I find myself surrounded by a lot of talk about HR Tech, machine learning and neural sciences. However, it wasn’t until Google maps predicted where I wanted to travel that I began to freak out – not just about Google’s predictive capabilities but about HR Tech too. After all, aren’t we trying to do the same thing?
The definition of creepy has undergone drastic change over the years. In my younger years, random strangers viewing photographs showing every detail of my life would have been my worst nightmare. Come Instagram, I can browse photographs of millions of strangers and save them too (well….screenshot!). What was creepy yesterday is ‘cool’ today. But HR isn’t there yet. When you ask your employees to download an app that tracks sleep hours and reports it out to you, I doubt they will be pleased. On the bright side, it is likely that the long terms and conditions page will be unread and they install the app anyway; and you can continue to sneakily follow their every step.
That is where your consciousness needs to kick in. After all, what the hell are you planning to do with the data anyway? Tracking your top candidate’s favorite restaurants may tell you where to take him to dinner. But really? That’s where you focus your energy? Why not just run a voluntary poll and have them tell you where they want to eat?
Point is – technology is creepy. I can say with absolute certainty that there will be a time where organization apps will record your every movement aka Big Brother style but until that day, let’s ensure we collect only the data we really need and with complete consent. Also, don’t do anything that will creep your employees. Not just the millennials but the other too.
The HR Business Partner Story 
Wouldn’t it be great to have tech tell us where we want to go in our professional careers? A tool of sorts to aide organizations in their succession planning. Like all things tech…HR needs to steer technological implementations for the benefit of the organization and its employees.