Human Capital Management Technology virtual roundtable

In July, FPE Capital virtually hosted a roundtable discussion on the impact of lockdown and changing workplaces on the HCM technology sector.

We were joined by three CEOs from across the sector, who shared their learnings from the last six months, as well as a group of business leaders representing a broad church of growth stage HCM technology providers.

First, Lars Pedersen, CEO of FPE portfolio company Questionmark, gave an overview of Questionmark’s move to an entirely remote set-up. Questionmark, a provider of online assessment tools, has operated remotely for several years, and Lars shared his experience of moving people out of offices whilst maintaining a high performance culture, and capitalising on the opportunity to access capable people regardless of their location.

Robert Newry, Founder & CEO of Arctic Shores, then provided an overview of the opportunities and challenges around remote hiring. Arctic Shores provides people assessment solutions underpinned by neuroscience, and Robert highlighted remote working as an opportunity to move away from “gut feel” and CV based hiring towards data-led processes that level the playing field and promote potential, diversity and inclusion. This led to a discussion around emerging challenges such as interviewees’ differing access to technology, and companies currently having to process large application volumes for each role.

Finally, Anna Rasmussen, Founder & CEO of OpenBlend, a people-centred performance management platform, shared her views on effective management of remote teams and people. Anna’s practical advice focused on building trust, autonomy and accountability by prioritising wellbeing, promoting flexible hours, and emphasising the importance of outcomes.

We would like to thank Anna, Lars, Robert, and all who attended for an engaging and informative session. Through events like this one and our previous HCM focused breakfast in November last year, we are building a community for like-minded business leaders to share their experience, best practice and views from across the sector.

At FPE, we believe the HCM technology sector will continue to benefit from accelerated digitalisation and changing workplace environments, as we are seeing through our current investment in Questionmark.