At Indeed’s recent FutureWorks 2022 conference, Indeed CEO Chris Hyams spoke about why he loves leading a company that’s committed to making the future of work better for all, and what Indeed is doing to move hiring forward. Check out the video of his talk, or read on for a few highlights.
On working in an adolescent psychiatric hospital and as a special education teacher:
Both of these jobs were maybe the hardest I’ve ever had. But every day, I had an incredibly clear sense of purpose. My job was to help people who faced immense barriers and immense challenges — and as hard as it was to do that every day, that meaning helped me to be present and useful one day at a time.
On how the pandemic fostered humanity in the workplace:
We spent two and a half years seeing piles of laundry and crying dogs and barking kids, and we’ve come face to face with the complexity and challenges of each other’s messy lives. We care for sick family members, navigating mental health crises, coming to terms with hate and injustice. How we show up for each other every day with compassion and care has become one of the most important parts of our jobs.
On why it’s so important to make job searching faster and simpler:
Disruption is very real, it’s very human. When driverless cars become the norm, millions of drivers will lose their jobs... People, especially in Silicon Valley, use the word “disruption” like it’s just this amazing thing... But these are people we’re talking about.
Once we identify those trends and potential disruptions in the labor market, the next thing we need to do is make sure that people who are displaced get hired faster. According to research from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — or, OECD — 40% of people in OECD countries would fall below the poverty line if they were out of work for more than 12 weeks . . . By the year 2030, our goal is to shorten the overall duration of job search by 50%.
On why fair chance hiring is a top priority:
Talent is universal, opportunity is not. There are bias and barriers throughout the hiring process that exist for millions of people — people who are justice-impacted, disabled people, people without a degree, people with the wrong degree; or, just people who might get passed over because of the name or neighborhood on their resume.
We are committed to using our technology and resources to break down those barriers and to create economic opportunities for all. In addition to our ESG commitment to shorten job search duration by 50%, we have also committed to helping 30 million people who face barriers get hired by 2030.
On Indeed’s excitement to build a future of better work for all:
Every job is a source of dignity, of pride and purpose. Helping others provides meaning to the nearly 90,000 hours of our lives we spend at work. And helping others is fundamental to our humanity.
