How blockchain could change the HR function

With unemployment and job-hopping on the rise today, blockchain technology could be the HR industry’s lifeline.
22 July 2019

Blockchain could make things smother at the hiring table. Source: Shutterstock

Finding and retaining star candidates has proven to be a tedium in today’s world. In fact, the Society of Human Resources (SHRM) reported in 2017 that the average time spent to hire an employee was 36 days.

It may seem short, but in today’s fast business environment, this number calls companies to relook into their HR processes to make the best use of their time, and many are already exploring the role of blockchain technology.

Popularized by cryptocurrency, blockchain’s mode of storing data in “a chain of blocks” makes it easily accessible by anyone while preventing any modifications. This makes it makes it the perfect tech to manage the vast amount of data accessed by the HR executives every day. 

There are many ways blockchain could help improve HR processes, but in general, here are three key areas that would show the most improvement.

#1 | Transparency

When it comes to hiring someone for a job, recruiters dig for suitable candidates, conduct interviews and negotiate salaries to determine their suitability. A major part and concern in all these steps is verifying the authenticity of the information provided by the candidates.

Streamlining these processes is one way blockchain can make HR practices easier. By storing candidate data– resumes, past interviews, past jobs, recommendation letters and so on– in a centralized digital ledger that’s accessible by all businesses and HR professionals within an industry, companies will have a place to verify the authenticity of the information they get from conducting interviews. 

What’s more, it could help recruiters make better decisions and possibly end the practice of using resumes (since everything recruiters need to know is already in the blockchain). 

#2 | Job matching

Companies often come across cases where the candidate hired recently isn’t up for the job. It could be for various reasons; both parties may have had misled expectations, some stay far away, and many other reasons arise that could show a mismatch between the candidate and the job.

Blockchain can prevent all these by offering companies a source of legitimate employee data to find their future employees. Job seekers could also utilize this database as well to find jobs that suit them most. This could take a lot of the tedium out of job-matching on both sides of the hiring table. 

#3 | Payroll

Wage payment can be tricky for some employee arrangements; with more millennials employed as ‘gig’ workers (temporary or independent workers), payroll practices are only getting more complex and confusing. 

With blockchain, all payment data is stored in a digital ledger. Employers could deploy a smart payment system that pays gig workers and contractual staff automatically when the time comes by just setting a code. There’ll be no risks of delays nor fraud by doing this.

For companies with global operations, paying employees at another country would be easier too as they could now easily access the payroll of all their employees from the digital ledger and make payments– without needing a third-party. 

Modern problems need modern solutions

Searching for star employees and managing ongoing recruitment efforts– as well as making sure your existing staff are in check– means HR executives have a major role in driving the overall success of businesses.

In an increasingly complex and data-led jobs market, however, blockchain technology could offer a solution that both saves time, but improves accuracy– the result being only the right people get the job.