Research Tech Consortium Announcement
Posted on Wednesday, January 25th, 2023 at 2:09 AM
Today, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of the new RedThread Tech Consortium.
The HR and Learning technology market is growing exponentially, with new ideas and innovations every day.
That’s a very good thing for leaders and employees, but it can be confusing for anyone looking for independent, unbiased research into performance, people analytics, learning and development, and the other technologies that support the future of work.
Let’s be real. There is a lot of fluff out there, with too many buzzwords and pseudo-research.
Vendors and their customers want to make decisions with the best possible information — but all too often, the research they see is created to support an agenda. Guided by sponsorships, consulting services, or pay-to-play, many researchers have priorities of their own that may not match those of practitioners.
At RedThread, our research is always independent, so that our readers know they can have trust in the analysis. We made a commitment to an independent, “No Bullsh*t” approach that has guided our firm and everything we produce. No one has input into our output but us.
In order to expand that research, we needed to create partnerships with industry leaders who understand and support that mission, and believe strongly in underwriting that kind of unbiased research.
That’s why we created the RedThread Tech Consortium. And we’ve been delighted to see how many companies share our philosophy, and are stepping up as champions of good quality thought leadership.
We are so grateful to those founding members — Augmentir, Axonify, Betterworks, Degreed, Eightfold, Perceptyx, Reejig, SeekOut, Skillable, SplashBI, TechWolf, Top Employers Insitute, Visier, and Workday — for their belief in quality research and in us.
As Stacia said in our press release: “We take a principled and meticulous approach to how we do research. When you see RedThread’s name, we want you to immediately know it is going to be honest, unbiased research. This Consortium is a way that we can continue to deliver on that promise — and also invite our members to be part of our bigger commitment to high-quality analysis.”
Of course, the RedThread Tech Consortium is more than simply a group of underwriters. It’s also a community. Our Consortium members get access to a virtual hub exclusively for members, where they can have discussions, ask questions and share news and ideas, and where they get early access to our research.
Consortium members are also active resources for our team — sharing relevant business data with RedThread and working annually with their customers to provide important insights into the industry via questionnaires.
Here’s what some of the Consortium members had to say:
“We’re excited to participate as a founding member of the RedThread Tech Consortium. RedThread’s research continues to set the bar when it comes to HR, performance management, and learning trends, and we are looking forward to providing continued guidance for customers looking to technology to shape the vision and direction of learning and development within their organizations.” – Chris Kuntz, VP of Strategic Operations, Augmentir
“I’m thrilled that Axonify is among RedThread Tech Consortium’s founding members, Their commitment to delivering thoughtful, industry-leading research on topics that are key to HR & LD professionals is aligned with our focus on enabling a greater sense of communication and community within the industries that we represent.” – Carol Leaman, Co-founder and CEO, Axonify
"Degreed exists to challenge the status quo.RedThread Research and the community they’ve created shine a light on how the most innovative learning and talent teams are building what's next in HR. We're excited to support this work of capturing and sharing these stories, ideas, and lessons. We hope this Consortium will help inspire and guide others who want to follow." – Todd Tauber, SVP Strategy, Degreed
“The Talent and HR Tech landscape is complex and experiencing considerable disruption. RedThread Research has been at the forefront in providing the insights that corporations need to navigate these changes, especially around key concerns like DEIB, AI and skills technology, and learning and Talent mobility. Eightfold is proud to be supporting RedThread Research’s Tech Consortium which will help organizations become future-ready.” – Michael Dunne, Sr. Director of Product Marketing, Eightfold
“The RedThread team is laser-focused on the people analytics technology marketplace, and they’ve been providing invaluable insights and advice for vendors and their customers. As a vendor in this space, we’re excited to be part of this Consortium, and to be able to support quality, non-biased research on the topics affecting enterprises and people analytics professionals most.” – Daniel Norwood, VP of Marketing, Perceptyx, Inc.
“The team at RedThread Research has built one of the most respected research organizations in the HR industry today, and we here at SeekOut are looking forward to working with them more closely as part of the Tech Consortium. Joining this group will not only benefit SeekOut by giving us advanced insights into the HR and people industries, but it will benefit our own customers through the development of new product features and offerings based on those unique insights.” – Claire Fang, Chief Product Officer, SeekOut
“Vendors in the HR Tech market are (re-)shaping their vision and products at an incredible pace — which creates confusion. That’s a natural thing to happen in emerging technology markets. RedThread Research helps filter out the noise and lead customers to better buying decisions — with less fall-out and fewer failed projects. And that eventually creates more trust across the entire market.” – Andreas De Neve, CoFounder and CEO, TechWolf
“RedThread provides some of the most valuable insights into the HR market today. We're excited about the Tech Consortium and we're thrilled to be a founding member of this initiative." – Jake Sorofman, CMO, Visier
Some of the RedThread Research projects the Consortium will support in 2023 include analyzing the tech marketplace Performance Management, People Analytics, DEIB,and Learning vendor solutions.
If you are interested in learning more about joining the RedThread Tech Consortium please reach out to [email protected].
Premise: Enabling the Frontline Workforce
Posted on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2023 at 1:58 PM
Why we care
In short:
The frontline workforce is vital to most organizations’ success, but they’re not being supported in the ways they need or want. Organizations need to do better. We're launching research into how organizations can enable frontline workers to thrive in their current and future roles.
In detail:
The frontline—AKA deskless—workforce is huge. A 2018 survey by VC company Emergence estimated that 80% of the global workforce is frontline, while McKinsey put the number at 70% of the US workforce. In early 2022, a Microsoft representative said the frontline workforce represents nearly 2 billion people worldwide.
And frontline workers are critical to many organizations’ success: They’re often the “tip of the spear” executing the organization’s strategies. In many industries—like retail, hospitality, healthcare, education, and transportation—frontline workers are the face of the organization to customers. They’re also an (often untapped) resource for innovation and improvement—with ideas to solve real problems they see on the ground.
Frontline workers are critical to organizations' success. But they're often underserved, under-supported, and unempowered.
But in our experience, many HR systems and processes aren’t designed with frontline workers in mind. For example, employee development opportunities are often created assuming that a worker has easy access to a computer and company email, some schedule flexibility, or the financial wherewithal to pay for learning and wait for reimbursement. That's simply not the case for many frontline workers.
In addition, there are indications that the ways organizations support frontline workers don’t align with what those workers need or want. Research by Axonify and Nudge found a mismatch between frontline workers' and corporate leaders' perceptions of what drives frontline happiness and success. BCG reported that frontline workers want more flexibility and work-life balance, better career advancement opportunities, and better pay and benefits than they’re currently provided.
Something’s wrong with this picture. Organizations need to better understand their frontline workforce's needs and adjust systems, processes, and approaches to better enable their success.
Organizations need to better understand their frontline workforce's needs and enable their success.
But that’s more easily said than done.
What challenges are organizations facing when it comes to the frontline workforce?
- Finding and keeping workers. In contrast to the late-2022 layoffs in the tech industry, the talent market in many frontline-heavy industries remains tight. For example, we’re still seeing articles (like this one from a Chicago-based PBS news outlet) about restaurants struggling to find staff. And unemployment rates across most industries are still below 2021 levels, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many employers are having trouble finding and keeping workers with the skills they need to compete in their industries.
- Providing a strong employee experience—while preparing for a downturn. In many industries, employers are competing against one another to attract workers. They're vying to provide a better organizational culture and employee experience than other prospective employers—in addition to paying higher wages. For employers facing an uncertain economic environment in 2023, it may be challenging to pay employees more, invest in culture and employee experience, and prepare for a downturn…but it looks like that’s what many companies will have to do.
- Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). DEIB efforts remain a priority—at least nominally—for many organizations. As BIPOC workers are overrepresented in the US frontline workforce (source: McKinsey), DEIB efforts can have an outsized impact on this group of people. If DEIB budgets are cut, organizations will need to find creative ways to continue to enhance equity and inclusion for frontline workers.
- Connecting frontline employees. Many frontline jobs are becoming more digitized and siloed. Retail teams, for example, may see many customers but interact little with one another. One leader told us about manufacturing workers who work whole shifts in their warehouse section without talking to anyone else. In addition, communication from leaders or central parts of the organization may be fragmented and feel unreliable. Connecting frontline workers to the organization’s purpose and one another will be a challenge for many organizations in the future.
What will we research?
Heading into this research, our primary question is:
How can organizations better enable frontline workers to thrive in their current and future roles?
More specifically, what does frontline enablement look like in the following areas? And how should enablement differ for frontline and not-frontline workers?
- Performance
- Employee development (including learning methods)
- DEIB
- Management
In terms of our going-in hypothesis, we believe:
- Organizations will need to use different approaches to enable frontline vs. not-frontline workers
- Organizations will need to adjust their systems, processes, and practices to more effectively enable frontline workers
As always, we will do this research “out loud” by opening our research process to practitioners across the community. It makes us smarter and helps everyone gather ideas from a wider pool of people.
You can participate by joining a roundtable, volunteering to be interviewed, or simply commenting on this article. Thanks in advance for your participation!
