How Blockchain Could Revolutionize The Staffing Industry
Blockchain — the technology many of us know simply as the underpinning of cryptocurrency — has the potential to revolutionize the staffing industry in a big way. Our team is currently in research and development into blockchain technology, as are a number of our clients. From administrative efficiency to unhackable sensitive information and instantly accessible talent pools, it appears that blockchain may contain the answers to problems that have been plaguing the staffing industry for decades.
Staffing agencies are charged with handling and verifying extensive sensitive personal and financial information. Storing information securely has always been a pain point for staffing firms, with the current norm of cloud storage making data vulnerable to tampering and hacking. Blockchain greatly reduces the likelihood of information being accessed or falsified by unauthorized devices, and in many cases, it is virtually eliminated.
Another challenge that staffing professionals face is the time-consuming task of verifying candidates’ credentials. Theoretically, blockchain could eliminate this task. With blockchain, it is possible to create verified digital profiles, allowing staffing firms to instantly access individuals’ identities, work history, background checks, references, student transcripts, salary history, certifications and licensures.
When information is added to the blockchain, it must be verified at the source, or in this case by the educational institution, previous employer or responsible entity, making it nearly impossible to falsify information. A blockchain-based system of digital profiles would save potential employers and recruiters the step of verifying the accuracy of candidates’ resumes and applications, increasing the efficiency of staffing teams exponentially, and save candidates the step of filling in basic information on each individual application.
Blockchain has the ability to incorporate additional measures into digital profiles, such as cognitive ability, personality traits, behaviors, habits and even skill competency extracted from individuals’ online assessments. Our use of smart devices is providing endless amounts of anonymized user data that can be used to build a digital extension of ourselves in a way that some believe may replace the need for repetitive pre-employment behavioral and skills assessments.
If gathering data from individuals’ smart devices to assess personality, cognitive ability and skill ability seems far-fetched, then you may be shocked to learn this practice is already happening in many workplaces. With technology advancing at an exponential rate, it is now possible for employers to track and record what their employees do, where they go and who they meet. Here are a few of the ways they do it:
1. Installing real-time employee tracking systems in ID badges to monitor hours worked, frequency of breaks and other behavioral insights.
2. Tapping into your email and calendar metadata, to/from data, subject lines and timestamps to obtain behavioral insights, employee engagement and effectiveness.
3. Monitoring your workstation by tracking your online browsing history, detecting idle workstations, taking screenshots and remotely monitoring computer screens to evaluate productivity and hours worked.
Companies gathering this information would be able to automatically populate a database that allows them to instantly measure employee engagement, productivity, effectiveness and efficiency, as well as habits and personality traits. And some candidates may enjoy having their individual certifications and assessments available in their own blockchain to present to future employers.
