As we are approaching almost a year of remote work, organizations are starting to figure out what it looks like to transition back to offices. According to PwC’s Remote Work Survey, 75% of executives anticipate that at least half of office employees will be working in the office again by July 2021. Although there seems to be a consensus on the importance of offices to collaboration and team-building, there is no agreement on the balance of at home work days vs. in-office days.
HR’s Top Priorities for 2021
Whatever this may look like for your organization – whether it’s completely remote working or a hybrid work model – the department that is overseeing this effort will most likely be HR. To get a better understanding of the current landscape, we spoke to a group of HR leaders at Rock Central, a professional services company that supports the businesses within Rocket Companies like Rocket Mortgage and Rocket Auto, about their priorities for 2021. The resounding theme was how to determine the best way for their 24,000 team members to transition back to the office. Because this is no small feat, they created a future of work team that is leading the charge with an intense focus on everyone’s health and wellbeing.
“The future of work initiative is our phased approach to getting team members back in offices,” said Tanya Andersen, a Team Leader of Enterprise People Strategy. “We’re not limiting our options here. We are considering everything from a new hybrid work model to being intentional about how we support our team members in having the flexibility and autonomy to visit the office when they can or want.”
With the future of work in mind, leaders at Rock Central are prioritizing continued connection and collaboration. Dan Ngoyi, VP of Talent Acquisition at Rocket Mortgage, explained, “Simply put, we’re prioritizing collaboration, and more of it. Collaboration is what’s driven our business and allowed us to generate immense success, especially during the challenges of the pandemic.”
The team at Rock Central is leveraging technology, like Sift, to advance their goals.
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HR leaders are leveraging Sift to
Advance connection and collaboration
Like Dan pointed out, collaboration and connection are two priorities for HR, especially when thinking about implementing a hybrid work model. To leaders in the field, Sift plays a vital part in facilitating connection and collaboration. Ray Macksoud, a Director of Project Management at Rock Central, put it well, stating,“Sift is a live snapshot of who’s in our ecosystem.” Having that snapshot of the organization can be a huge advantage when determining who is best to sit in on certain meetings or who to route to for approval on a pressing project. Rather than asking around to 10 different people, the solution can be found in seconds thanks to Sift.
Marjani Chapman, a Senior Team Leader of Onboarding Operations, further emphasized: “Sift is absolutely a critical tool. It’s the best way to understand who is among you and what value they add and serves as an in-depth source of truth for the talent in your organization that goes way beyond job title. Every company at the core is looking for a way to have a directory but Sift takes it beyond that by adding so many additional layers of information. There’s a ton of opportunity to capitalize on this added connectedness.”
Accelerate new hire onboarding
Onboarding as a fully remote employee is a challenge in itself. As such, Rock Central invested and is continuing to develop a stellar, fully virtual onboarding experience. For Nicole Hostetter, a VP of People Operations at the company, this is one of her primary focuses this year. She explained, “One of our largest priorities is the overall onboarding experience of team members. Four months ago, we created a new team focused solely on this process. We are thinking critically about what the overall experience is like from the candidate/new team member’s perspective – from the time we create the role to the person’s first day.”
Sift plays a role in Rock Central’s onboarding experience. Marjani described Sift’s value for her team, stating “It has helped us tie threads and connect internally. As a team, we already plug Sift into our orientation and onboarding experience because it helps our new team members familiarize themselves with our organization’s structure.”
HR leaders like Nicole and Marjani have been able to leverage tech solutions like Sift to support their onboarding experience and ultimately to meet their goals.
Recruit for internal hires
Did you know internal hiring is 6x more effective than external hiring? HR leaders know it, and they’re using Sift to identify and fill skills gaps. Dan explained, “Sift can be very helpful in an internal recruiting/mobility capacity. Whenever we’re thinking about finding someone to fill a position, it is part of our approach. If people are already aware of the skills available in an organization, it takes less time identifying who can fill the job opportunities available. The ease and ability to do that is such a valuable part of what Sift does for us.”
Like Dan illustrated, being able to access the skills and knowledge that is available in your organization equips HR leaders with the ability to understand their talent pool and to easily access (and leverage) the talent they need.
Learn more
These are just some ways that HR leaders use Sift to advance their priorities for this year, and to ultimately find, discover, and connect with their whole organization. See what users of Sift are saying about it!
