Indeed FutureWorks 2023: Memorable Moments from the WonderWorks Stage

“I know that you're busy, but your people want to learn from you. They want to connect,” said Taylor Meadows, Head Strategist of Employer Brand and Employee Voice at Glassdoor, during Indeed FutureWorks 2023 in Atlanta on September 21.

Meadows’ session about employer branding and community was one of the conference’s many WonderWorks presentations, which provided insights and data from leading experts on work and labor trends, and hosted candid conversations about overcoming the real hiring challenges employers are facing today. The consensus among presenters? Workers want authenticity from their leaders in the workplace. As each session demonstrated, there’s a variety of strategies to get there.

In addition to Meadows, experts included social media professionals Swish Goswami and Corporate Natalie, human rights lawyer Haben Girma and more. From discussing TikTok to encouraging “vibe checks,” we’ve summed up five moments from WonderWorks this year that really made an impact.

GenAI Won’t Replace Your Leadership

Indeed Hiring Lab Chief Economist Svenja Gudell gave listeners insights into upcoming trends in the labor market, including brand new research from the Hiring Lab report on AI at Work released that very morning.

The report showed that job posts mentioning GenAI are on a steep increase since last year, but still represent a small share of total jobs at less than 1%. And while Hiring Lab found AI is able to feasibly accomplish some knowledge workers’ skills, it isn’t replacing them. 

“A lot of times, what GenAI could help you with are repeatable tasks or summarizing something, but it's not going to take over your critical thinking, your empathy, your leadership — what you have to show up with when you're interacting with other people,” Gudell said.

A lot of times, what GenAI could help you with are repeatable tasks or summarizing something, but it's not going to take over your critical thinking, your empathy, your leadership — what you have to show up with when you're interacting with other people.

Svenja Gudell, Indeed Hiring Lab Chief Economist

In other good news, recession risk isn’t as imminent as recurring headlines about company layoffs make it feel. “Our economy's still holding strong quite a bit, and that reduces recession risk along the way,” Gudell said.

“We're all in a business cycle here so, at some point, the recession will come,” she added. “But for right now, we don't think it's happening anytime soon.”

Strengthen Brand With Community

Meadows debuted brand new findings from a Glassdoor survey of 1,000 U.S. workers across work environments (remote, hybrid and in-office) and generations.

The main discoveries? Workers are lonely and burnt out, everyone wants psychological safety and anonymity is a powerful intelligence tool. Because we spend a third of our waking life at work, said Meadows, “it should bring us some semblance of joy.” Employees who feel a sense of connection are 35% more likely to feel engaged with their work, he said — and talent leaders are the ones who can curate what that looks like. 

He suggested an “elemental vibe check” as an approachable way to make teams feel heard and for leadership to express vulnerability. For example: “How are you doing? I’m feeling air: lightweight and full of bandwidth,” said Meadows, noting that “water” might describe how we’re feeling when we’re overloaded and things are rushing along.

In short, the Glassdoor survey shows that leaders can foster team connection through participation, acknowledgement, celebration and education. In the tight labor market, strengthening your workplace community can build a stand-out brand.

Don’t Be Afraid of Social Media

The share of Gen Z employees in the U.S. workforce is set to triple to 51 million by 2030. To learn what the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in American history is looking for, the audience heard from two Gen Z cuspers, Swish Goswami, CEO of loyalty and rewards platform Surf, and Corporate Natalie, social media content creator and influencer.

For a generation that is chronically online and comfortable with sharing on a public forum, said Corporate Natalie, transparency is key. When 42% of Gen Z cares more about a company aligning with their values than salary, leaders need to demonstrate their company culture and values in every way they interact with their candidates — from their website to the interview.

Goswami said employers need to embrace social media use as a skill to build insight and familiarity into their company. “TikTok is my first search engine,” Corporate Natalie pointed out.

“Empower people like the Natalies in your company [to share on social media],” Goswarmi suggested. “That's a great way to start building advocates within your company. And it's also just free marketing.”

Meet Candidates Where They Are

“Fifty-four percent of U.S. employees said that they would be willing to take a pay cut to work at a company that actually shares their values,” said Bru Mutebi, Indeed Director of Product Marketing, as she opened a session about rising job seeker expectations. “Job seekers are really trying to decide if your company is the right fit for their needs.”

Fifty-four percent of U.S. employees said that they would be willing to take a pay cut to work at a company that actually shares their values. Job seekers are really trying to decide if your company is the right fit for their needs.

Bru Mutebi, Indeed Director of Product Marketing

Joined by John Higgins, Vice President of Talent Management at Essentia Health, and Ravi Subramanian, Vice President Talent Acquisition, U.S. Foods, the three discussed how they are adapting to rising job seeker demands through tech, transparency and work-life balance.

“Coming out of the pandemic, one of the things we learned was that the lines between personal and professional life have gotten blurred,” said Subramanian. “People have childcare issues, people have elder care issues — how do you balance all of that, come to work and still maintain your sanity?”

He found success by experimenting with flexible scheduling, such as testing out remote physicians and hybrid schedules for hiring managers. Then, he gathered feedback through focus groups and engagement surveys and adapted their practices to fit both individual and business needs.

Inclusion is a Choice

In her presentation on disability and innovation, Haben Girma approached the stage accompanied by her seeing-eye dog and with a braille computer in hand. A typist sent audience member feedback to Girma’s computer, which converted the message to braille for her to read, enabling her to stay connected to their reactions. Girma, the first person with vision and hearing loss to graduate from Harvard Law School, is a human rights lawyer working to advance disability justice.

Girma described instances in which other people, not her disability, prevented her from doing what she wanted. Growing up, instructors removed her from physical education courses because they assumed she wouldn't be able to participate. But she did learn to dance at a camp for the visually impaired from a dance instructor with a visual impairment.

“When I'm dancing, I don't see the other dancers. But I can feel the beat through the hands and shoulders of the people I'm dancing with,” she said. Though Girma has been able to dance in places across the world, she recalled one club in Washington D.C. that wouldn’t let her in because of her seeing eye dog.

“Deafblindness does not stop me from dancing,” Girma said. “Ableism can stop me from dancing.”

Deafblindness does not stop me from dancing. Abelism can stop me from dancing.

Haben Girma, human rights lawyer and accessibility advocate

Ableism is a system of beliefs and practices that treat disabled people as inferior. But it’s also building workplaces and technologies without imagining disabled people thriving in those places. “Unintended ableism is still ableism,” she said.

Girma described how, by investing in accessibility, you expand your talent pool to the 1.3 billion disabled people worldwide. Simply adding image descriptions to photos and transcripts to videos increases your content’s reach to disabled and nondisabled people alike. And finding accessibility solutions allows for creative problem solving toward greater innovation. Often, these accommodations cost little while adding significant value, both for employees with disabilities and for employers who benefit from their talent.

However, at the end of the day, it is up to company leaders to take action and make these changes. Or, as Girma said simply, “Inclusion is a choice.”