SEPTEMBER - 2023HR TECH OUTLOOK8In MyOpinionIn an interview, Josh Weaver, head of digital ecosystem and partner management at Guardian Life, talks about his views on the challenges facing the HR industry presently.What are the major challenges and trends impacting the HR industry?First and foremost, managing benefits has become more complex -- and this affects HR teams' on a day-to-day basis. The decade between 2012 and 2022 saw a 15 percent increase in employees who recognized and were impacted by this increasing complexity.For example, while companies have made a lot of headway in moving from paper to digital benefits, their systems are still often not fully integrated. Ramping up and administering new tech tends to be a time-consuming process that can take up to a quarter of employers' typical work week. Employers also face pressure to rein in benefits costs, ensure legal compliance, and increase productivity while offering affordable benefits that help attract and retain talent. Then there are new concerns around talent itself -- or how to best support workers' evolving needs. For example, employers are finding themselves needing to accommodate an increasingly remote workforce. Many employers are trying to address these needs by expanding their employee benefits. Still, these new options may be difficult for existing systems to administer -- and often, they require increased education and communication for the employees to accurately understand them.All of this can make for a litany of intimidating challenges, to be sure, but there are solutions.What kind of progress have you seen around tech use in the HR industry?Simply put, adoption and investment. More than 70 percent of employers say that their company's leadership has been more focused on technology benefits since the pandemic, and nearly half of all employers have followed through and already increased their use of benefits tech in that time. Between 2017 and 2021, there was a 500 percent increase in NAVIGATING THROUGH THE LATEST TRENDS IN HRJosh Weaver, Head of Digital Ecosystem and Partner Management, Guardian LifeAn interview with
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