Roundup: AI’s Downside, Asure Acquires Payroll Maxx

HR Technology News Screens

This week’s roundup of deals, product announcements and other news from the HCM technology community.

AI-driven recruiting tools may come with an unintended downside for candidates: lower wages. According to the Seattle Times, Bo Cowgill, an economist at Columbia University, tools that can identify skills that may not match job-posting keywords also uncover “more nontraditional, equally qualified, equally high-performing people” which the employer “doesn’t seem to have to compete for … as much.”

Asure Software acquired Omaha-based Payroll Maxx, a workforce management services and technology provider for small to mid-size employers. Payroll Maxx has been a reseller of Asure’s Evolution HRIS platform and processed over $1 billion in annual gross wages last year.

HR technology vendors will keep scrambling for talent, if LinkedIn’s list of high-growth jobs is any indication. Among the top 10 are software engineer (No. 1), project manager (No. 6), product manager (No. 9) and data scientist (No. 10). Blockchain developer and machine learning engineer led LinkedIn’s list of top five emerging jobs. Machine learning specialist was in the fourth spot.

The market for learning management systems will grow in value from $9.2 billion in 2018 to $22.4 billion in 2023, according to researcher MarketsandMarkets. That’s a CAGR of 19.6 percent. The major growth drivers include increasing adoption of digital learning, growing inclination toward BYOD policies and enterprise mobility, government initiatives for expanding the use of LMS, as well as continually advancing technology.

Alight Solutions, a provider of HCM, health and finance solutions will add Advizr WorkPlace’s financial management and planning tools as an option to its suite of financial wellness options. Advizr Workplace is also available as a standalone solution to Alight’s benefits administration clients. To date, three Alight clients, representing over 500,000 employees, have implemented Advizr Workplace, the company said.

An increase in the use of meal vouchers in employee compensation packages is a key emerging trend in global workforce benefits, according to research firm Technavio. Specifically, the global meal vouchers and employee benefit solutions market should post a CAGR of over 6 percent between 2018 and 2022. Behind the growth is an increase in the tax benefits for companies that provide vouchers, coupons or prepaid meal cards as part of their employees’ compensation structure.

Financial wellness technology provider Even.com will announce a “5:1 ROI Guarantee” at next week’s National Retail Federation Big Show. The company said such ROI can be achieved through reductions in staff turnover and absenteeism, and will use its partnership with Walmart as a case study.

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