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
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 These outdated practices, often criticized for their ineffectiveness and tendency to induce stress, are making way for a more dynamic and supportive…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 Findem Helped RingCentral Achieve a 3x Candidate Response Rate and Build a Diverse Global Workforce
Findem: Redefining Talent Acquisition with AI and 3D Data Findem is the only AI-powered talent acquisition solution driven by unique 3D data, providing organizations with unparalleled precision and efficiency in hiring. By consolidating talent acquisition workflows, automating repetitive tasks, and leveraging advanced data attributes, Findem transforms how companies find, engage, and hire the best candidates.…
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…
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…
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…
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
Maximizing ROI in the Modern Workplace: How Employee Experience Technology Drives Business Performance
Understanding Employee Experience Technology Employee experience technology encompasses tools designed to improve various aspects of an employee’s journey within a company. These tools aim to streamline processes, boost employee engagement, and facilitate a more connected and productive workplace culture, from recruitment and onboarding to performance management and offboarding. The essence of this technology lies in…
How Findem Helped RingCentral Achieve a 3x Candidate Response Rate and Build a Diverse Global Workforce
Findem: Redefining Talent Acquisition with AI and 3D Data Findem is the only AI-powered talent acquisition solution driven by unique 3D data, providing organizations with unparalleled precision and efficiency in hiring. By consolidating talent acquisition workflows, automating repetitive tasks, and leveraging advanced data attributes, Findem transforms how companies find, engage, and hire the best candidates.…
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…
See the Latest from Lighthouse Research & Advisory
Hiring In the Age of Disruption: Key Trends Business Leaders Need to Know
Following is a guest post developed for the team at KellyOCG around some of the key disruptive trends I’m following. Hope you enjoy! There is more fluctuation and innovation in the way that talent is delivered today than at any time in the past, and talent leaders need to understand some of the key trends…
Read MoreFractured, Fragmented, and Fragile: Building Your Technology Stack
An interesting conversation with a friend working in a key HR role for a 20,000-plus employee firm recently has had me thinking a lot about the technology we have in place. The company’s HR team spent some time at the HR Technology conference last week looking for new solutions to solve some of its most…
Read MoreDisruption Comes to the Analyst Community #InfluenceHR
This morning I had the pleasure of joining my HR Federation friends onstage at InfluenceHR to talk about how disruption is affecting the HR technology analyst world. The topic was one that attracted a large audience (despite it being a breakout session), because I think every company is looking for a road map to help…
Read MoreTrending: Vendors Drinking Their Own Champagne
I’ve talked to several technology companies in the last few weeks that are drinking their own champagne, and it’s one of the most interesting “meta” conversations I’ve had of late. To back up a bit, I have always wondered if these firms used their own technology and services to manage internal processes. After all, that would…
Read MoreDisruption–The Biggest Concern for CHROs and Talent Leaders
CHROs, like other CxOs, recognize that the barriers between previously separate industries are collapsing, as companies in one sector apply their expertise to others. For example, electric carmaker Tesla is entering the power sector with a new line of zero-carbon batteries for homes, businesses and utilities. That quote from a report by the IBM Institute…
Read MoreKilling the Traditional Performance Management Approach
In the last few years, there have been tons of stories about how companies are ditching performance management as it has long been practiced and replacing it with a variety of approaches. Just a few of the many recognizable names: Sears SAP Adobe At the same time, there have been a large number of companies…
Read MorePredictive HR Analytics (In Plain English)
One of the challenges of talking about predictive analytics, big data, and other similar concepts is that it quickly becomes complex, causing the audience to tune out the conversation. This is especially relevant for HR leaders, where competencies in these areas are somewhat weak in general. By the way, that’s not an indictment on HR…
Read MoreHow to Use Recruiting Funnel Metrics for Talent Forecasting
You’ve heard me talk about some of the trends in recruiting measurement recently, and today we’re going to continue the conversation. However, I’m going to target some specific metrics companies can use to evaluate their recruiting funnel and talent forecasting efforts. While these involve simple math, they offer valuable insight into your recruiting process and how it…
Read MoreRecruiting Effectiveness: Quality vs Quality of Candidates
While interviewing a talent acquisition leader for an upcoming podcast, I realized that part of our conversation was a direct tie-in to other discussions I have had in the past week that focused on the importance of candidate quality over quantity. It made me wonder just how often we focus on getting tons of candidates…
Read MoreUsing Source of Hire Data to Validate Talent Acquisition Efforts
What if you had a way to not only see what sources your candidates were coming from, but which ones delivered you the best people that you ended up hiring? This isn’t just possible–it should be a regular activity you perform as an HR/recruiting leader so that you can validate your hiring efforts and expenditures.…
Read More3 Trends Impacting Talent Acquisition Measurement
Note: I have an upcoming report detailing these issues in more detail and would love to send it to you. Just sign up here to receive your own copy of the research report The Modern Measures of Success in Talent Acquisition. Thanks! Today, more is demanded of the talent acquisition function than ever before. It…
Read MoreBuilding a Business Case for HCM Technology
Talent leaders that are attempting to select, purchase, and implement HCM technology are often challenged by a lack of experience with the process of selling the idea internally before seeking a solution. When we think about making an investment into a technology offering of thousands or millions of dollars, that seems like it would be the…
Read More#Inforum2016: Data, Machine Learning, and IoT
This week I’m honored to be a guest at the Inforum 2016 event in NYC. The Infor team has put together a great event and there are more than 8,000 people here to learn about new developments and share best practices. What I really like about this event that I don’t always see at more HCM-focused…
Read MoreDefining Talent Acquisition Measurement Priorities and KPIs
In our recent Modern Measures of Talent Acquisition study, we asked talent leaders what their most critical priorities are when it comes to measuring talent acquisition performance. More than the basic details around attracting talent and focusing on the candidate experience, we dug into six specific areas to fully plumb the depths of these organizational…
Read MoreDelivering a High-Quality Employee Experience
As I traveled home from yet another conference last week, I reflected back on the many conversations I had with talent leaders and vendors and how they formed a common theme. For years we have been talking about employee engagement and its value, but the drive to create a more holistic approach has expanded the…
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