WEC, large staffing firms join in blockchain effort

The World Employment Confederation — an international organization representing the staffing industry — and its corporate members announced a blockchain initiative aimed at developing a common set of worker data that can reside on a block. The initiative also calls for developing guidelines on how staffing companies can use the data to make it easier for people to enter or re-enter the workforce.

Corporate members include The Adecco Group, GiGroup, Kelly Services Inc., ManpowerGroup Inc., Randstad nv and RGF Staffing.

As part of the initiative, the World Employment Confederation and the companies agreed on a set of points:

  • “That because so many individuals enter, or re-enter, the workforce through our industry, we share an obligation to make that experience a positive and trusted one for all candidates, workers and employers.
  • “That blockchain technology offers unique capabilities to enhance both data privacy and data sharing across the ecosystem of solution providers involved in connecting people with work.
  • “That a fundamental shift has occurred, requiring all involved in the industry to recognize that the personal data we collect about individual candidates and workers as part of the businesses we run remains, at the core, the property of the candidate and worker.
  • “That a lack of standards in the data collected from candidates and workers is a contributor to the inefficiency and poor experience consistently identified in the hiring processes.
  • “That we are at a point in time where taking action as a collective industry body is both positive for our businesses individually and for society collectively.
  • “That there is now an available technology mechanism that can address the data privacy, experience of the worker and customer and control of personal data business challenges effectively; therefore, defining a standard is in the best interest of all stakeholders.”

Apps to keep the team engaged and effective

With the huge shift during the Covid-19 pandemic, employees who never had to think about working remotely were thrust into a situation where they were working apart from their teams for the foreseeable future.

New technology and tools make it possible to have a remote team that is connected, productive and creative. Beyond Zoom and Skype, here are a couple of tools to keep the team engaged and productive.

Zapier. Zapier connects your favorite apps together and moves the data between them — you can connect apps like Slack and Trello and have all of your information stored in one place. It’s a useful workflow automation tool for businesses that are already set up with their own apps and just want a workflow automation tool to make working smoother.

It’s compatible with all of the main business apps, and though the interface isn’t as simple as it could be, it solves the issue of flicking between tabs and information to keep track of your work.

Otter.ai. Otter for teams enables users to transcribe their important conversations from Zoom and share meeting notes with summary keywords, highlights, photos and full audio transcripts. In addition to Zoom, it can integrate with your organization’s Dropbox and calendar tools.

Ayoa.com. Ayoa includes mind mapping, chat and task management all in one app. It encourages users to reassess their work and priorities, and not just get things done, but get the right things done

IT professionals more confident than legal in data-breach preparedness

When it comes to data breaches, 86.9% of IT professionals feel their organization is extremely or very well prepared to deal with one, while only 54.8% of legal professionals agree, according to a survey of more than 500 professionals by legal staffing firm Special Counsel.

The survey also found 51% of IT professionals believed their organization would detect and respond to a data breach within 24 hours, compared to only 7.5% of legal professionals.