would like us to tell. Right. But they really don't because companies use them all differently. Right. So the most important thing is how are you sort of integrating that with
all the other things you're doing and that sort of cluster of data flow and making it easier to access? And so that's been an interesting thing to start to see in the data. It's not, it's more about how you set up your tech stack than what tech stack you have almost. So are buyers leading that charge understanding the tech stack and setting it up differently? Or is it really the realities of how technology is evolving, the workplace is evolving, and they have to adjust? I think it could be a push pull. I know it seems like an easy answer, but the buyers and the current users, they're finding that they're not, or they are being able to solve business problems, and then they go back to the solution providers that they're working with and say, we need this, or they're going to move. So, the market is going to react to that. So,
we are seeing those that are also from the solution provider side that are saying, okay, let's get ahead of that. Let's not wait till that ultimatum and let's move. So, I think if you're a buyer and you're looking at that, look at those that are kind of ahead of the game who are thinking not just solving your current needs, but what you might see in the future. Yeah. Roadmaps are really important to ask about, right? Yes.
How is the workforce itself impacting technology and technology choices? We know it's multigenerational. We know millennials have different expectations. They were digital first. Gen Z is coming online. Gen Alpha's right around the corner. Did your research reveal any of that? It had some interesting insight. Do you want to go ahead? You can tell. No, no. This is such a big one. If this were like pro wrestling, this would be the big pop that she got from the announcement yesterday. And correct me if I'm wrong, you're usually the one that has all this top of your head. Over 58% of people that are in charge of their HR systems, you know,
that's their role. Charge of the HR systems have been in that role for less than three years. Wow. So, it's not so much generational, it's in tenure of experience. So that's affecting a lot of how they approach, use, and ask for systems out there. And it's also pushing a need for more services because they need more guidance. It's pushing
a need for more education because they expect to get more from their vendors around, helping them understand, because they just aren't hiring people with that skill sets. They're not available. Right, right. But we are also seeing on the generational front, this is the first year that we've seen Gen Z show up as part of the people who responded to our survey, which means they're either buyers or at least administrators of their systems. And Gen Z. My son's a Gen Z, and he's 24, 25. So we're at an age where we're starting to see that generation get into the market as not just, ooh, their employees. They're now part of the buying community. Which means they have a say in it and a perspective on it. And that's really, you know, something that's, I think, an interesting
conversation to have, which is different than just what is Gen Z looking for to be hired. It's also what is Gen Z looking for their own career growth. And that's starting to come in line. That's. That's super interesting. A lot of times we talk about succession planning, career growth, and HR is never included in that conversation. They're just supposed to think about it, but it's never there for them. But what did the survey reveal about what HR leaders are
expecting or where they're trying to go or what they're trying to do? Yeah. As you mentioned, Stacey, obviously services is important and taking a holistic view. And so even when it's something like AI, I do think, think that this new generation is very good about how does this help me solve a business problem? And I think that's what they're looking at more than anything else. It's not one thing, it's not one service. They're not going, oh, wow, what a huge jump in any one area. Although skills has become still part of the big conversation that kind of maybe got subsumed a little bit while they talk, but it's more, okay, what does this do? We've been talking about? That's how you become strategically minded, think in terms of outcomes. And I think that's become
a little more intrinsic in this younger generation and a little more understood. It is. And I think for their own personal growth in the HR space, we are seeing a distinct, we call it the HR and it tug of war, right? Because for a long time, and executives for small businesses sort of sit in that middle ground, right? So, if they have someone who oversees IT, then they're and have someone who sees overseas HR deciding who owns the technology around each of those things is important. What's happening as companies get bigger is that the IT function who used to say, well, HR owns its stuff, I own all the systems and operations and email. And you know that those two things are actually being, they're pulling more and saying, look, I need to have oversight of all the cloud systems, for the data structure, for the governance nature, saying, well, wait a minute, don't touch my IT or my HR technology budget. And they've got a valid point in that because it gives them more overview of what's happening. So, I do think
we're going to see a lot more from a growth in our own careers is HR is going to have to get more it savvy so they can make the case that they should own their own budget, but also it is going to have to become more partner modeled instead of mandated model. Right. And so, I think those two things are going to have to go hand in hand as the growth of individuals in this space. I love that, Stacey, because I think for so long it's been part of the HR mindset. We were both practitioners of, like, what does HR need to do? And it's like, maybe somebody else needs to finally. Maybe. Maybe it needs to become a little more people savvy rather than us become just all on our shoulders.
Exactly. I think that's so interesting because we know engagement is a huge deal. You know, we talk about we got to find the good people, we've got to keep the good people, and we've got to have them engaged and productive while they're here. All the tools I interact with when I'm at work impact
that. It's not just an HR problem. It's not just an IT problem. What are you seeing with technology in terms of impacting engagement and what are they leveraging? How are they making that happen? I think we're seeing it in actually the spending dollars right now. So, one of the things we do every year is we ask people, what are your plans for investing in more HR technology? And then we can split that by size of company and SMBs under 500. Their spending is very much on what we'd call the talent centric solutions. So, a lot of focus on learning, on recruiting, on performance
management. They're also investing more in benefits, and they're also investing more in rewards and recognition. So that shows you that. I think they're really focusing on that employee experience in a way that we maybe haven't seen as much because it's just been fundamentally get the basics done. Right. But I think they're now realizing that there can competing with everyone. Right. They're going to have to have some more of that. We're still seeing some of that in the larger companies. Right. But it's, they're shifting a lot more to getting their architectures in place, and they've got a lot of a mess. This is a place where SMBs actually are
in a better position to some extent than the big guys because they don't have as much. So, getting it all together now isn't as hard. They just got to make sure they don't create more of a too many systems while they're going through and getting more systems for the employee engagement.
But they can be more nimble, they can be more flexible. Yeah, absolutely. Did I leave you nothing to answer? I'm always amazed by that. As I said, she could always pull
these off the top of her head, to be fair. You're just giving them. I did just give the keynote. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Cliff, I'll give one to you. Where are you seeing technology being the most powerful lever? Where am I? If I need to make the biggest impact quickly or right away, where should I be putting my dollars? Where should I be thinking? Obviously, and this isn't just me trying to waffle out of the question. It will depend on your industry and what business outcomes you're trying to look at. But going back to what you said, how can I affect that employee experience? It does not have to be a sort of start to finish project. I'm going to improve engagement, improve employee experience. How do I build
that into the day-to-day tactical activities? If anything good came out of that 2020 dark times, right, it's that we really started thinking about where do we really have our touch points with our employees? And that's going to be different depending on your work from how you clock in. Could be a point of engagement and a point of activity for building that experience. It could be how something written on your paycheck. There's so many little touch points. You shouldn't think in terms of, this is a strategic activity and this is a tactical activity. Anything can become strategic if you bring that right mindset. So, I think when you're looking at technology,
don't think about the specific type. Right. It's not going to be your recruitment software. It's going to be the type that you get and how you build that into your processes. I love that. That makes so much sense. I'm going to put you on the spot again,
though. I love a top three list, and you guys can split it if you want. You can each give a top three. If I want to be a real talent-first organization, you know, like you were touching on, what are the top three things I should do if I really want to be people first? Talent first? I think, and I know that now I'm going to, I'm reversing the spot over to you. We did
some actual, you know, we tried not to get too unreadable and too nerdy in our report, but we did do some correlations and those that are aligned with, with being more strategically minded HR organization. And one thing that we've found is this is more of a don't do so like a bottom three. One I know is if you're only focused on compliance, right. If you are buying with just that in mind, if you're sort of playing defense, if you're just thinking, I just need to make sure that I'm regulatory compliant, that is extremely important. But if that's all you're doing, that will not succeed because you are not thinking in terms of, again, the future of what you're doing. So, you probably know it's 0.126.
That's a really good point, is that the other thing we found at that same time is things like how important mobile was. And for SMBs, not spending too much time on just payroll, make sure you outsource some of that stuff. I think those are all just ways to get things off your plate so you can make sure that you're focused on that employee experience. Right. And the talent. And I would say there's three things every organization does. They're starting to move into that talent space, move into what we call
more of a best practices or organizational model around building out best practices. Proven practices even in certain cases. Well, and we're heading towards proven practices in the research that we do. There's really,
one is learning. You have to figure out how your organization approaches development and how your organization's learning platform works. It can't be a compliance-based learning platform. It has to be a learning platform that provides some view into where they could go, not just what they need today. I think the second thing is, is that they've really got to focus on recruiting in the
terms of making sure you can recruit internally as well as recruit externally. For small businesses, that's a little easier because you know more of the people. But I do think oftentimes we overlook the people in our, in our own because we're afraid of losing them in their skill sets. And so really figuring out what would it take to replace that person if they want to move up, because that's much more likely to keep the person. And then the third thing I think is
workforce management. And then time and attendance doesn't seem like it's a real tactical or it seems like it's more tactical and not a big talent management thing, but we find people are... time and attendance, touches everyone. How you track, how you track projects, how you track things. If you treat that not just as a task or a thing they have to get done,
but you treat that more as, hey, I'm doing this because I'm trying to find out how best to structure the work or how to help make your work environment better, or how to create an environment where you're going to have opportunities to do more, then I think that's a much better conversation. And I think it leads them in a place where, oh, I'm not just filling out timecards because you're asking me to, but I'm filling this out because it's going to mean something for me. And you show them the data back. Yeah. You're showing how they're moving towards a goal.
Yes. Yeah. I know one of the buzzwords a few years ago was gamification. Yeah. But it is still that idea of give them a visual or any sort of cue that this is all part of something. You are part of something. Again, something that came out of 2020 a lot is people are feeling isolated. So how do I make them feel part of a grand movement,
as part of a community. And that could be done. Yes, exactly. As time management. Yeah. Great answers. Great answers. Okay, last question. Crystal ball time. So, we did the whole thing, and the keynote was, we can tell the future because our data does have forward looking. And I had a great t-shirt on that was like a crystal ball fortune teller. Don't have it on, but pull a picture of it.
So, it's 2027-2020-2028-2029 we're here at HR Tech. You're finally 30. Thank you. What is the big trend? What are we seeing? What's the next big thing or the most interesting thing that we should be looking forward to? I think we're going to see as, and I think that this doesn't necessarily require the data, although it is in there, because we're starting to see some companies come up. It is becoming harder and harder to tell the difference, I think, between HR tech and productivity tools. Work tech.
We are even talking about how we structure our inputs of data and our surveys and our outputs, because if you just look around the floor, you know, you want to use some anecdotal evidence. There's everything from server racks to stakes here because it all falls into that employee experience could mean so many different things to so many people. See big companies that traditionally you don't associate with HR, they're here, they're part of it. And at the same time, those that maybe used to just be thought of, I don't know, let's say just a payroll company. Wow,
they do so much. And, you know, it's like, oh, okay, well, then if we're talking about where to meet someone at their work, well, that's everywhere. Right. That's as you're going in, as you're communicating, as an email. Is email an HR tool? You know, and that sort of thing. I think in 2029, it's going to be very hard to tell exactly like what is the answer. And I think kind of adding on to that, one of the things that we're going to see is because data is so important, it's becoming more important, and everybody wants to have AI help them. I think what we're going to see a lot more of is more environmental data gathering tools. That's going
to be a way where people don't have to feed it in, but it's getting it and not from the internet. I'm not a big scrape the internet, because I think there's a lot of junk on the internet, but more realistic things. We're in our work environment, we're filling out information anyways in certain places so that it just automatically captures it. Where it knows who's in a room and it knows what meetings you've scheduled, and it knows what tools you've sort of put in place. Just
doing that kind of environmental scan so that you don't have to re explain everything when you're going into these environments. I think that's going to be really big in a few years. Yeah, it's tremendous. Yeah. Stacey, Cliff, great insights as always. I love it. I love it. I love it.
Always good to come and talk to you and let's hope we can get back here again to next year. There you go. There's a prediction in 2029, we'll be chatting and just as wonderful as ever. This is amazing, by the way. I don't know if this is going to get picked up on camera, but there's a Sapient Insights fingernail and I did not notice it before. I thought I had enough pink or corporate pink, but this is amazing. You have to come in person if you're not here. It is for those at home.
Fantastic. Well, thank you to our listeners. If you want to learn more about Sapient Insights Group and the research, we'll drop a link in the show notes for you to connect to. Thank you so much for joining the podcast today and listening as always. Please stay happy and healthy. Thanks for joining us for this special episode of THRIVE. What a great interview with Stacey
and Cliff from Sapient Insights. You won't want to miss the next two episodes in this series for more valuable HR technology. And I be sure to check back here on Thursday for your Week In Review episode with me, Gene Marks. We will see you then. Take care. Do you have a topic or a guest that you would like to hear on thrive? Please let us know. Visit payx.me/thrivetopics and send us your ideas or matters of interest. Also, if your business is looking to simplify your HR, payroll, benefits or insurance services, see how Paychex can help. Visit the resource hub at paychex.com/worx. That's W-O-R-X. Paychex can help manage those complexities while you focus on all the ways you want your business to thrive. I'm your host, Gene Marks, and thanks for joining us. Until next time, take care.
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2024-10-19 06:38