Indeed FutureWorks 2023: The Best Interactive Elements

At the Better Work Cafe, for example, clever posters sparked thought and conversation: “Work wellbeing is all about the blend,” and “Work isn’t supposed to give you the jitters.” The Better Work Shop offered cheeky totes (“Per my last email … 😀”) and books associated with various speakers, like Viola Davis’s memoir “Finding Me.” 

And throughout the center, engaging, interactive installations brought key concepts — fair chance hiring, skills-based hiring, work wellbeing and AI-supported hiring — to life in smart, fun ways. 

Your Perception: The Risk and Reward of Fair Chance Hiring

Indeed FutureWorks 2023 partnered with artist Michael Murphy to create a multidirectional illusion sculpture. Viewed from one angle, it reads: RISK. Walk in an arc around it, though, and another message emerges: REWARD. 

As the placards explain, Murphy’s artwork was inspired by the issue of fair chance hiring, and the disparity between myth and reality (and the perceived risk and actual reward) when it comes to hiring people who have been impacted by the court system. 

One in three Americans — more than 70 million job seekers — have past legal involvement. Formerly incarcerated people face a 27% unemployment rate. This is higher than the overall U.S. unemployment rate at any time in history, including the Great Depression. Yet 85% of human resources professionals believe individuals with past legal involvement are just as, or even more, dependable than individuals without them. 

“We work with second chance homes, where people are transitioning back into society after being incarcerated,” said Angela Trawick, Senior Director of Company Operations at the Lagunita Franchise Operations of Dunkin’, which has 700 employees across 36 locations in the American South. She explained that the general manager of their Little Rock, Arkansas, branch actually came from one of these homes. “Are you a person with integrity?” she added. “That’s all that matters. Everyone deserves a second chance.”

As Trawick has observed, workers with records tend to have longer tenures, are less likely to quit and work harder to prove themselves. Fair chance hires generate positive economic impact through improved productivity and reduced recruitment and training costs. Additionally, a recent report from Indeed and Kickstand shows that employees actively want to work at companies with fair chance hiring practices. 

“The prison population is just so large,” said Jason Pistulka, Assistant Vice President of Talent Acquisition Operations at HCA Healthcare, which owns 182 hospitals across 20 states and employs more than 300,000 people. “There’s the economic burden of that, but also the hardships of people who are coming out of prison — and the recidivism rate because they can’t get a job. It’s really a large-scale societal problem.” 

But sometimes industry requirements can hamper fair chance hiring efforts. “There are some things we cannot do because of regulations,” Pistulka said. “But we do the best with what we have. We can — and do — evaluate people on a case-by-case basis,” he added, saying that he has hired people with felony convictions. “But fair chance hiring isn’t just a switch that you turn on; it takes time to change that line of thinking.” 

(Learn how rewarding fair chance hiring can be at indeed.com/fairchance.)

The Infinite Cost of the Skills Gap

Enter the Indeed FutureWorks 2023 infinity room and you are surrounded by mirrored walls, upon which are projected a seemingly endless supply of cash receding into, well, infinity.

The dazzling display belies a sober reality: the vast sums of money lost due to the failure to adopt skills-based hiring practices.

Looking past candidates’ education or work experience and evaluating them based on their skills has been shown to be five times more predictive of job performance than hiring for education, and more than two times more predictive than hiring for work experience alone. And yet, many employers’ hiring decisions are based on more traditional and accepted metrics, such as education and perceived experience — which has a distinct monetary impact. It has been calculated that traditional hiring costs the U.S. more than $100 billion every year and will cost the economy $2.5 trillion over the next decade. 

The software industry, however, has been at the forefront of this shift. Some industry experts who interacted with the infinity room at Indeed FutureWorks 2023 were especially passionate about the strides their sector has made in doubling down on skills. 

“I’m not really looking for degrees. I need specific skills,” said Mark Grundel, Director of Operations at Black Rocket, a New Jersey-based software company that produces STEM courses for school children. “We do high-volume seasonal employment, so having the skills we need is even more important for our business model, especially in regard to our hiring efforts.” 

Patrick McCue, Senior Managing Director for Stack Overflow, a software developer community (think Reddit but for coders, where engineers can pick the brains of their colleagues online), took a more philosophical approach to what skills-based hiring means for his profession. “In this industry, so many people are self-taught,” he said. “Having a four-year degree only means that you were able to digest information and regurgitate it back to someone. You certainly can do that with a skill, but you also have this tool that has a practical application in a real-world setting.” 

Stirring Conversations on Work Wellbeing

At the Wellbeing Cafe, Brittany Briscoe, Human Resources Experience and Culture Manager for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), said that work wellbeing is her top priority. “I really try to set out and create a work-life balance for everyone at the company,” she said. “But work wellbeing has to be a holistic approach. Personal, emotional, financial, environmental — it all has to be part of a dedicated initiative to support our workers.” 

Speaking of wellbeing, over in the Rest and Recharge Center, guests took advantage of NOOK pods. These relaxed, semi-encapsulated spaces for getting work done are emblazoned with tenets of work wellbeing: “Peace,” “Happiness” and “Satisfaction.”

Downstairs in the WonderWorks theater, Indeed Director of Talent Intelligence Rob Williams and Director of Marketing for Indeed Canada Michelle Slater led a lively — and interactive — work wellbeing session with the audience.

Williams and Slater first prompted attendees, seated around tables, to write down one word that best exemplified work wellbeing to them. At one table, the responses included balance, harmony, happiness and care — all core pillars of not only a holistic recruitment and management approach but of a healthy work life. “What’s fascinating is that we also have security and trust,” Slater said as she went through one group’s word choices. “And that’s the outcome of having good workplace wellbeing.”

From there, Williams and Slater prompted each table to have a discussion among themselves on how work wellbeing initiatives can help recruit new and enterprising workers, especially among the younger candidates who have rising expectations about workplace happiness. 

“The big trend that I’m seeing is that transparency is a value proposition,” Anisha Vinny explained to her tablemates. She holds the role of Senior Analyst and Program Manager at Frost & Sullivan, a market research company. “People want transparency about leadership diversity, about flexibility, about working hours, about ESG priorities. More and more, people want to work for companies whose value propositions somewhat match their own.”

The conversation also shifted to what their companies are currently offering. One attendee explained that his office has been investing in flexible work schedules, salary transparency and office perks. Another said she has been loving her company’s new Summer Fridays initiative, where work during the last day of the week is optional. “We’ve been pitching Fall Fridays,” she said. “But it hasn’t gained traction — yet.” 

Embrace Technology — But Keep It Human

“In one word, what is the most important topic of candidate experience for you?” That was one question posed to the attendees of Select and Connect: An Interactive Exploration of Candidate Experience, hosted by Ute Neher, Head of Indeed’s Global Idea Center. 

The group discussion topics ranged from talent intelligence to onboarding and retention. In their conversations, attendees said they look to deliver authenticity, communication, timing, efficiency, honesty and clarity in their hiring processes.

And the responsible use of AI — especially at Indeed — has the potential to support these core sentiments. At the Real World AI session, hosted by Indeed VP of DEIB+ Misty Gaither and Trey Causey, Head of Responsible AI at Indeed, the participants discussed ethics and efficiency in talent acquisition. 

Several participants voiced concerns about unconscious bias in the data used to train AI systems and the lack of transparency into that data. Jim Mertzlufft, VP of Talent Acquisition at real estate company Cushman & Wakefield, cautioned that “you don’t want a computer making a [hiring] decision that you wouldn’t be comfortable defending.” 

Mertzlufft’s point was the heart of many discussions at Indeed FutureWorks 2023: keeping the humanity in hiring. 

Check out these other stories from Indeed FutureWorks 2023:

• Making Hiring More Human in the Age of AI
• Viola Davis on Authenticity, Opportunity and Owning Your Story
• Screening In, Not Out, Is the Future of Hiring
• New AI-based Product Announcements
• LaFawn Davis on How Responsible AI Can Build a Better World of Work
• How “HR from the Heart” Helps Infosys Build Better Work