Until early this year, Schneider Electric was living with an uncomfortable truth. Some 47 per cent of employees who left the global energy management and automation business said they were leaving because they couldn’t see any future career opportunities. It was clear that, in this company of 140,000 people, the traditional means of internal talent recruitment and career progression were not working.
To solve the problem, Schneider launched its Open Talent Market, an innovative application of AI in HR that is helping to place the company’s considerable internal expertise where it is most needed.
The platform currently performs three functions: matching employees to vacant roles, helping them find a mentor and connecting them to side projects. Crucially, it puts employees in control of their own careers. People are free to share whatever personal information they feel is relevant, such as skills and goals, which is then matched by the system’s algorithms to the company’s requirements.