Research Library
Using the Research Library
The research below is drawn from more than five years of industry studies, practitioner interviews, and deep analysis of the most important topics facing talent leaders today.
Feel free to use the categories below to find what you are looking for, or you can search for content that matters most to you.
Research Reports and Graphics
6+ Generative AI Applications in Talent Acquisition Today [Infographic]
Generative AI. It’s the topic in what seems like every conference agenda, presentation, and headline today. But so much of it is focused on things like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini (formerly Google Bard). However, there are a few “flavors” of generative AI being used by talent acquisition and HR teams today: Off-the-shelf public systems like…
4 Research-Backed Actions to Engage and Convert More Candidates
The data points are clear: candidate expectations today have evolved, and if you’re not staying on top of those changes, you may be missing out on the very best talent in the market. Based on our proprietary research from more than 2,500 candidates in the last two years, here are four practical things you can…
RPO Buyer Study: Key Findings and Preferences [New Research]
Each year we partner with the RPO Association to produce a research study to examine and understand how the recruitment process outsourcing market is changing, what buyers expect, and the realities of the current landscape. Our latest report was recently released featuring findings from more than 500 RPO buyers, and it’s currently available at no…
Recruiting Automation: Employer and Candidate Preferences [Infographic]
The world of recruitment is undergoing a seismic shift, thanks in no small part to advancements in artificial intelligence and automation. Recent data from our Lighthouse Research & Advisory Talent Acquisition Trends study underscores this transformation, revealing some thought-provoking trends. First, employers are now 41% more likely to report increased efficiencies in talent acquisition due…
Speed Counts in Hiring: How to Shorten Cycle Times and Increase Candidate Satisfaction [Infographic]
Today, creating a positive candidate experience is not just a nice-to-have; it’s a must-do. Recent data points from Lighthouse Research & Advisory studies offer a compelling insight into why this is more important now than ever: Two out of the top three reasons candidates ghost employers are directly tied to speed and hiring workflows. A…
2023 Recap: A Turbulent Year with Significant M&A Changes in the HR Technology Market
Our annual reporting on M&A in the HR technology space is one of our most popular pieces of content year after year (see our 2022 version here). We look at some of the many announcements that happen over the course of the year, flag some key ones, and identify any big trends that seem to…
The Evolution of Pay Equity and Transparency in the Modern Workplace [Infographic]
Increasingly, our research is showing that pay equity and pay transparency are critically linked. In other words, employers that score highly in one will typically score highly in the other, and vice versa. That’s because as the market has shifted in recent years, we’ve seen a clear connection between transparency and openness on compensation and…
First Look at 2023 Talent Acquisition Research: Pay Transparency, Ghosting, and More
Updated December 2023 with new candidate data from Q3. Of all the aspects of human capital management, talent acquisition has seen a tremendous upheaval in the last three years. From a full stop in 2020 to full speed in 2021 and 2022, we’re now seeing some mixed signals about what the future holds. The essential…
Fast, Fair, and Functional: A New Look at Structured Interviews [New Research]
For talent acquisition leaders, it sometimes feels as if there is a set of opposing forces fighting for control over hiring processes: We need a strong, supportive candidate experience We need to provide fair consideration and minimize bias We need to pick the candidate who can best perform the job… All that seems like a…
The Next Generation of Talent Rises and Falls on Potential [New Report]
Can I be transparent for a moment? Earlier this year, the team at Plum reached out to us about writing a piece for a different audience than we typically reach. Instead of targeting enterprise talent leaders, HR professionals, and business leaders, we were reaching out to students, recent graduates, and job seekers. We are helping…
Case Studies
Case Study Report: The Value of Company Culture in the Age of AI
In a world where technology reigns supreme, we must not forget the heart of our organizations—the culture. The beating heart of company culture guides our values, beliefs, and actions towards a higher purpose. Fulfillment, communication, trust, and diversity form the cornerstones of a transformative culture that fuels growth and fulfillment in the workplace. By championing…
Trusaic 2023 HR Tech Awards Case Study
About the Company Trusaic is a workplace equity technology company committed to advancing social good by helping organizations achieve pay equity, foster a more diverse and inclusive workforce, assist economically disadvantaged individuals with finding work, and ensure employee access to affordable healthcare. Trusaic’s mission is to create a better working world through data-driven, people-centered technology…
SmartRank 2023 HR Tech Awards Case Study
About the Company SmartRank is a Non-Traditional Productivity-ATS that completely automates the job applicant screening process, stack-ranks and filters those applicants, and gives hiring managers exactly what they’re looking for without using/needing a résumé. This saves time, increases hiring quality, and reduces both hiring manager frustration and recruiter workload. SmartRank was originally founded in April…
SkyHive 2023 HR Tech Awards Case Study
About the Company SkyHive is a Certified B Corporation and software provider of global workforce intelligence technology, optimizing labor market efficiencies in real-time for companies, communities, and national economies. Like the DNA of the human genome was coded, SkyHive has coded human capability. By doing so, governments, large enterprises, and educational institutions can reskill the…
Schoox 2023 HR Tech Awards Case Study
About the Company Schoox is workplace learning software with a people-first twist. For organizations with frontline, remote, and corporate learners who need an engaged and skilled workforce ready to take on the new challenges of their evolving business, Schoox is an award-winning learning management and talent development company. This SaaS solution delivers social-, mobile-, and…
HiBob 2023 HR Tech Awards Case Study
About the Company HiBob is on a mission to enable companies to thrive through change using people-first strategies. The HCM platform, Bob, simplifies the complexities of today’s global, hybrid, and remote world of work, driving greater impact for HR, managers, and employees. The ideal customer is a modern, multinational, mid-enterprise company with 250-3,000 employees with…
Jobvite 2023 HR Tech Awards Case Study
About the Company Jobvite, an Employ Inc. brand, is a purpose-built proven talent acquisition (TA) solution built to innovate, scale, and solve the hiring complexities within sophisticated organizations across the entire TA lifecycle. Jobvite’s Evolve Talent Acquisition Suite is a comprehensive TA solution, empowering teams to address challenges across the entire talent acquisition lifecycle. The…
Cornerstone 2023 HR Tech Awards Case Study
About the Company Cornerstone powers the future-ready workforce with a next-generation talent experience platform designed to unite technology, data and content and inspire a work environment of growth, agility and success for all. With an AI-powered, skills-forward, experiential platform, built on an open architecture designed for neutrality and scale, Cornerstone helps organizations modernize their learning…
Harri 2023 HR Tech Awards Case Study
About the Company Harri is the revolutionary global leader in Frontline Employee Experience. The Harri platform is built for companies that have service at the heart of their business and believe that the customer experience will never exceed the employee experience. The Harri suite of talent attraction, workforce management, employee engagement and compliance technologies enable…
15Five 2023 HR Tech Awards Case Study
About the Company 15Five is the holistic performance management company. 15Five equips HR teams with a complete, single-platform solution to improve manager effectiveness, drive high performance and engagement, and increase retention. 15Five was founded in 2011, by serial entrepreneur, David Hassell, and born of his deep desire to help people reach their fullest potential at…
Videos, Interviews, and Podcasts
RPO Buyer Study: Key Findings and Preferences [New Research]
Each year we partner with the RPO Association to produce a research study to examine and understand how the recruitment process outsourcing market is changing, what buyers expect, and the realities of the current landscape. Our latest report was recently released featuring findings from more than 500 RPO buyers, and it’s currently available at no…
Lighthouse Listens: 6 Innovative Talent Acquisition Technologies
As part of our ongoing research efforts, our team meets with technology providers across the HR, talent, and learning space on a regular basis. Last month we held a special set of briefings as part of a talent acquisition deep dive we called Lighthouse Listens. In it, we met with six different providers touching on…
Predicting Pay and Skills From Job Market Intelligence Data on #HRTechTalks
In today’s world, things change and evolve so quickly. Take pay for instance. It’s changing faster than the surveys and other data sources can keep up. So what do we do? One area of emerging data comes from labor market intelligence tools. In this episode of #hrtechtalks, we chat with Cary Sparrow, CEO of Greenwich.HR,…
Personalization and Wellness: How AI Supports Wellbeing at Scale
“You need to have a competitive pay and benefits offering. When you go to do that, the employer ends up paying for a lot of things that go unused just because there’s too much to communicate. What’s just amazing about the time and space we’re in now is you can really use personalization to surface…
Compliance Challenges? You’re Not Alone: Featuring ThinkHR/MammothHR on HR Tech Talks
Since the start of this year, multiple new laws have passed that change responsibilities for employers, and that’s just a small sample of the overall changes in the workplace over the last few years. Even when you’re focusing on those evolving requirements, it can be overwhelming to decipher what applies to your company and how to adopt the new regulations.
In this discussion on HR Tech Talks, I am going to chat with Nathan Christensen, CEO of Mammoth/ThinkHR about why navigating compliance is a critical skill set for HR leaders and how his team supports this need for the business (without breaking the bank).
#HRTechTalks
Solving Pay Equity and Comp Challenges: Featuring Curo Compensation on HR Tech Talks
More and more companies across the globe are attempting to tackle the pay equity issue, but it’s not always easy if you don’t have the right tools to support the process. In some brand new research at Lighthouse Research & Advisory, we found that compensation technology is not only becoming more powerful, but it’s becoming a staple of the HR leader’s toolbox for navigating pay decisions across the board.
In this episode, I’m talking with Ruth Thomas of Curo Compensation about how this company has exploded into the scene of compensation management tools. We’ll also cover the firm’s priority focus on pay equity and how it is helping employers to create a fair and equitable playing field when it comes to pay.
#HRTechTalks
Embracing Flexibility in Your Talent System: PeopleFluent on HR Tech Talks
When HR technology first became a “thing,” tools were rigid and structured. Today, some tools are still that way, but others have taken the opposite approach: they allow employers to customize and tailor the settings and capabilities around their unique and specific needs.
In our 2020 research, we found that 97% of firms that say they are adaptable also say that their HR technology plays a key part in that flexibility.
In this episode of HR Tech Talks, I’m going to talk with Stephen Bruce of PeopleFluent about how his firm has adopted this approach and how it results in better customer relationships, stronger capabilities that fit each client’s needs, and deep expertise in talent. We’ll touch on talent mobility, talent analytics, and the need for a flexible system to meet the needs of an agile organization.
#hrtechtalks
Technology Reviews
2023 Recap: A Turbulent Year with Significant M&A Changes in the HR Technology Market
Our annual reporting on M&A in the HR technology space is one of our most popular pieces of content year after year (see our 2022 version here). We look at some of the many announcements that happen over the course of the year, flag some key ones, and identify any big trends that seem to…
Trusaic 2023 HR Tech Awards Case Study
About the Company Trusaic is a workplace equity technology company committed to advancing social good by helping organizations achieve pay equity, foster a more diverse and inclusive workforce, assist economically disadvantaged individuals with finding work, and ensure employee access to affordable healthcare. Trusaic’s mission is to create a better working world through data-driven, people-centered technology…
SmartRank 2023 HR Tech Awards Case Study
About the Company SmartRank is a Non-Traditional Productivity-ATS that completely automates the job applicant screening process, stack-ranks and filters those applicants, and gives hiring managers exactly what they’re looking for without using/needing a résumé. This saves time, increases hiring quality, and reduces both hiring manager frustration and recruiter workload. SmartRank was originally founded in April…
isolved HCM Connect Conference: Serious Growth, Aggressive Roadmap, and a Critical AI Strategy
This week I spent time in beautiful Palm Springs at the isolved Connect user conference. If you’re not familiar with the name, isolved HCM’s hot pink brand is spreading quickly across the nation as they pick up customers, build out the product, and celebrate their increased successes in recent years. See my notes from the…
Ceridian Rebrands to Dayforce, Launches Range of New Features and Strategic Efforts
Fall for analysts like us in the HR technology space equates to travel season, with industry conferences and technology user conferences happening on a weekly basis between August and November. This week is Ceridian’s Insights conference in Las Vegas. Ceridian has been known for its Dayforce product for many years (the company has a 30…
2023 Compensation Data and Technology Buyer’s Guide and Landscape Report [New Research]
Every other year our team takes a deep dive into the world of compensation. We look at all of the top technology providers. We gather data from a wide variety of employers to understand how they are using data and technology to support comp practices. And we ultimately write the industry’s most in-depth research report…
SkyHive 2023 HR Tech Awards Case Study
About the Company SkyHive is a Certified B Corporation and software provider of global workforce intelligence technology, optimizing labor market efficiencies in real-time for companies, communities, and national economies. Like the DNA of the human genome was coded, SkyHive has coded human capability. By doing so, governments, large enterprises, and educational institutions can reskill the…
Schoox 2023 HR Tech Awards Case Study
About the Company Schoox is workplace learning software with a people-first twist. For organizations with frontline, remote, and corporate learners who need an engaged and skilled workforce ready to take on the new challenges of their evolving business, Schoox is an award-winning learning management and talent development company. This SaaS solution delivers social-, mobile-, and…
Jobvite 2023 HR Tech Awards Case Study
About the Company Jobvite, an Employ Inc. brand, is a purpose-built proven talent acquisition (TA) solution built to innovate, scale, and solve the hiring complexities within sophisticated organizations across the entire TA lifecycle. Jobvite’s Evolve Talent Acquisition Suite is a comprehensive TA solution, empowering teams to address challenges across the entire talent acquisition lifecycle. The…
HiBob 2023 HR Tech Awards Case Study
About the Company HiBob is on a mission to enable companies to thrive through change using people-first strategies. The HCM platform, Bob, simplifies the complexities of today’s global, hybrid, and remote world of work, driving greater impact for HR, managers, and employees. The ideal customer is a modern, multinational, mid-enterprise company with 250-3,000 employees with…
See the Latest from Lighthouse Research & Advisory
New Research: SMB HR Tech, Staffing, and Outsourcing Trends
Did you know that within the United States, more than 99% of all businesses have 999 or fewer employees? That means when we talk about enterprise organizations, we’re targeting less than 1% of all businesses. Yes, I understand that the larger ones employ more people, but when you add it all up, the largest companies…
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Workday Rising: Machine Learning, Skills, and the New Face of HCM #wdayrising
https://twitter.com/beneubanks/status/1188881526404071424 If I could encapsulate my takeaways from the Workday Rising conference in 140 characters or less, the tweet above would be a great start. HR and human capital management software has been around for quite some time. I often joke that nobody is manually writing paychecks anymore, but today’s systems go so far beyond…
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HR Technology Conference 2019: AI Grows Up, The Data Play, and More #HRTechConf
This fall has been incredible with plenty of travel across the globe, and the coming weeks promise more of the same. One of the events that I particularly look forward to during the year is the HR Technology Conference. Last week in Las Vegas, thousands of HR, IT, and business leaders converged to explore the…
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10 Reasons Humans are Terrible at Hiring (and How AI Can Help)
Last year, Amazon shuttered an algorithm the team was developing because it realized it was biased. The algorithm was developed by the company’s engineers to look at high-performing employee profiles and then select the right candidates from the firm’s resume database. The problem? The algorithm favored men in its selection process. When this story hit…
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Talent Acquisition Chatbots: Providers, Metrics and Everything You Need to Know [New Research]
We have heard so much about chatbots in the last few years, but what can they really do, and do they really add value? In this new report from our research team, we examined the landscape to uncover all of the providers, talked with the biggest and/or most progressive vendors in the industry, and wrapped…
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Just What is “Advisory” Anyway? How We Work with Clients
Recently we’ve been getting more requests for help from a broad variety of employers and vendors in the industry. They have typically seen our research published somewhere or heard me speak at an event. However, they may also have been referred to us by one of our existing customers or simply found the podcast or…
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13+ HR Case Studies: Analytics, Culture, Learning, Recruiting, Technology, and More
As someone who has worked in the HR profession, I know well the full value of stories, examples, and case studies. At the end of the day, practitioners like us wanted to know that we weren’t the only ones facing a problem and that, just maybe, some other organization had already surmounted the issue with…
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Breaking News: Insights on the Montage Talent and Shaker International Merger
Lots of HR technology news happens daily, and I don’t always write about it. However, the news today that Montage (@montagetalent) and Shaker (@shakervjt) are merging is indicative of a broader change I’ve been watching over the last year or two. Here’s a snippet from the press release and commentary from me below: Shaker International,…
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Why All the AI Research You’re Reading is Dead Wrong
When I was writing my book, Artificial Intelligence for HR, I thought very hard about doing a study on AI adoption by HR professionals. I wanted to understand the degree of penetration into today’s workplace, and the book was my perfect “excuse” as a researcher to explore the topic. However, in my digging I ran…
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The Gravitational Pull of Suite vs the Innovation of Best of Breed
It never fails. Almost every time I speak to audiences about talent, technology, AI, or another related topic, I get a question very similar to this: I’m just curious. Do you see a trend towards consolidation in HR technology or are employers still relying on best-of-breed solutions to accomplish their goals?HR executive at Fortune 500…
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New Research: 81% of Learning Pros Say Disruption Drives Upskilling and Reskilling Demand
We keep hearing that artificial intelligence, bots, and other components of technology will force employers to rethink skills in the workplace. But what do the data say? In a new study, Disruption Drives Reskilling and Upskilling, our team found that 81 percent of learning professionals believe that the current pace of change, automation, and disruption…
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How AI Can Positively Influence Diversity and Inclusion
Last month news broke that an AI-powered facial recognition technology used by law enforcement was actually biased against, well, pretty much everyone other than white men. This news hit the public like a slap in the face, but it’s something I’ve been seeing behind the scenes for some time now. Artificial intelligence as a technology…
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4 Types of Interviewing Technology to Enhance the Candidate Experience
Choosing the Right Talent It’s important to create a great candidate experience, because first impressions mean everything. Assessments, interviews, and post-interview interactions could make all the difference in choosing the right candidate for the job. As an employer, you are faced with the daunting task of selecting individuals to interview. Employers have to peruse through hundreds of applications…
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Onboarding Technologies: What They Can Do For You?
Onboarding is a period of time that varies by company but provides new employees with the necessary information and training to be successful in their new roles in an organization. As I pointed out last week, the average company loses 25% of new hires each year. The onboarding process should be simple, repeatable, and interesting.…
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#Think2019: Making People the Strongest Link in the Business
Check out the podcast episode below or scroll to read some additional insights from the event. For links to resources mentioned in the podcast please visit the podcast page. IBM Think 2019 Event Report Writing in from the IBM Think event in San Francisco this week. So far it’s been a very interesting series of…
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