Comfort Keepers transforms home care Hiring with Paradox
Born out of the desire to improve the applicant experience, Comfort Keepers ‒ Sodexo’s partnership with Paradox ‒ has been fundamental for Sodexo in taking advantage of the opportunities in recruitment.
“At the time, it was through another project that we really began to see the gaps and opportunities,” says Alexandra Montgomery, Director of IT at Comfort Keepers, Sodexo Home Care, North America.
She adds: “We may not have known at the time that it was going to be AI and automation that would help fill those gaps, but it was an opportunity that we were dedicated to spending time exploring and discovering solutions that work. When your product is people, it’s really important that throughout the experience, at all levels, we are making an impact. So just like Alexa and Siri, we brought these personal virtual assistant solutions into our offices with the help of Paradox but we named our version Joy.”
It is this shared belief that makes Paradox the perfect partner for this project. Joshua Secrest, Vice President of Marketing & Client Advocacy at Paradox, explains: “Our three core areas of focus are: to be fast and easy to get more applicants; to automate processes to give time back to managers and teams; and to really care about the experience we are providing for our customers. It is truly interesting to see the use of AI to supplement and support these goals.”
Paradox’s impact on Comfort Keepers’ recruitment
Simply put, Montgomery says: “The differences we have seen are incredible. At first glance, it’s the admin time and ability to automate that have benefitted our teams, but most importantly, we now have access to relevant data to pinpoint and zone in on any problems a lot quicker than we would have before with a paper process.
“Paradox’s solution has changed the conversation from ‘I feel’ or ‘in my opinion’, to facts driven by data and the option to further explore the insights. And we are seeing applicants that are much happier, because they are not only hired quicker but can complete the recruitment process on their time.”
Agreeing with Montgomery, Secrest adds: “The last couple of years have been very telling when it comes to how much staffing can impact business results. It has been interesting to see how companies are experimenting and transforming their recruitment processes. Those that are adopting and transforming fast - like comfort keepers - are starting to build a competitive advantage.”
Supporting diversity and inclusion
When going into the partnership with Paradox, a big question for Comfort Keepers was, ‘how can AI support its diversity and inclusion strategy?’.
Montgomery explains: “Our partnership with Paradox is really creating a much more inclusive experience because of its ability to screen in multiple different ways, the solution casts a wider net for applicants, but it also removes unconscious bias. Using software like natural process language is helping us to reduce judgement, it doesn’t matter what street you live on or how a demographic associates your name, it is really about how you meet the core criteria of the role.”
Secrest adds: “This is exactly how we built our solution, to allow our customers to screen and remove bias. It allows companies to really look at what’s important in the initial screening process before passing an applicant onto the interviewing stage.
“Beyond reducing bias, we have also found that the process is easier, simpler, and more inclusive with the help of conversational AI, our mobile solution and Joy’s ability to speak different languages. These kinds of features help to reduce barriers to entry for applicants.”
