HR Revolution: Is Blockchain Involved?

The talent acquisition and retention process have always been tedious, expensive, inconveniencing and opaque to job-seekers, employees and employers. However, blockchain’s Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) features of transparency, urgency, decentralization, immutability and security seems to present a better experience for the industry.

Being an HR manager comes with a nightmare 

Few people always recognize the fact that hiring managers go through extremely challenging situations. Sometimes the applicants are way fewer than the expected numbers and other times the work pool is simply smaller. At times, hiring managers have tight deadlines to meet in emergency recruitment situations and in the unlikely event that a chosen candidate drops-off, they are stressed out more. 

Besides, the hiring process has been slowed down by the high prevalence of middlemen who, of course, charge unrealistic fees and end up taking the incapable candidates. The cost of a bad hire could cause a company or organization to fall. Most research put that one bad hire could cost a company almost $15,000 while the loss of one good hire could cost as much as $30,000. 

In the countries where corruption rates are high, citizens have lost trust in hiring processes and the entire HR industry due to dishonesty, sluggishness, imperviousness, and discrimination.

It’s not over yet. After acquiring the perfect personnel, the cost of managing employment contracts and payrolls for hundreds or thousands of employees can be problematic with the traditional paper-based methods. 

Because of the above, the HR industry urgently needs digital solutions that offer conveniences to hiring managers, job-seekers and employees. Employers have been trying to find ways of avoiding the billions of dollar losses as a result of bad hires and flimsy HR systems. Some have become keen enough to follow social media pages of their potential talents, while others do all they can to keep good talents. All these do not yield better results and the search for a perfect recruitment system is on. 

Hope in blockchain technology 

Blockchain technology is gaining momentum in an unprecedented way and its acceptance and application have gone beyond the known use in finance and real estate sectors. Many analysts think blockchain adoption would continue to grow for the next couple of years.

Also, the acceptance and appreciation of blockchain technology even increased during COVID-19, with countries seeking faster, safer and transparent avenues for conducting elections, moving medical supplies, or delivering relief to their citizens. 

Blockchain shows even greater potential in the hiring process. For instance, the rampant practice of job-seekers faking their resumes and work history would be no more with blockchain’s features such as digital ID which would give hiring managers the opportunity to easily carry out background checks on applicants. Furthermore, employers will avoid the unfair services of middlemen in the hiring process and access authentic information of applicants directly over the blockchain. According to CoinIdol, a world blockchain news outlet, in 2018, there was already progress in this field. Work Chain introduced its immutable CV product that is powered by blockchain, while the company’s WorkPay product offers instant payment to employees upon completion of their shifts. 

Blockchain technology and its major features of transparency, decentralization, enhanced security and speed do not only apply to the financial and real estate sectors as earlier thought but could revolutionize the job market, too. Although the current HR frameworks might present a few hurdles for blockchain especially that blockchain is a relatively recent technology, its potential seems immense. The global economy needs to keep up with emerging technologies.