Canadian HR Reporter is the national journal of human resource management. It features the latest workplace news, HR best practices, employment law commentary and tools and tips for employers to get the most out of their workforce.
Issue link: https://digital.hrreporter.com/i/945201
CANADIAN HR REPORTER MARCH 2018 NEWS 3 Debunking the intelligence revolution How will technological advances affect the future of human resources? BY MARCEL VANDER WIER LATELY, much ado has been made about the future workplace. News reports detailing the ef- fect that robots, artificial intel- ligence (AI) and technology will have on the labour market have overwhelmed HR professionals across the world, according to Bill Greenhalgh, former CEO of On- tario's Human Resources Profes- sionals Association (HRPA). "It's like trying to drink water out of a fire hydrant," he said. "ere's just so much of it." Nevertheless, the "intelligence revolution" has arrived, and HR professionals are expected to react accordingly, said Greenhalgh dur- ing a presentation at the HRPA's annual conference and tradeshow in Toronto last month. Within five years, technologies such as chatbots, driverless cars and blockchain will be mainstays within the workplace, he said. e upheaval will be akin to that of the 19th-century Indus- trial Revolution when the first jobs framework was created and workers began moving away from farms in favour of factories and cities, said Greenhalgh. "e Industrial Revolution was all about brawn, about recognizing manufacturing processes," he said. "e intelligence revolution is all about brain." And the latest work revolution will redefine what a job is, accord- ing to Greenhalgh. "We're seeing that, to some extent, with the gig economy, the contract economy," he said. "A lot of jobs being created right now are contract or part-time, so we're getting a kind of redefinition." "e idea of a job will change and reform, and it will be driven by the intelligence revolution." Technology's effects Much of the focus surrounding AI's arrival in the workplace is focused on the effect it will have on workers — with millions of jobs expected to disappear, said Greenhalgh. "It's going to change how jobs are done and fundamentally change the nature of what a job is," he said. "And that's an impor- tant thing for organizations to deal with." "e key condition of what will be affected is whether it's a routine or a creative job." However, the number of jobs that will be affected remains an elusive number for experts to pin down, said Greenhalgh. "All of these studies say some- thing different. ey're kind of open-ended — a bit self-serving, in a way." An estimated 500 million jobs are projected to disappear by 2040, though many experts do not simultaneously predict the number of jobs that will be created in that same timespan, he said. Another forgotten statistic is that 1.2 billion humans are expected to "disappear" in the next 20 years as the world's population ages more rapidly, said Greenhalgh. Realistically, the job losses alone will amount to a one per cent reduction per year — a very manageable number, he said. For Greenhalgh, the job-deci- mating effect of technology isn't as bad as the reports may appear. "Companies disappear with great regularity," he said. "You can imagine the impact that compa- nies disappearing have had on job losses. It's not automation that caused job losses — it's companies missing the boat." "AI is not all it's cracked up to be because there's human character- istics… no matter how intelligent these machines are, emotion and feelings are human nature alone," said Greenhalgh. Still, "fantastic opportunities" will be created as a result of this type of technology, and the first organizations to adapt will expe- rience more opportunities and greater rewards, he said. Advice for HR ere is a middle ground for HR to tread that falls somewhere between full-blown panic and maintaining the status quo, said Greenhalgh. Business clarity — deeply un- derstanding what business you are operating in — is the first step, he said. For example, wristwatch companies are not necessarily about making watches, but rather having the ability to tell the time or denote wealth, depending on brand type. Once the business purpose is defined, it's easier to understand what type of disruptions could affect the company, as well as identify which areas of the orga- nization could change, or where technology such as AI could be integrated, said Greenhalgh. "e message (to staff ) can be very upbeat, saying future work is going to be very much more in- teresting because the mechanical stuff will be taken away." Exploration and evaluation of your organization is another step HR practitioners can take to pre- pare, he said. THIS > pg. 6 09:41 online est. avg. savings † $50 Choice Hotels Up to 20% OFF at Comfort® & Quality® Hotels and 6,100 participating Choice Hotels worldwide! And WiFi is always free! Sample Savings Reported by Program Users TELUS SAVED $300.00 Toronto, ON Jack Astor's Bar and Grill SAVED $271.05 Thornhilll, ON GoodLife Fitness SAVED $226.00 toronto, ON Loblaw Optical / Eyewear SAVED $160.00 Summerside, PE Sleep Country Canada SAVED $100.00 Toronto, ON Landmark Cinemas SAVED $44.85 surrey, BC Cineplex Movie Tickets SAVED $32.70 Vancouver, BC The Source SAVED $31.56 Ajax, ON Apple Inc. SAVED $30.00 Toronto, ON CONFIDENTIAL — Venngo Inc. About this Report Estimated Spend and Estimated Savings values are based on a proprietary Venngo algorithm that leverages a number of data points. These data points include; reported sales, redemption rates, average spend, purchase information provided directly from end-users, and the discount in market at the time redemption was activated. These estimated values are based on your individual group ac tivity, and corresponding aggregated vendor data. Average spend is based on information provided by individual vendors, information submitted by end-users and specific market research. Venngo continually reviews and updates all estimated spend, average spend and savings data. Please note: For vendor programs that provide recurring monthly savings (i.e. cellular phone offers, insurance, etc.) the goal of the report is to capture the aggregated spend and savings — from all end-users actively utilizing the offer — to accurately reflect the total value of the vendor offer within your group. We are working with each of our vendors to gather complete utilization data. Until vendor data has been updated, the spend and savings for these vendor offers will be calculated solely on the activity within the date range of the report and will therefore be underreported. Vendor programs that have been updated to include the aggregated utilization data will be noted with a ‡. † Within the reported timeframe, the activity for this specific vendor within your program was not high enough to generate the minimum number of redemption clicks needed to statistically complete one full redemption. As a result, the r eport is displaying only a fraction of the total savings that can be realized when an end-user actually redeems this vendor's discount. While this scenario can occur with any vendor program it will typically present itself with products or services that are high in dollar value as they typically have lower redemption rates. For example, while one hundred end-users may click-through to the redemption for a car discount, only a small fraction (i.e. 1/100) of those end-users will actually purchase a vehicle. This ratio is factored into the algorithm on a per vendor basis. Legend Activity data captured from end-users using web browsers on desktop and mobile devices. Activity data captured from end-users on the Venngo mobile apps. This does not include activity data captured from web browsers used on mobile devices. The total number of e-Newsletters that were opened e-Newsletter click-through rate. This number notes the percentage of end-users who clicked on a link to a vendor program from an opened e-Newsletter. Visits The total number of times end-users have been active in the program. Page Views A Page View is an instance of a page being loaded (or reloaded) in a browser or within the mobile app. Page Views is the total number of individual page views. Redempti on Clicks A redemption click is the final action that an end-user takes within the program to access the discount with a specific vendor. A redemption click includes the following program actions; printing a perk, accessing the vendor website (WWW link), using the in-store option within the mobile apps, calling a vendor or sending an email. e-Newsletters Sent The total number of e-Newsletters delivered to the group. Each month multiple e-Newsletter campaigns are distributed to the group. Each campaign will have specific subscribers which may not include the entire group as noted in e-Newsletter Subscriptions. For example, an end-user who is subscribed to the general e-Newsletter distribution may have decided that they do not wish to receive the apparel edition. This factor, along with any technical or end-user specific account issues will result in the total number of e-Newsletters Sent to not simply be a multiple of e-Newsletter Subscribers. Activity and Estimated Savings November 1, 2016 to November 30, 2016 CONFIDENTIAL — Venngo Inc. Most Popular Perks By Estimated Savings Estimated Spend ($) Estimated Savings ($) 1 TELUS $1,953,500 $586,050 2 GoodLife Fitness $338,400 $169,200 3 Rogers Wireless $558,012 $167,797 4 TicketsAtWork.com- Discounts Worldwide $36,600 $10,980 5 Lenovo $42,552 $8,510 6 Budget $33,408 $8,352 7 Hertz $22,968 $6,890 8 Panasonic Canada $13,312 $5,991 9 Apple Inc. $193,620 $5,809 10 Avis $22,764 $5,691 11 Nissan Canada's Vehicle Purchase Program $101,120 $5,056 12 Dell Canada $43,280 $4,328 13 The Source $27,000 $4,050 14 Wyndham Hotel Group $17,680 $3,536 15 Choice Hotels Canada $14,100 $2,820 16 Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament $7,453 $2,757 17 Orlando Vacation $16,950 $2,542 18 Enterprise Rent-A-Car™ $10,509 $2,102 19 Loblaw Optical / Eyewear $4,620 $1,848 20 Canada Employee Sleep Program $3,290 $1,810 21 Ripley's Aquarium $9,480 $1,659 22 GM Preferred Pricing† $32,000 $1,600 23 itravel2000 $44,465 $1,410 24 adidas $5,521 $1,380 25 Cineplex Movie Tickets $7,830 $1,331 By Activity Redemption Clicks Page Views 1 TELUS 14,046 31,153 2 Rogers Wireless 5,471 10,707 3 Apple Inc. 3,227 7,622 4 GoodLife Fitness 423 2,685 5 Dell Canada 1,082 2,644 6 Lenovo 1,182 2,356 7 The Source 900 2,157 8 Cineplex Movie Tickets 522 1,738 9 adidas 516 1,720 10 LXR&CO 341 1,524 11 Enterprise Rent-A-Car™ 513 1,479 12 SoftMoc 479 1,422 13 Choice Hotels Canada 564 1,305 14 Budget 464 1,172 15 BCBGMAXAZRIA Canada 65 1,122 16 Raptors 905 172 1,055 17 Starfrit 158 983 18 Jack Astor's Bar and Grill 337 910 19 Panasonic Canada 355 868 20 itravel2000 376 853 21 La Vie en Rose 312 848 22 TicketsAtWork.com- Discounts Worldwide 305 800 23 Flight Network 299 796 24 Ripley's Aquarium 316 785 25 Hertz 319 782 Activity and Estimated Savings November 1, 2016 to November 30, 2016 Estimated Total Monthly Spend $3,878,599 Estimated Total Monthly Savings $1,050,400 Accounts Created 669 Total Active Accounts 54,098 e-Newsletter Subscriptions 41,995 Visits 31,676 96% 4% Page Views 304,613 97% 3% Redemption Clicks 39,961 81% 19% e-Newsletters Sent 111,244 54,028 15% CONFIDENTIAL — Venngo Inc. Most Popular Categories Page Views 1 Computers & Electronics 34,145 31,086 3,059 2 Dining & Food 8,917 5,263 3,654 3 Travel 8,674 7,102 1,572 4 Apparel 8,481 5,778 2,703 5 Entertainment 5,114 3,713 1,401 6 Auto 4,146 3,169 977 7 Shoes & Accessories 3,351 2,448 903 8 Health & Wellness 3,330 2,544 786 9 Home & Living 2,982 2,339 643 10 Beauty 2,356 1,587 769 it's a lot more than discounts © Copyright 2018 Venngo Inc. All rights reserved. WorkPerks ® is a registered trade-mark of Venngo Inc. All other trade-marks are the property of their respective owners. perks and/or discounts may not be as shown, and are subject to change without notice. V1_20180213 1.866.383.6646 ext.202 venngo.com/perks the original perks company TM the original perks company TM Find out more... An award winning Venngo program helps create happy, healthy employees.