Brendan Neuman, PhD - Basil Consultants and Maura Burke, PhD - HumRRO

With increasing coverageartificial intelligence of automated talent assessment appearing in the popular press, it’s no surprise that employers’ expectations are moving toward automated selection processes. That said, there is a limit to what can be effectively and responsibly automated, as the interaction between human behavior and workplace context is messy and difficult to quantify. Although AI and automation can be pragmatic aids to recruit talent, selection decisions are more ambiguous, involve higher stakes, and require a great deal of contextual information. In this article, we explore the state of automation in talent assessment and shed light on its benefits and limitations.

The book, Adverse Impact Analysis: Understanding Data, Statistics, and Risk, edited by SIOP Fellows Scott Morris and Eric Dunleavy, has been cited as a resource on practical significance in EEO Analysis by the US Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).  The citation is specifically for the chapter written by Fred Oswald, Eric Dunleavy, and Amy Shaw.

As part of its FAQ on the topic, the OFCCP defines practical significance as “whether an observed disparity in employment opportunities or outcomes reflects meaningful harm to the disfavored group,” and acknowledges that practical significance, not just statistical significance, should be considered in compliance reviews. This distinction is important because, as the OFCCP notes, “a virtually unnoticeable disparity in, for instance, selection rates, may nevertheless be statistically significant due to the size of the data set.”

CEOs and other executives have plenty to keep them up at night: the possibility of shifting economic cycles (i.e., recession), trade concerns, cyber security, acquiring and keeping top talent, adapting to changing customer preferences, regulatory influences on their business, and more.

Additionally, technology continues to advance rapidly, requiring organizations to adapt quickly or risk obsolescence. These pressures all require change; but in particular, these pressures require organizations to become increasingly agile—or nimble—as they proactively navigate their given industry or sector.

The Gig Economy is #4 on SIOP’s Top 10 Workplace Trends and, as part of SIOP’s Smarter Workplace Month, Emily Campion, assistant professor of Human Resources in the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University, agreed to answer some questions to help us understand why it is growing in importance (moving up six spots from number 10 in 2018).  

SIOP’s Smarter Workplace Awareness Month continues with a question and answer session with SIOP member Carra S. Sims on another Top Ten Workplace Trend for 2019, sexual harassment.  Carra is a senior behavioral and social scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.