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
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 These outdated practices, often criticized for their ineffectiveness and tendency to induce stress, are making way for a more dynamic and supportive…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
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
HR Tech Awards 2024: Winners Announced
In our daily work with talent leaders and solution providers, we run into some incredible technology. Some of the tools available to organizations right now help them hire, develop, and retain their people, and the platforms and systems are amazing in their ability to support intelligent decisions, personalized actions, and more. According to some sources,…
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…
See the Latest from Lighthouse Research & Advisory
4 Strategic Drivers of General Motors’ Adoption of Recognition Technology [Case Study]
“After looking at the available research, we realized we had a deep need for strategic recognition.” Sandra Garcia, Global Compensation Center of Excellence Lead, General Motors The need for recognition programs can come from various angles. Some companies are moving away from an existing approach that simply can’t scale. Others realize a need for a…
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How High-Performing Companies Manage Employee Performance [New Research]
Recently we wrapped up an amazing new project, the Lighthouse Research & Advisory Performance Management, Engagement, and Business Results study. This provided some amazing insights and has given us a great picture of how employers can fight back in the ongoing battle to keep great talent while simultaneously keeping them highly engaged. Key Research Findings…
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3 Keys to Creating Engaging Learning Experiences
By now you’ve most likely heard about and begun thinking about the employee experience, because you can’t turn around without reading an article or hearing someone speak about it. In essence, it’s a deeper look at the practices you use across the board to create lasting value for employees in the workplace. Within that conversation,…
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7 Examples of Artificial Intelligence in Talent Acquisition Technology
[Update 2019: The book is now live and is receiving rave reviews! Check it out here.] Over the past month I’ve been working with a variety of vendors to better understand their artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities as part of the research for the book. If you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last year,…
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Case Study: How One Healthcare Agency Uses Appreciation to Improve Business and Patient Outcomes (#greatness17)
This week I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Dana Ullom-Vucelich, Chief HR and Ethics Officer with Ohio Living, speak about her company’s employee recognition program and how it has evolved over time. Additionally, she focused heavily on data that proves the ROI of the company’s investment in employee appreciation and recognition. (Full disclosure, the…
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The Business Value of HR Technology [Research Preview]
We recently released our research summary from the 2017 Lighthouse Research Business Value of HR Technology Study. It has been fascinating to examine some of the data and we haven’t yet finished writing up the findings; however, I wanted to take a moment to explore a few of the key insights here. Top 5 Research Highlights…
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The Talent Slow Fade: A Case Study of Motley Fool’s Approach to Engagement
The Motley Fool is a multimedia financial services company supporting clients with stock market trends and information. The firm is based in Virginia, has more than 300 employees, and was founded in 1993. More importantly, the company has an amazing culture that is widely known for its unique elements. Recently the Chief People Officer, Lee Burbage,…
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Global HR Practices: Compliance, Growth, and Productivity [New Research]
Today, we operate in a global business environment. Companies are expanding, growing and reaching new talent around the globe in order to meet the needs of their customers. But it’s not all sunshine and roses, as you might expect. That growth can be challenging, and there are definitely some issues that need addressing. That’s the…
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Talent Mobility as a Key Business Practice
Talent mobility. It’s an evolving talent practice that delivers incredible value for the workforce and the business, and it gives the organization a powerful competitive edge. At the same time, many employers still aren’t sure how to define this practice and what might be involved, so we’re going to break that down for you today…
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Key Takeaways from Female Founders in Growth Stage Technology (#WIGST17)
Last week I had the honor of attending the inaugural Women in Growth Stage Tech event in Chicago, and it was quite the experience. Designed to appeal to female founders of HR technology firms, the event drew nearly 50 attendees, including founders, investors, and practitioners. Sessions ran the gamut from how to work with investors…
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Insights from the CHRO Panel at #WorkHuman 2017
This week I’m honored to be at the WorkHuman conference put on by Globoforce. The session this morning was chock full of great insights from an all star panel of HR executives, featuring: Rahul Varma, Global Head of Talent and Learning at Accenture Kimberly Bors, SVP of HR at Schneider Electric Vicki Williams, SVP of…
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Employee Retention: Tomorrow’s Recruiting Metric
As HR is increasing its presence as a strategic part of the business, key performance indicators, or KPIs, are becoming a key part of the language for discussing how it is actually performing. Recruiting, in some ways, is actually easier to measure because it is very similar to sales: you either have results or you…
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Networking, Development, and Passion: Why I Want to Attend WorkHuman 2017
About the Author: Jarrett Lee is a Research Associate Intern at Lighthouse Research. His research focuses on case studies of companies that successfully deliver results on their talent and learning transformation projects. He is pursuing a Bachelor’s of Communication Arts as well as a Master’s of Science in Human Resource Management. I am writing to enter…
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3 Stories of Transformational Learning from #Perspectives17
This week I have had the pleasure of attending and speaking at Skillsoft Perspectives in Las Vegas. It has been a great event and I enjoyed the content and the updates on the technology. The SumTotal platform is continuing to evolve, and the new system architecture is going to lend a hand to that as…
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Diversity Sourcing Strategy: 3 Tactics of Highly Diverse Companies
In my last blog, I wrote about the importance of diversity and inclusion, the relationship between diversity and business performance, and some best practices for implementing the two in your company. And while the evidence for diversity improving business performance is clear. The question remains – how do I source and recruit diversity? Understanding diversity’s…
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