Jared Olsen, Silicon Slopes HR Disruptor award winner 2018 and Customer Success Manager and product evangelist at Motivosity, sat down with Amy Cook, CMO at Simplus, to talk about unique and unorthodox methods to grow revenue through HR.

Amy: How did you become an HR disruptor?

Jared: The human resources profession is awesome, but it’s not awesome if you think of in the traditional, boring sense like most people do. The typical HR professional has little interest in anything outside of hiring, firing, and answering benefit questions. And I really like to think outside the box and spend time with companies and individuals that are really doing things to advance the cause of human resources, the employee experience, company culture, and generate revenue as well. One fun, really simple way I’ve been able to do that is through proactive recruiting metrics.

Amy: That sounds interesting. Can you dive into that a bit?

Jared: Sure! Think about the amount of time it takes to fill a position: You get a notice that someone is leaving, you get the executive team together to talk about what to do, you post a position, you start interviewing candidates, you do assessments, you do background checks, you make an offer, they give two weeks’ notice—holy cow, the time is just adding up. And the costs tied to that can get pretty high as well. At one company I was with, we found out that the average time it took for this process is 54 days. And we were, through proactive recruiting, shortening that down to 14 days. We would interview candidates for positions before we even had positions become available. And we knew who our next people would be even before the processes started because we took a proactive approach. And that saved the company $12,000 per hire.

Amy: That’s amazing! So if you think about it, the average SMB hires, what, ten people a year? That’s $120,000 in savings right there. Let’s talk about more ways you can help grow revenue with HR!

Jared: Yes! So I like data. And at Motivosity we use a lot of data to help understand what’s going on with the employee experience and company culture. And what the data tells us is that millennials, by 2025, are going to be 44% of the workforce. The data also says that millennials stick in a job for three years and then they leave. And if that’s the case, I think we should let the data do the talking. I get frustrated with I hear executives say, “We’re never going to lose anyone. We have such a great culture no one will ever leave.” No. There are certain people that have different needs and just want a different experience. Instead of not acknowledging the facts, I think we should get in front of it, go to those employees, and say “Hey, let us help you find your dream job.” And as the HR executive I can go talk to my colleagues and say, “Hey, I’ve got this awesome employee. I’ll give you their file. I think they’d be a good fit for you.” And when they say no or maybe, my response would be, “You’re going to pay a headhunter or recruiter 30–35% of their annual income in order to make this new hire. I’ll just give you this employee info for a small finder’s fee of $5,000–10,000.”

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