Highlights From Industry Week: HR Trends, Challenges & Solutions

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Restaurants and Hotels Day

The hospitality industry employs over 15 million people in the US and faces significant HR challenges, such as high employee turnover rates, the need for skilled labor with the right soft skills, and difficulty managing seasonal hiring demands. 

To uncover the most impactful solutions, we spoke with Debbie Wieland, Education Outreach and Foundation Director at Texas Hotel & Lodging Association, and Mandy Wagner, VP of HR Operations at Life Time. Here are the top insights and tips they recommend to engage new talent pools and accelerate hiring without sacrificing the candidate experience: 

5 Key Takeaways from Restaurants and Hotels Day:

1. Encourage part-time roles and cross-training to tackle seasonal hiring demands. College and high school students have a unique opportunity to explore potential career paths through seasonal jobs in various fields. By offering seasonal or part-time positions, your business can help these young individuals discover if a particular role aligns with their future aspirations – while also meeting critical needs of your business. Additionally, cross-training programs can enhance your existing staff's skills, providing them with valuable learning and development opportunities. This approach not only benefits employees but also creates a versatile workforce capable of handling different roles during peak seasons.

2. Prioritize educating and engaging the next generation of workers. There is a common misconception about career opportunities within the hospitality industry among high school and college students – many don’t always recognize the volume of job roles available to them across areas such as accounting, sales, marketing, event planning, catering, and even engineering. Educating and engaging younger pools of talent is critical not only to highlight potential career journeys but to broaden their understanding of the industry as a whole and expand your future talent pools. Partnering with educational centers to communicate internships, host field trips, and distribute educational materials to younger professionals are all fantastic ways to give them hands-on experience and plant the seeds for future potential employees. 

3. Authentically communicate your employer brand. Showcasing what it’s really like to work at your organization makes it easier for candidates to visualize their potential future with you. This behind-the-scenes look also works well for high-volume hiring, as it highlights what a day in the life might look like if a job seeker applied and accepted that position, ensuring they have a better understanding of the role up front. 

4. Leverage AI and automation to remove bottlenecks in high-volume hiring processes. With the continued challenge of increasing speed of hire without impacting the candidate experience, it’s critical to choose tools that make it simple to customize different processes and leverage automation to apply innovative solutions across the candidate journey. AI and automation help make it possible for smaller recruiting teams to manage the influx of applications while maintaining an engaging and positive candidate experience. This is especially important in the hospitality industry where your job applicants are also likely your customers. 

5. Create an environment that supports individual skills within a team setting. It's essential to leverage the capabilities younger generations bring to the workforce while giving them the space to voice innovative ideas. These ideas can potentially transform the daily operations of existing staff members. By fostering an atmosphere where new and existing employees feel encouraged to share their ideas, you create a collective space for growth and improvement. For instance, a Social Media Management role might be ideal for someone in their early 20s, while a Concierge role might be better suited for someone with more experience. Supporting the unique strengths of each team member fosters continuous learning opportunities for employees, ultimately driving business growth.

Ready to take a closer look at how the right tools can help you tackle hiring challenges in the hospitality industry? Get started here.

Healthcare Day

The healthcare industry employs approximately 20 million people in the US. With challenges like increased turnover, burnout, and high stress rising, organizations are struggling to attract and retain talent. But it’s the employees who are the heartbeat of healthcare, and swift action must be taken to ensure quality care reaches every patient.

During Healthcare Day, we were joined by Jeremy Sadlier, Executive Director & CEO of the American Society for Health Care Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA), and Yvette Hansen, Director, DEIB & Talent Attraction of Baylor Scott & White (BSW) Health. They spoke about healthcare-specific trends, challenges, and solutions — and how AI and automation play a critical part in hiring and retention:

5 Key Takeaways from Healthcare Day

1. Competition from other industries is fierce, and you must combat it with innovative recruitment strategies. Labor shortages, inflation, and a shift in how patient care is executed have all impacted the healthcare industry – and both Sadlier and Hansen are seeing candidates being poached by finserv and tech companies all over the country due to quicker recruitment processes, better compensation packages, and more enticing benefits. Hospitals are also competing against each other to find, attract, and retain the most skilled employees. “It makes recruiting that much more challenging,” said Hansen, which is why innovative recruitment strategies are paramount. Candidates expect a personalized and seamless interview experience, and healthcare companies must deliver that in order to stay relevant.

2. The need for speed is critical to meet the rapidly scaling industry. Sadlier doesn’t believe that tech will ever replace our need for humans, but it can help create new opportunities and make the industry more efficient. When recruitment teams adopt technology like automated screening and interview scheduling, the time they previously spent sourcing can now be spent interviewing candidates and building positive relationships. At BSW, for example, their quick and seamless pre-screening technology provides candidates with a decision within 48 hours of applying, and they’ve reduced their time screening candidates from 20 minutes to just three minutes!

3. Treat your employees like you treat your candidates. You “can’t put margin over mission,” said Sadlier, but unfortunately, many healthcare companies are doing just that. Re-recruiting an employee you let go the year before is costly, which is why both Sadlier and Hansen vocalized the importance of treating your employees like you treat your candidates. At BSW, they launched an Employee Voice Campaign, where current employees showcase what it’s like to work there, what their role is like, and what career growth looks like for them. “Not a single image that you’ll find on our career site isn’t truly an employee at Baylor,” said Hansen, showing that with a positive employee experience, higher retention is possible.

4. Leadership courage in healthcare HR is critical. Simply put, you need to fight for your people, said Sadlier. How? By encouraging your leaders to have the courage to influence push-back against budget cuts that affect staffing levels, and therefore, patient care. Leadership courage also looks like advocating for your workforce to ensure short-term financial decisions do not compromise long-term goals, and emphasizing the long-term costs of re-recruiting and the importance of maintaining a stable workforce. Hansen added that having the courage to pilot different programs is crucial for innovation, while keeping your entire team in the loop helps secure buy-in.

5. AI and automation will play a role in everything moving forward. You can do more with less using AI and automation, and this is critical in healthcare, where the current number of graduates is not enough to replace the employees who are aging out of the industry. Hansen suggests using AI and automation to reduce the number of interview rounds, refine and improve job postings to eliminate bias, and reimagine referrals to help boost employee engagement. Sadlier adds that AI and automation can help companies secure top talent, adapt current roles to fit the future of work, improve employee/labor relations, innovate performance evaluations, and create a stronger workforce overall.

Ready to tackle hiring and retention challenges in healthcare? Learn more here.

Manufacturing and Transportation Day

Manufacturing and transportation organizations both face unique challenges when it comes to hiring and retaining their workforce. From an increased importance around safety to the impact of technological advancements, HR teams in both of these sectors are tasked with the responsibility of finding the right balance between generating hiring efficiencies and supporting employee well-being. 

On day 4 of Industry Week, we heard from Jackson Kerchis, Co-Founder, Researcher & Educator from Happiness Means Business (HMB), and Meredith Wellard, VP of Talent Management at DHL Group, to hear how they recommend tackling common challenges within manufacturing, transportation, and logistics industries. 

6 Key Takeaways from Manufacturing and Transportation Day

1. Happiness among employees helps recruitment and retention efforts. Employee well-being, often reflected in self-reported job satisfaction, correlates strongly with success. Investing in tools that promote happiness makes individuals more successful in their personal and professional lives – and this extends to the organizations they work for.  Contrary to the ingrained belief that working harder leads to success and then happiness, Kerchis shared research which shows that happiness actually leads to greater success, better performance, and higher earnings. Organizations also experience financial and performance benefits, as well as a thriving and more productive workplace. 

2. Find the right technology to help you meet candidates where they are. Reducing the barrier to entry for candidates is crucial – no one wants to click to a career site, and click five more times just to find a job application. DHL recognized that their hiring process would benefit from career site consolidation with inclusive language options and automated scheduling to deliver a more personalized experience for candidates. DHL’s hiring teams paired this approach with the right technology to support their needs, effectively allowing them to bring the right information to the right people at the right time.

3. Create an environment of genuine care and compliance. In manufacturing and transportation industries, it’s essential to build a culture of safety and trust. Kerchis from Happiness Means Business highlighted how they helped one of the largest agricultural goods transporters in the United States transform their struggling safety program by addressing both the process and climate aspects of safety. They used a “4S” model, which includes skills, systems, shared commitment, and psychological safety, to help the organization reduce the cost of claims by 80%, leading to $3M in savings per year. 

4. Challenge traditional mindsets by embracing technological advancements. Understanding that technology is changing the way we work and shifting your hiring goals accordingly can be the difference between being set up for future success or falling short. The logistics industry has been revolutionized by technology, and businesses need team members who are not only eager to join that company, but can also seamlessly work alongside robots or with AI advancements and embrace this new era. By fostering agility, organizations will be able to ensure their workforce can thrive amid constant change.

5. Consider opting for a more flexible approach to work schedules. Implementing a four-day workweek can address current challenges by reducing work time without cutting compensation, provided productivity remains unchanged. Pilots of this initiative, which typically see a 20% reduction in work hours, have demonstrated minimal loss for employers due to technological advances boosting productivity. Global studies on four-day work weeks reveal consistent findings: productivity and revenue remain stable or improve, recruitment and retention see a significant boost, attrition decreases by 57%, and workforce size grows by 12%. Additionally, employees experience less burnout (down 71%) and improved mental health (up 43%), making it a boon for overall employee well-being.

6. Find the best ways to communicate your employer brand. Effective employer branding is an underlying theme throughout this week, and for good reason. A well-designed and authentic employer brand helps highlight what it’s really like to work at your company, removing any confusion for candidates while providing them with a behind-the-scenes look into a day in the life of one of your employees. Wellard expanded upon this idea by mentioning that even after you have a solid employer brand, spending time to determine the best ways to communicate that brand across job boards, social media, and your career site is an iterative process. The approach that works for your business will be unique to you – but it’s essential to stand out and attract best-fit candidates. 

Explore how you can embrace new technologies to create an agile workforce, meet candidates where they are, and inspire a happier work environment in manufacturing and transportation. 

Financial Services Day

The financial services industry employs approximately 6 million people in the US, and some of their challenges include hiring a diverse workforce, staying up to date on regulatory compliance, and getting ahead of the rapid transformations within the industry.

We were joined by Amber Lawrence, AVP, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion of Mortgage Bankers Association, and Ryan King, EVP, Head of Talent Acquisition of Regions Bank, to discuss how they’re tackling hiring challenges, keeping employees engaged and happy, and planning for the future of the industry.

5 Key Takeaways from Financial Services Day

1. Early education is critical to promote financial intelligence. Mortgage Bankers Association heavily supports and promotes various financial education programs, working with college students all the way down to elementary schoolers! They’re working hard to dispel myths and preconceived notions people have about mortgage banking institutions, what a job is like in the financial services industry, and more — and what they’ve found is that access to early education is not just benefiting young people, but their parents as well. This education provides greater access to people from all backgrounds, and teaches them how to spend, earn, and invest their money the right way.

2. Strong interpersonal and emotional intelligence skills are a must to boost employee retention. “The work that we do is people-centered and trust-centered,” said Lawrence. “To be successful is to have trust established,” and that starts with strong interpersonal and emotional intelligence skills — from leaders to associates to everyone in between. A great way to establish trust and build a culture of inclusivity and belonging is by engaging people through surveys internally and not being afraid to implement the feedback that’s given. “Connecting, listening, and collaborating. That’s what people want,” said Lawrence. When leadership considers how things are communicated to their employees, it shows those employees exactly how they contribute to the mission of the organization, and boosts retention in the process.

3. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) isn’t one-size-fits-all, but it’s a non-negotiable for your company. Many companies are cutting back on DE&I programs because they’re too expensive or they realized they didn’t go about them the right way. This “sends the message that people aren’t important, their lived experiences aren’t important,” says Lawrence. So, how can different companies approach DE&I in a way that works for them? Through mentorship programs, employee and candidate advocacy, specialized training, and partnership with other trade groups. All of these strategies help expand diverse pools of candidates entering the industry and retain employees, helping them progress into leadership positions. “The more and more you get people connecting to each other, the more you find that we’re more alike than different,” said Lawrence.

4. You can solve critical business challenges through recruitment automation and AI. Regions Bank learned this lesson firsthand. By implementing recruitment automation and AI, they “completely reconstructed and rebranded our dynamic internal and external career sites,” resulting in a thriving talent community of leads, candidates, applicants, and happy employees. They’ve also used it to capture abundant leads, both passive and active, nudge candidates and internal employees to complete applications, send targeted campaigns to different talent pools, and much more. With AI and automation, they’ve jumped from 16,000 applications a month to 21,000, and don’t have plans to stop there.

5. Strong employer branding improves recruiting and retention initiatives. People who visit your career site want to know who you are and what it’s like to work at your company. When you approach this authentically, you boost recruitment and retention. King shared that by completely reinventing their candidate and employee experiences through things like multiple landing pages and microsites within their career site, as well as an always-on chatbot that can offer personalized experiences to candidates, they were able to attract 808,000 visitors to their career site in 2024, with 66% first-time visitors! Lawrence agrees that a genuine brand can work wonders. When you have the willingness to rework things that aren’t successful, you can make your culture that much more impactful.

Learn more about how to grow, replace, and align skills to meet changing business and service models with Phenom for Financial Services.

Ready to learn how Phenom can solve your industry-specific challenges? Learn more about the Phenom Intelligent Talent Experience platform and request a personalized conversation with our team here.