CTA’s Small Business Workforce Forum
December 4, 2019
- Author: Jennifer Taylor
November/December 2019
More articles in this issue:
CTA recently hosted its First Small Business Workforce Forum, a day-long summit on hiring and retention strategies to help small tech companies remain competitive in this unprecedented labor market.
With record low unemployment at 3.7% and over seven million unfilled jobs in the U.S., businesses nationwide are struggling to find and retain skilled talent. This is especially true for small tech companies who often don’t have a well-known brand or staff dedicated to filling their talent pipeline. In fact, CTA’s recent Future of Work survey found that 86% (down six points from 2018) of respondents have a need for skilled workers and four-in-five respondents say it will be hard to find candidates with the right skills, up six points from 2018.
CTA released a unique set of industry-developed voluntary privacy guidelines for companies that handle consumer health and wellness data in September.
The Guiding Principles for the Privacy of Personal Health and Wellness Information were created by a wide range of CTA members including Doctor on Demand, Embleema Humetrix, IBM and Validic. Established in 2015, the first-of-its-kind set of principles were created to address tangible privacy risks, discover consumer preferences and earn their trust. The scope of the current guidelines has expanded the focus beyond just data generated from wearables. The principles cover the collection, use and sharing of data generated from personal health and wellness devices, apps and websites.
The CTA Privacy Principles establish a baseline, voluntary framework to promote consumer trust in tech companies that handle personal health and wellness data.
- The principles recommend that companies:
- Be open and transparent about the personal health information they collect and why.
- Be careful about how they use personal health information.
- Make it easy for consumers to access and control the sharing of their personal health information and empower them to do so.
- Build strong security into their technology.
- Be accountable for their practices and promises.
The CTA Privacy Principles are voluntary based on privacy concepts currently present and developing in U.S. law and are offered to complement, not supplant, the applicable legal requirements and regimes with which companies need to comply.
Don’t Underestimate Company Culture
Company culture is important — but can you measure and track it? Digital platforms which track employees, such as Glassdoor and current employee satisfaction
surveys, give leaders a stronger understanding of their employees’ sentiments. Regular townhalls are also beneficial for employees to share their personal insights.
Recruitment is Your Company’s Lifeblood
CTA’s Future of Work survey found that employee referral is the most used (73%) strategy to recruit new talent. Employers should nurture an engaging, productive and motivating culture that leads more employees to encourage others to work there
Create Thoughtful On-Boarding for New Employees
A good on-boarding process is a valuable retention strategy. Holding a dedicated orientation for new employees and sharing the founders’ personal story and the company’s history help new employees connect with the company’s mission
Put Apprenticeships on Equal Footing as Four-Year Degrees
Many college graduates are saddled with student loan debt and struggle to secure good work. Apprenticeships are a tried and true way to bridge the skills gap. The U.S. has over 500,000 active apprentices with 200,000 new starts a year.
Small businesses in the tech industry should approach the workforce shortage like a startup would: find lean, agile and innovative solutions.
Join our community of innovators and shape the future of technology.
