#HRTechChat Episode Six Preview: Mobile Technology and a Friendly Debate

A few short weeks ago, a friendly debate developed on #TChat Radio. The topic-within-the-topic was the intersection of technologies for HR, recruiting and talent management with mobile workers and their habits, i.e. what defines these workers, how and why should an organization use and not use technology to reach them, where are they, and just what are their numbers, truly? Discussing the possibilities to their hearts' content—there's your Valentine's Day nod—participants reached a quasi-détente, agreeing that what constitutes being a mobile worker may in fact be nothing more than telecommunication via computer. And that might be a clunky, desktop computer, too, not exactly what bleeding-edge human resource crusaders envision: iPad-toting, Droid-holding, Skype-using über-workers just this side of the Borg (but notably bereft of a pernicious need to assimilate).
 
Mobile Workers Are Taking Over
 
First, let's look at the numbers. They point irrefutably to a mobile workforce of some sort or other that is growing—and quickly. Last time we checked, the world's population had already cleared 7 billion this year, and in 2010, mobile workers exceeded one-seventh of that. Yes, more than 1 billion workers worldwide were mobile in 2010, according to "Mobile HR Solutions: Connecting & Empowering Your Workforce," a joint report by VDC Research and the ADP Research Institute (ADPRI) that predicted the figure to grow another 10 percent or more by mid-decade. So we're almost there. Cue the contrarian: "Yeah, but that's for the entire planet. Those numbers must reflect heavily on Japan and China." They probably do, but here alone, in the United States, growth will be intense. IDC forecasts that the number of mobile workers will reach 75.5 percent of the U.S. workforce by 2013. That's 119.7 million.
 
Providing Information Employees Need
 
Put another way, the number of mobile workers worldwide is increasing faster than the population itself. Has your head exploded yet? That's a slew of workers who aren't at the office, but who still want immediate, easy access to their vitals, which HR needs to provide. Workforce management is the low-hanging fruit, the logical step for mobile applications in human capital management. And it's the first step large players are taking now. Helping HR to provide workers with information on the things they work for (e.g. compensation and benefits), and helping workers and HR to keep work itself straight (e.g. time and attendance), are activities lending themselves readily to mobile technology.
 
Providing Information Employees Need, Redux
 
That would be need, but as in crave. Mobile-enabling self-service workforce management tools may give employees the information they need to keep up to date, but adding a dimension of mobile technology to anything that starts with the word employee or employment will keep workers, period. The potential for mobile technology to drive retention is high, and employee engagement, employee recognition and employer brand come to mind as areas that mobile applications can easily make better.
 
Resist Futile Resistance and Reach beyond Needs to Cravings
 
HR, recruiting and talent management professional, and vendors of HCM technology, too, take heed: Resistance is futile, but so is assimilation. Yes, mobile employees are a formidable and growing mainstay of the workplace, and increasingly, the best way to reach them will be via mobile technologies. To resist the trend is folly, and so is the temptation to approach mobile technology for employees as if every employee is the same, looking for a one-size-fits-all experience.
 
How do we resist the resistance to embrace mobile, and how do we avoid assimilation of the mobile experience's every aspect? How do we apply mobile technologies to workforce management and other administration-heavy processes for efficiency's sake? Wherever possible, how do we move beyond that, trading in a rote user experience for dynamic one-to-one communication tailored to every employee?
 
NEW TIME! Join Us on Wednesday, Feb. 15, for #HRTechChat Episode Six
 
#HRTechChat has moved to Wednesday and is now a weekly chat. How about that? To participate, please join us for Episode Six of #HRTechChat on Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 4pm ET / 1pm PT. And be sure to check out "TChat, the World of Work" just a couple short hours later. This week, #TChat will explore how "Digital Leaders Connect the Workplace Dots"—a fitting segue for this week's #HRTechChat, whose questions are as follows:
 
Q1: How do you define a mobile worker? #HRTechChat
Q2: How do you define technology for the management of mobile workers? #HRTechChat
Q3: Which areas of HR, recruiting & talent management are best & least suited to #mobiletech? #HRTechChat
Q4: What's the most innovative use you’ve seen of #mobiletech for HCM? Was it useful? #HRTechChat
Q5: How can #mobiletech help orgs address employees' healthy cravings & thus retain talent? #HRTechChat
BONUS QUESTION: Did the Borg ever appear in the original "Star Trek" television series? #HRTechChat