Curated Intel from the Talent Tech Industry
July 18-25, 2022:
• Taking candidate screening global: Veremark raises $8.5M in equity funding round;
• Paying the piper but only a little more: Employers budgeting just a 4.1% pay increase for 2023;
• Reviewing employers may be toying with trouble: Glassdoor ordered to reveal posters’ identity;
• Minding your Ps & Qs: European or not, make sure your AI products comply with EU data laws;
• Worrying about being a true believer: HR author asks “Do you over-promise about technology”.
PLUS
• Early Bird Discounts are about to end for the TAtech Leadership Summit on Technology & the Candidate Experience. To be held at the Harvard Club in NYC on September 28, this unique event is specifically designed to promote information exchange, learning and networking among corporate and industry innovators and thought leaders.
Veremark raises $8.5m in equity round
Veremark, a pre-employment screening and verified career credentials firm, has raised a further $8.5 million in an equity funding round led by new US venture capital investor Stage 2 Capital, just nine months after its initial $2.8 million seed round. Samaipata, a Pan-European venture capital firm also joined the round as a new investor, and several existing investors Triple Point Ventures, ACF Investors, Vulpes, and SOV provided follow-on investments, bringing the company's total funding to $12.3 million. Veremark aims to simplify the process of checking the claims and credentials of prospective employees based around the world through its digital platform. The firm now offers more than 40 kinds of credential checks in 150 countries. Through both direct sales and a wide number of partnerships, the company has grown monthly revenue by 300% since September 2021. Veremark’s client base of hundreds of monthly users includes HR teams at UK fintech success stories Wise and ComplyAdvantage as well as global corporates such as PepsiCo and BCG.
Employers budgeting big pay raises for 2023
In response to a tight labor market, employers are planning to up employee salaries in the biggest projected hike in 15 years, new data from Willis Towers Watson finds. Although it’s a new recent high, it’s not by much: Companies, on average, are budgeting a 4.1% salary increase for 2023, just above this year’s average 4% increase. The 2022 and 2023 salary increases are the largest since the Great Recession of 2008, according to the consulting firm, which surveyed 1,430 employers for insights in April and May. Nearly two in three (64%) U.S. companies are budgeting for higher pay raises than last year, while two-fifths (41%) increased their budgets since original projections were made earlier this year, the survey found. Less than half of companies (45%) are sticking with the pay budgets they set at the start of the year. Concerns over the hot job market—which is seeing a record number of employees leave their jobs for better opportunities—are overwhelmingly driving salary increases, with nearly three in four survey respondents (73%) citing the competitive market as their top factor. That’s followed by employee expectations for higher increases that are driven by inflation (cited by 46% of respondents) and anticipation of stronger financial results (cited by 28%).
Glassdoor ordered to unmask former toy company employees who posted scathing criticism
A new lawsuit indicates that those Glassdoor reviews you’re writing may not be anonymous. Last week, Alex Tse, a magistrate judge in a Northern California district court, ruled in favor of a New Zealand–based billion-dollar toy company called Zuru in its case against Glassdoor. Zuru’s co-CEOs alleged that anonymous “false, disparaging and defamatory” reviews on the employer-review site materially harmed its business and complicated its recruiting process. In January, Zuru filed a subpoena against Glassdoor to compel it to reveal the identities of the person or people who slammed Zuru on the site, calling it a "burnout factory" with a "toxic" culture and "incompetent" leaders. In court, Zuru said it plans to file a defamation lawsuit in New Zealand against whoever posted these on Glassdoor, once their identities are revealed. Fortune's review of Zuru's Glassdoor page currently shows largely positive posts; yet several negative ones remain standing. Glassdoor also posted an alert on the company's page, alerting users that Zuru has taken legal action and saying, "Please exercise your best judgment when evaluating this employer."
European or not, make sure your AI business sticks to EU data laws
As we enter a new era defined by artificial intelligence and machine learning, the very foundation of many modern technologies is being put under a microscope by policymakers. That foundation? Data. Data is required for the refinement of most cutting-edge technology, and it will only become more important in future as we develop more sophisticated AI and ML models, fueled by richer, higher quality data sets. However, there are strict regulations around how data can be used, particularly within the EU. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) mandates that businesses need consent to store subject data in order to preserve the privacy of its citizens online and offline. These regulations affect AI companies the world over, however, because they restrict how data is moved out of the bloc – to servers in the US, say. Rely on cloud services in your tech stack? That means the rules probably affect you too. Observing these regulations is not straightforward, though. EU courts themselves have repeatedly called into question the legality of the framework for EU-US data transfer that supposedly abides by GDPR, and a new solution is still some way off. So it’s essential all AI businesses, anywhere in the world, follow the situation closely.
Did you over-promise on technology?
If you are a true believer in the value of HR technology, then you probably spend time telling stakeholders about all the benefits it can bring. When you get funding for a project I expect you’ll then be excited to tell people about the wonderful things the technology can potentially do. And – if I’m right – just like before, you’ll probably dismiss any implementation concerns with the promise that the process will go smoothly, this time. The reality, however, is often different Surprise, surprise, the implementation takes much longer than expected. In addition to this, not all of the features get implemented, and a lot goes wrong. Often problems result from inadequate implementation, however, even before we get to implementation the question is whether we’ve set ourselves up to fail by over-promising.
P.S. Wanna' help your clients get implementation right? Give them a copy of the TAtech Talent Technology Implementation Handbook & Job Aid.
Early Bird Discounts to End for Technology & the Candidate Experience Summit
Early Bird Discounts are about to end for the TAtech Leadership Summit on Technology & the Candidate Experience. To be held at the Harvard Club in NYC on September 28, this unique event is specifically designed to promote information exchange, learning and networking among corporate and industry innovators and thought leaders. The program includes stand-alone presentations, panels, fireside chats, case studies and a Product Palooza to showcase some of the most exciting solutions in the market. Speaking slots and sponsorships are going fast, so contact TAtech CEO Peter Weddle right away if you’re interested (peterweddle@tatech.org).