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.

Insightful Highlights

Zapier's Head of Onboarding: "We automated hundreds of hours of manual tasks"

Research Reports and Graphics

How Learning and Skill Development Affect Business Agility, Employee Belonging, and Productivity [Report]

There’s an old proverb that essentially states “the shoemaker’s children have no shoes.” The more modern version is “the cobbler’s children have no shoes,” even though handmade shoes are mostly a lost art. However, the metaphor still has a profound message. Where we have expertise, we often use that expertise for the benefit of others,…

Performance Management is Out: Performance Enablement is In

In the realm of organizational success, the approach to enhancing employee performance is undergoing a significant transformation. Gone are the days when traditional performance management methods—marked by goal-setting, monitoring, and reviewing—were the norms. These outdated practices, often criticized for their ineffectiveness and tendency to induce stress, are making way for a more dynamic and supportive…

Ghosting isn’t Unsolvable [Infographic]

The phenomenon of candidate ghosting, where candidates suddenly cease communication with potential employers, has become an increasing concern in the hiring landscape. This trend manifests in various forms, including candidates who apply and never respond to outreach, individuals who participate in interviews but vanish without feedback and even new hires who fail to show up…

The Powerful Intersection of Performance, Development, and Recognition [Infographic]

The confluence of employee performance, development, and recognition within an organization holds transformative power as a cornerstone for fostering an invigorating and productive workplace atmosphere. When these elements are effectively integrated and supported, they enhance individual engagement and satisfaction and propel the organization’s collective success forward. Conversely, lacking adequate support in these areas can lead…

Creating a Positive Data-Driven Employee Experience [Infographic]

Crafting a top-notch employee experience is all about creating a workplace where everyone feels engaged, processes run smoothly, and the overall culture adds value. The secret? Using the right data at the right times. This approach transforms the day-to-day for employees, aligning their personal journey with the company’s goals. And here’s something interesting in our…

Quality of Hire is Critical: How to Make it Count

Recently there’s been a considerable amount of discussion on LinkedIn about this concept called “talent density.” Essentially it means that employers have to ensure that they have a high-quality workforce (a high concentration, or density, of top performers). In my opinion it’s just another name for quality of hire, the top metric that talent acquisition…

2024 Talent Acquisition Trends: What’s New and What’s Next [Report]

Every year I look forward to our team’s survey and analysis of the talent acquisition market, because it’s a space that moves quickly and has a tremendous amount of innovation both in the technologies as well as the practices that employers use to create successful outcomes. This year’s report is no exception, highlighting what is…

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…

Case Studies

How Paycor Transformed Workforce Management for All City Management Services (ACMS)

By Ben Eubanks

Paycor: Empowering Leaders to Build Winning Teams Paycor is a leader in Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions, delivering a unified experience for all things HR. With an unrivaled product depth and a single source of truth for employee data, Paycor ensures that users never have to switch platforms, log in to multiple systems, or re-key…

How Quantum Workplace Helped Seacoast Bank Build a Culture of Listening and Engagement

By Ben Eubanks

Quantum Workplace: Empowering Employee Success Through Engagement and Performance Quantum Workplace is redefining how organizations drive employee success by creating tools that prioritize engagement, performance, and alignment. With over two decades of data and methodology backing its solutions, Quantum Workplace has become the trusted partner for organizations seeking to inspire impact and build a magnetic…

How DuraServ Used isolved to Transform HR Insights and Gain Actionable Workforce Analytics

By Ben Eubanks

isolved: Transforming Employee Experience and People Analytics For nearly 40 years, isolved has been at the forefront of transforming employee experiences through its innovative human capital management (HCM) platform, isolved People Cloud. Originally established to help businesses navigate COBRA, isolved has evolved into a leading provider of integrated HR solutions for businesses of all sizes.…

How iCIMS Helped SiteOne Boost Completed Applications by 55% and Revolutionize Recruitment Strategies

By Ben Eubanks

iCIMS: Building Winning Workforces with Talent Acquisition Technology iCIMS is a global leader in talent acquisition technology, empowering organizations to attract, engage, hire, and retain top talent. With over 20 years of innovation, iCIMS has transformed how organizations worldwide connect with the right people and build exceptional candidate and employee experiences. In 2023 alone, iCIMS…

How Dolphin Hotel Management Transformed Hiring with Paycor’s Recruiting Solution

By Ben Eubanks

Paycor: Empowering Leaders to Build Winning Teams Paycor is a leader in Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions, designed to empower leaders with the tools they need to streamline HR processes and focus on strategic initiatives like talent development, employee engagement, and retention. Offering a unified platform for all things HR, Paycor eliminates the need for…

Driving Retention and Skills Transformation with Phenom’s Employee-First Solutions

By Ben Eubanks

Phenom: Redefining Talent Acquisition and Development with AI Phenom is transforming talent management by creating AI-driven solutions that connect candidates, employees, recruiters, and managers across a seamless platform. By fostering personalized, skills-forward experiences, Phenom helps organizations hire faster, develop employees to their full potential, and retain top talent longer. Phenom’s Intelligent Talent Experience platform powers…

How Paycor Empowered All City Management Services (ACMS)

By Ben Eubanks

Paycor: Empowering Leaders with Comprehensive HCM Solutions Paycor revolutionizes human capital management (HCM) by delivering a unified platform that simplifies workforce operations while driving strategic value for leaders. Paycor’s solutions empower organizations to streamline recruitment, onboarding, payroll, and career development processes, providing a single source of truth for employee data and enabling more effective decision-making.…

How Longchamp USA Boosted Retention and Streamlined Compliance with Mineral’s HR Solutions

By Ben Eubanks

Mineral: The HR and Compliance Partner for Growing Businesses Mineral, a Mitratech company, is the trusted HR and compliance leader for small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Serving over 1 million businesses through partnerships with 2,500 insurance brokers, health insurers, PEOs, and HCMs, Mineral provides the tools, data, and human expertise needed to simplify HR compliance. Its flagship…

How Oviva Healthcare Achieved a 301% ROI and Reduced Employee Turnover by 10.5% with HiBob

By Ben Eubanks

HiBob: Redefining HCM for a Global, People-First World HiBob’s modern HCM platform, Bob, empowers companies to navigate today’s global and hybrid workplace with people-first strategies. Designed for organizations with 100-8,000 employees and dispersed teams, Bob streamlines HR processes, supports data-driven decision-making, and creates exceptional employee experiences. HiBob partners with over 3,600 global companies, including Extreme…

How Paycor Helped Dolphin Hotel Management Win the War for Talent

By Ben Eubanks

Paycor: Empowering Leaders with Comprehensive HCM Solutions Paycor revolutionizes human capital management (HCM) by providing a unified platform designed to simplify and enhance every aspect of workforce management. From streamlining recruitment to empowering leaders with actionable insights, Paycor’s technology supports industries like healthcare, food and beverage, manufacturing, and professional services. Paycor focuses on empowering frontline…

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,…

New Findings on Worker Preferences, HR Jobs, and More #HRTechTalks

Frictionless Recruiting with MapRecruit on #HRTechTalks

Getting Comfortable with Data: featuring Salary.com on #HRTechTalks

we're only human podcast tile

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

hr tech awards

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

How Paycor Transformed Workforce Management for All City Management Services (ACMS)

By Ben Eubanks

Paycor: Empowering Leaders to Build Winning Teams Paycor is a leader in Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions, delivering a unified experience for all things HR. With an unrivaled product depth and a single source of truth for employee data, Paycor ensures that users never have to switch platforms, log in to multiple systems, or re-key…

How Quantum Workplace Helped Seacoast Bank Build a Culture of Listening and Engagement

By Ben Eubanks

Quantum Workplace: Empowering Employee Success Through Engagement and Performance Quantum Workplace is redefining how organizations drive employee success by creating tools that prioritize engagement, performance, and alignment. With over two decades of data and methodology backing its solutions, Quantum Workplace has become the trusted partner for organizations seeking to inspire impact and build a magnetic…

How DuraServ Used isolved to Transform HR Insights and Gain Actionable Workforce Analytics

By Ben Eubanks

isolved: Transforming Employee Experience and People Analytics For nearly 40 years, isolved has been at the forefront of transforming employee experiences through its innovative human capital management (HCM) platform, isolved People Cloud. Originally established to help businesses navigate COBRA, isolved has evolved into a leading provider of integrated HR solutions for businesses of all sizes.…

How iCIMS Helped SiteOne Boost Completed Applications by 55% and Revolutionize Recruitment Strategies

By Ben Eubanks

iCIMS: Building Winning Workforces with Talent Acquisition Technology iCIMS is a global leader in talent acquisition technology, empowering organizations to attract, engage, hire, and retain top talent. With over 20 years of innovation, iCIMS has transformed how organizations worldwide connect with the right people and build exceptional candidate and employee experiences. In 2023 alone, iCIMS…

How Dolphin Hotel Management Transformed Hiring with Paycor’s Recruiting Solution

By Ben Eubanks

Paycor: Empowering Leaders to Build Winning Teams Paycor is a leader in Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions, designed to empower leaders with the tools they need to streamline HR processes and focus on strategic initiatives like talent development, employee engagement, and retention. Offering a unified platform for all things HR, Paycor eliminates the need for…

Driving Retention and Skills Transformation with Phenom’s Employee-First Solutions

By Ben Eubanks

Phenom: Redefining Talent Acquisition and Development with AI Phenom is transforming talent management by creating AI-driven solutions that connect candidates, employees, recruiters, and managers across a seamless platform. By fostering personalized, skills-forward experiences, Phenom helps organizations hire faster, develop employees to their full potential, and retain top talent longer. Phenom’s Intelligent Talent Experience platform powers…

How Paycor Empowered All City Management Services (ACMS)

By Ben Eubanks

Paycor: Empowering Leaders with Comprehensive HCM Solutions Paycor revolutionizes human capital management (HCM) by delivering a unified platform that simplifies workforce operations while driving strategic value for leaders. Paycor’s solutions empower organizations to streamline recruitment, onboarding, payroll, and career development processes, providing a single source of truth for employee data and enabling more effective decision-making.…

How Longchamp USA Boosted Retention and Streamlined Compliance with Mineral’s HR Solutions

By Ben Eubanks

Mineral: The HR and Compliance Partner for Growing Businesses Mineral, a Mitratech company, is the trusted HR and compliance leader for small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Serving over 1 million businesses through partnerships with 2,500 insurance brokers, health insurers, PEOs, and HCMs, Mineral provides the tools, data, and human expertise needed to simplify HR compliance. Its flagship…

How Oviva Healthcare Achieved a 301% ROI and Reduced Employee Turnover by 10.5% with HiBob

By Ben Eubanks

HiBob: Redefining HCM for a Global, People-First World HiBob’s modern HCM platform, Bob, empowers companies to navigate today’s global and hybrid workplace with people-first strategies. Designed for organizations with 100-8,000 employees and dispersed teams, Bob streamlines HR processes, supports data-driven decision-making, and creates exceptional employee experiences. HiBob partners with over 3,600 global companies, including Extreme…

How Paycor Helped Dolphin Hotel Management Win the War for Talent

By Ben Eubanks

Paycor: Empowering Leaders with Comprehensive HCM Solutions Paycor revolutionizes human capital management (HCM) by providing a unified platform designed to simplify and enhance every aspect of workforce management. From streamlining recruitment to empowering leaders with actionable insights, Paycor’s technology supports industries like healthcare, food and beverage, manufacturing, and professional services. Paycor focuses on empowering frontline…

See the Latest from Lighthouse Research & Advisory

hiring for retention and diversity

The Shift from Candidate Experience to Retention and Diversity as Hiring Priorities

By Ben Eubanks

Over the last year, a significant shift has happened in how employers look at talent. There have always been forward thinking organizations that considered retention as a recruiting metric, but over the last year I’ve seen significant signals in the market that indicate this shift is more than previously believed. The current hiring market is…

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hr technology mergers acquisitions

20+ HR Technology Acquisitions, Mergers, and More from 2019

By Ben Eubanks

In 2019 there were dozens of mergers and acquisitions in the world of HR technology. This represents a vibrant industry full of continuous innovation and providers striving to serve the needs of the HR buyer. It also helps to highlight certain trends and shifts in how the market operates. For instance, several assessment and video…

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hrtechawards.org

Announcing the HR Tech Awards Powered by Lighthouse Research & Advisory

By Ben Eubanks

We are announcing our new HR Tech Awards program and are excited about how it will impact the industry and support the HR tech buyer community. Learn more about the genesis of this program and why it matters now more than ever below. One of the best parts of my job is getting the opportunity…

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New Research: HR Practices of High-Performing SMBs

By Ben Eubanks

Recently we published our larger report on SMB HR Technology, Staffing, and Outsourcing trends. One of the interesting components of the data we examined was what high-performing employers (those with better revenue, retention, and employee engagement) do differently than others. The data almost always do two things: confirm a few things we expected to logically…

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Augmented Listening Report

New Research: Is AI Better Than Humans at Employee Surveys?

By Ben Eubanks

In the past few years I have been digging very deep into AI and how it can help (and hurt) the employee experience. What I’ve been itching to do, however, is create an experiment that demonstrates just how powerful AI can be when paired with essential human skills in the workplace. An Experimental Approach This…

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smb hr adoption curve

New Research: SMB HR Tech, Staffing, and Outsourcing Trends

By Ben Eubanks

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

By Ben Eubanks

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

By Ben Eubanks

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)

By Ben Eubanks

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]

By Ben Eubanks

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

By Ben Eubanks

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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skills based hiring

13+ HR Case Studies: Analytics, Culture, Learning, Recruiting, Technology, and More

By Ben Eubanks

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

By Ben Eubanks

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

By Ben Eubanks

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

By Ben Eubanks

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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