Erica Volini, Global Human Capital Leader at Deloitte Consulting LLP, was a featured speaker at Epstein Becker Green’s 38th Annual Workforce Management Briefing, an event that brought together government officials, in-house employment counsel, human resources professionals, and Epstein Becker Green attorneys to address the latest employment, labor, and workforce management developments.
Ms. Volini’s comments from the session “A Mindset of Innovation: How HR Is Adapting to Emerging Workforce Trends” were featured in Employee Benefit News, in “The Human Side of Tech: Investing in Tools That Better the Employee,” by Caroline Hroncich.
Following is an excerpt:
While employers have invested millions in technology, it may not be improving productivity.
That’s according to Erica Volini, Deloitte’s global human capital leader, who spoke Monday at Epstein Becker Green’s Workforce Management briefing in New York. Instead of amassing a collection of new technology, Volini said employers should instead focus on bringing tools on board that can make employee’s lives easier, by automating certain everyday tasks.
“Where we’re seeing the gap in productivity is organizations are not figuring out how to combine that technology with the power of humans,” she said. To remain competitive, employers need to think differently, she added.
As tech advances, employers should get creative about the types of roles they are hiring for, she added. For example, over the last two years, Nordstrom has been experimenting with clothing stores that carry no for sale inventory. Instead, shoppers can try on clothing in store and then have their selections ordered online.
This is one way technology is changing the retail industry, Volini said. Retailers like Nordstrom, for example, will likely have to rethink the role of in-store employees and how they can work in cooperation with technology.
“The retail experience now becomes a hyper personalized experience where you’re engaging with a consumer and talking with them not about the item they’re going to purchase but how they can feel their best,” she added. “What they’ve done, in this very simple way, is redefining the future of work for their organization.”