Tech & Innovation Blog
Life @ ADP: Wellness at ADP
Life @ ADP, Career Advice, What We Do
Wellness means different things to different people, and at ADP, we’re striving to create an environment where people can feel safe and supported.
Welcome back to Life@ADP Podcast Season Three Episode Two.
Have you had days when you felt it was difficult getting out of bed, not because you were lazy, but because mentally, it was tough? What about the times when you weren’t feeling well and still responded with “I’m good” to the question “How are you?”
May is ADP’s Month of Caring, and there arguably isn’t a better time to talk about mental health and how to care for yourself and others. We are delighted to have Amy F., Senior Director of Global HR, join us for this episode. She shares with us the importance of wellness at work and how ADP promotes it.
Amy F., Senior Director of Global HR
“Outside of my role as an HR leader, I am a mother, a daughter, and a spouse. There are many things happening in life that make me who I am as a person, and that person is connected to my work,” Amy said. “We need real conversations and real check-ins with people at work.”
Leaders and mentors at ADP understand wellness can mean different things to different people. That’s why we offer mental health resources and provide an environment where talking about mental health issues is okay.
“I’ve been with ADP for almost 28 years, and I stayed for the people and the culture,” Amy said. “Working for ADP has enabled me to do everything I want from a work perspective, but still allows me to be where I need to be.
Amy and her family
Amy also shared being open to connections at work is key to ensuring people have an environment where they can be themselves entirely. It is flexibility and culture that makes ADP a unique place to work.
Developing a culture of wellness starts with communication. When we talk about how we’re feeling and when team members take the initiative to be aware of each other’s needs, it sets the tone for everyone in the organization.
Who do you turn to when the going gets tough? Of course, our friends and family are always there to support us, but how about in the workplace? That’s why ADP also provides access to an employee assistance program (EAP), which gives employees confidential, professional support for a wide range of mental health issues, but that’s not all.
“We also offer new financial wellness sessions this year,” Amy said. “From student loans and personal debts to planning future retirement, we want to ensure that we’re leveraging the partnerships to help our associates be better.”
As we build a better workplace for everyone, let’s not forget that wellness is more than physical health. It’s also the mental and emotional state of being. Wellness means different things to different people, and at ADP, we’re striving to create an environment where people can feel safe and supported.
We hope this blog recap of our latest podcast episode was both informative and inspiring. Please stay tuned for the next episode of the Life@ADP Podcast. Thanks for reading!
Stay safe and healthy.
Life @ ADP is available on iTunes, Spotify, Google, iHeartRadio, and Amazon Music. Listen to the full episode here or on your preferred podcast player!
Interested in the unique culture and career opportunities at ADP?
Visit who we hire and our current openings.
Tech & Innovation Blog
Driving Resiliency and Sustainability: We’re All Connected
Future of Work, Innovation, What We Do
Driving Resiliency and Sustainability: We’re All Connected
By Jesse W., Senior Director of Application Development
I firmly believe in leaving things better than I found them. Mindfulness around economic, social, cultural, and natural systems allowed me to develop a sense of environmental responsibility.
Last year, ADP launched the Green Business Resource Group (BRG) to join our other nine BRGs, which place a focus on diversity, inclusion, sustainability, and belonging. Green has a specific purpose of promoting how to conserve and restore our communities’ natural resources. We are driving initiatives to support ADP’s commitment to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and target net-zero Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions by 2050.
Remember how I said I believe in leaving things better than I found them? It’s groups like Green that create opportunities for me to meet like-minded associates who feel the same way.
I was thrilled to learn the community already has over 2,000+ members globally in its early stages, which means there are that many people who are putting sustainability goals first and have an interest in preserving our future. 
Since joining the Green BRG, I have learned how technologists calculate the electricity costs in our public cloud computing in Scope 3, the indirect greenhouse gas emissions that arise from a company’s value chain. This got me thinking. How can my team at ADP help these efforts?
Resiliency helps our business operate technology at peak efficiency and provides teams with a way to lower operating costs for our clients. As the Senior Director of Global Cloud Strategy, I focus on enterprise resiliency and leverage sustainability principles across the team.
By practicing resilience, the teams provide clients with lower operating costs. Sustainability continuously modernizes and improves our best technical solutions to support meaningful business outcomes.
While both practices are complex in planning, I encourage leaders to implement the concepts in team strategies and apply “thinking green” as a problem-solving approach. Further reading: Implementing Environmental Awareness Practices in the Workplace.
As ADP’s partnership with public cloud providers and private cloud use rises, we must think about efficiency gains and how our work tremendously impacts carbon dioxide emissions.
I encourage you to find a group that speaks to your principles and values. I challenge you to widen your sphere of influence and see how you impact the wellness of our world. Consider spending a few hours every month volunteering and understanding eco-friendly practices or starting a conversation on environmental awareness with another individual.
No matter your role or where you are in the globe, we’re all connected. It’s time to take on the global human responsibility of leaving a positive impact. Join me today in finding your community, and consider joining a community or advocacy group that inspires you!
#Sustainability #Enviroment #EnergyEfficiency #Leadership #GlobalGoals
Interested in supporting culture and career opportunities at ADP?
Visit who we hire and our current openings.
Tech & Innovation Blog
From Advertising to UX Design: How a Career Change Led to Rewarding Purpose
Innovation, Future of Work, What We Do
The start of a career change is the best time to seek learning opportunities.
From Advertising to UX Design: How a Career Change Led to Rewarding Purpose
By Rodolfo H., UX Designer
I have a question for you. Do you love your job? If you had to pause to answer that, keep reading. If you didn’t have to pause to answer that, keep reading!
As cringy as it sounds, I am grateful to say I love my job because it comes with a purpose. I took a leap of faith by making a career change in February 2020, and my innovation journey began.
My friends describe me as the bubbly, fun, always-get-the-conversation-going type of guy. What can I say? I just love meeting people, learning about what inspires them, and I have found that human minds are so powerful when you allow ideas to fill a room.
Growing up in Brazil, I remember always being intrigued by the design and new trends in the market. I graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul with a Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising. Upon graduation, I spent years working in advertising, always paying attention to consumer behavior. Soon, my understanding of customer preferences and creativity led me to think about what I could do next.
That’s when I had a lightbulb moment. UX Design!
I found my passion through intuitive designs. With a solid foundation in user preferences, I was ready to transition my communication skills to the new field. As I was looking for a role that provides all the foundational next steps in my newly established UX career, ADP’s opportunity presented itself, and of course, I took it right away.
Rodolfo and his wife Luana at the Theatro São Pedro in Porto Alegre
Embracing Change
It’s OK to feel unsure and uncertain when you are changing career paths. There’s a risk and also potentially a great reward. The process can be intimidating, but don’t let this deter you. I found that connecting with your colleagues, learning the ins and outs of the business, and digging in deep with your tech stack goes a long way in setting yourself up for success in the early stages of your career change.
Joining the UX Design team at ADP was one of the best decisions I made. They taught me to create better product designs by trying new ideas. Innovative and exciting – that’s how I describe the tech hub at ADP Brazil Labs in Porto Alegre, Brazil. A variety of teams on site provide software and infrastructure development for products worldwide. Depending on one’s role, the tech stack could include PyTorch, Machine Learning, AWS Cloud, Big Data, TypeScript, Go, Java, Kafka Streaming, GraphDB, and ReactJS. Our list of technology is growing.
Embrace the unknowns. The start of a career change is the best time to seek learning opportunities. With this mindset, I have been able to build projects from the ground up in my new field.
Inspire and Get Recognized
Every day I challenge myself to go beyond a UX Designer’s role and look for learning opportunities. One recent example is the week-long Hackathon my team, and I participated in.
The Hackathon consisted of three to four hours a day brainstorming ideas and improving prototypes. By the end of the week, we stood before the judges and presented the final project.
Our idea was to create an accessible tool that helps people with disabilities find job opportunities. The ADP Brazil Hackathon committee was impressed with our product’s functionality, and I couldn’t believe it when they presented the Intrapreneur award to me! It was definitely the highlight of my career journey and the beginning of my tech innovations. Thank you for your support, Horizon Team!
I am proud of my team’s work. Together, we developed a tool that could positively change people’s lives. I especially enjoyed tackling different aspects of the project, from functionality to making a real difference. We look forward to implementing the tool in the hiring process across ADP.
Rodolfo and his family
Better Future of Work
Inspiration happens in minor ways, such as helping someone to learn a new product or exchanging ideas on a whiteboard.
My purpose lies in creating a better experience for people, and it aligns with ADP’s mission, always designing for people. I know the Intrapreneur Award was just my first milestone, and there is more to come as I build products with my team.
Be sure to keep an open eye for opportunities and proactively seek them out. Anything is possible with a group of creative people!
#Brazil #Hackathon #UXDesigin #UserExperience #CareerJourney
Do you love connecting with fellow technologists and getting recognized for creative ideas?
Click here to search for your next move, and visit Who We Hire.
Here you will find leaders who support your career growth, a community that feels like a family, and a growing innovation center focusing on the future. We work hard, but we also have fun together and humbly give back to our communities. Learn more here.
Tech & Innovation Blog
The Story of ADP Design: Data, Insights, Simplicity
Future of Work, Innovation, Why ADP
Accessible Video Controls
The Story of ADP Design: Data, Insights, Simplicity
Video: The Story of ADP Design: Data, Insights, Simplicity
Narrator: More than 900,000 businesses rely on ADP for leading HR and payroll solutions. How our products are designed is just as important as what they can do. Today, we’re going to learn why purposeful design helps our clients and their people work smarter.
JOE: So we hear the word design used an awful lot. We hear it in development. We hear it in experience. We hear it in the UI. There’s a UI element but there’s much, much more than that. What is design to you?
VIPUL: Designing for people is just part of our DNA. Our clients feeling confident in what they’re using.
BRUNA: It’s more than the look and feel. Design is also about performance.
OSCAR: We want to be 100% focused on their experience. When they come in, this is what they need to do and they should be able to do it quickly.
BRUNA: I think ADP is doing a great job on that. Trust is one of the words that clients use a lot. They trust in ADP.
JOE: That’s exactly right. If you help and can build that trust, they’re going to be able to have confidence to do their job or to crush it.
VIPUL: One of the ways you actually crush it is by being simpler. That one button that says confirm.
JOE: That’s right. How do when you’ve got good design? How do you measure that?
OSCAR: I don’t think there is ever going to be a point where you’re going to be like, this is the final design. This is it. But I think you learn over time, it’s a dynamic thing. Is this better than what we had before? Continue to improve the design. Continue to improve the user experience.
BRUNA: I think that the most important thing is really try to test it as much as possible with clients that are going to use it.
JOE: Describe a little bit about the importance of everybody being involved in that design. Is it a single UX person or UI person but really, the whole business?
JOHN: I may have an answer. And it may be a perfectly good answer to a problem, but I’ll reach out to get other thoughts. Maybe there’s a better way. You can’t just rest on your laurels. Look at COVID in the pandemic. The way our clients and our end customers operated their businesses changed.
JOE: Yeah.
JOHN: And if that changed, then our products have to change.
VIPUL: We now release much smaller, digestible features and new functionality and new things into the system on a weekly basis. And it actually makes it much more easy for us to release it and more importantly our clients to be able to accept these things and consume them, and stay up to pace with us.
JOHN: That’s what we’re here for, empower the business to go at whatever speed it needs to go.
JOE: I think that, to us, is what the modernization experience has been all about with workforce now. Guys, I’ll tell you, if I had every day a chance to get to talk with folks like you in a conversation like this, it’d be a wonderful day to start– bringing developers together with UX folks, with executives, and product people. Thank you for your contribution.
Work is having a moment. Regardless of what you call the state of the talent market, it’s clear we need a better way to work that enables everyone to reach their full potential. ADP is all about designing a better way to work. We design experiences using an integrated design philosophy and approach that leverages: Data, Expertise, and Design innovations.
For more insights, subscribe to the tech blog and receive monthly newsletters from us.
Tech & Innovation Blog
Women in STEM: Pioneering Product Management with Seema J.
Voice of Our People, Tech Trends, Career Insights
“Practice what you deliver in speech and use your products to better understand the user experience.”
Coming to ADP
Before joining ADP in August, Seema J. had worked in the technology space for over 25 years in different industries. She started with telecom and moved into media, health insurance, and information services. She has looked at various digital transformations and technology consolidations from a back-office perspective.
“Throughout my career journey, I’ve discovered my passion lies in using technology to create impactful customer experiences,” Seema said. “I ask myself: how do I use technology to solve problems? I also value mentorship and team growth, always moving forward with new ideas.”
When she came across the product management opportunity at ADP, she took it immediately. Seema’s service tech background led her to design systems from a global lens. She’s looking forward to building her career and focusing on client service.
Seema J., VP of Product Management
Power of People
Seema shared that her first two months at ADP were about absorption, understanding, and learning. She is now putting her knowledge and vision into forming a go-to-market strategy.
“Associates here always make time for each other, sharing updates and exploring tech interests,” Seema said. “I also connected with people outside my team to understand their work.”
When asked about her career journey as a woman in STEM, Seema explains she has always been interested in technology. She started with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and pursued a master’s in computer science.
That was when Seema came to her first career intersection after college: pharma or telecom, and she chose the latter. She used her experience in the industry to grow in different areas, such as long-distance billing system analysis, insights, and tools.
“I enjoy the long tenure of associates at ADP and how many transitions into different roles within the organization,” Seema said. “This allows people to gain experience in multiple areas and apply that knowledge in any teams they join.”
Seema then went back into internet products and design, specifically in chip designs, product lines, and the portal space. Her career involves creating customer experience journeys and leveraging technology to solve problems.
“My career progresses by understanding what I can learn and always searching for forward-looking solutions,” Seema said.
Systems and Cloud Technologies
Seema focuses on improving the client’s experience and services. She looks at both ends of the spectrum from the client’s and associate’s perspectives.
“My goal is to have the knowledge readily available to associates to fulfill client inquiries on time,” Seema said. “I’m working with a mix of homegrown and cloud-based technologies that provide self-service capabilities.”
Seema is also exploring chat capabilities and predictive analytics to understand client sentiments and help associates better support them.
Three Product Management Trends in 2023
Seema believes that there are trends toward digitalization and a hybrid environment where people access information on their smartphones and other gadgets quickly and easily.
1) Personalization
Personalization is becoming increasingly crucial for end-users, and many products are leveraging data to provide a more personalized experience. For example, Siri and other customized tools show how products can leverage data to improve the user experience.
2) Low-code/No-code
Seema believes that low-code/no-code environment is becoming more popular as the industry moves towards software as a service (SaaS) products. The setting allows developers to prototype and test their products quickly, getting user feedback and improving the product promptly.
3) Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Though the trend towards data is not new, Seema notes it is becoming more critical to apply artificial intelligence (AI) to gain valuable insights.
“I believe applying AI will become a standard practice in products soon,” Seema said. “I am enthusiastic about the possibilities in these trends, offering more in product management. They will continue to shape the industry for sure.”
Data-Driven, Innovative, and Fun
When it comes to the qualities of a good leader, Seema talked about the importance of innovation and adaptability, especially in the current environment where multiple workstyles exist, from hybrid to remote.
“My team comes from different backgrounds and experiences. There’s always more to learn,” Seema said. “We enjoy the team-building tool StandOut, which helps us understand each other’s strengths and how to leverage the traits.”
Seema advises technologists interested in Product Management to listen to clients and their feedback, which can be a significant input for product innovation.
“Practice what you deliver in speech and use your products to understand the user experience better,” Seema said. She describes ADP Tech as data-driven, innovative, and fun. Outside of the tech world, Seema enjoys gardening to relax.
#ProductManagement #WomeninSTEM #Data #AI #Technologies
We’re Hiring!
Click here to search for your next move, and visit Who We Hire.
Tech & Innovation Blog
Life @ ADP S3EP1: Talent Market Trends and What Candidates Want
Life @ ADP, Career Advice, What We Do
“Sometimes your career may feel like a ladder and sometimes like a jungle gym, and that’s okay.”
Season 3 Episode 1: Talent Market Trends and What Candidates Want
Welcome back to Life@ADP, the podcast that offers career advice and stories from our associates and recruiters around the globe. We’re thrilled to kick off season three with our first episode, featuring Tracy S. and Glenn D. from ADP’s Talent Acquisition.
Tracy has been with ADP for 15 years, leading recruitment worldwide in sales and marketing; Glenn joined in 2016, leading recruitment for executive leadership and tech talent.
In this episode, they join our hosts, Ingrid and Kate, to share their career journeys, offer advice for job seekers, and discuss how ADP helps businesses navigate the modern workplace. Listen to the full podcast episode here.
“Sometimes your career may feel like a ladder and sometimes like a jungle gym, and that’s okay,” Glenn said. “Don’t be afraid to take on new responsibilities, learn new things, and challenge your way of thinking.”
“Be your authentic self and ask questions that are meaningful to you,” Tracy said. “This is how you get the answers and determine if the career path matches you.”
ADP Talent Acquisition
Hearing from the Recruiters
Tracy and Glenn also shared the trends in the job market and what recruiters look for in candidates, highlighting the importance of adaptability, positivity, resilience, intellectual curiosity, and a collaborative attitude. They noted that candidates are looking for good company culture, mental health support, flexibility in their work, and career progression.
“You’re seeing a shift in the market where it’s candidate-driven,” Glenn said. “While compensation is a key factor, culture has become the most predominant thing.”
Recruiters ask themselves: How will the candidates leverage positive traits into this role? They found successful employees take the time to learn, grow, and care about others across the team.
“We have a culture of collaboration and innovation here,” Glenn said. “People bring their full selves to work.”
“ADP values integrity, respect, teamwork, and innovation,” Tracy said. “Supporting each other is what ADP is all about.”
We take pride in creating an environment for associates from all backgrounds, putting diversity and inclusion into practice.
Learning and Growing Together
Glenn notes that candidates are taking the time to research the company and its culture before they even come in for an interview and are looking for consistency between what they see online and what they experience in person.
“As a large company, what can we do to help? Some of it may be environmental work, and some may be helping the communities we serve,” Tracy said. “We celebrate historical events by connecting with communities and diving into associates’ stories.”
Associates are encouraged to join a Business Resource Group (BRG) that is personal to them. For example, ADP’s International Women’s Inclusion Network (iWIN) has a mission to engage, equip and empower women to achieve personal and professional success.
From building career workshops to celebrate their individuality through outreach programs like International Women’s Month, Black History Month, and Pride Month, ADP’s talent acquisition has meaningful conversations internally and encourages external learning opportunities.
“Associates come together and share their experiences on BRG events, networking and exchanging feedback,” Tracy said. “We make sure everyone feels welcomed and valued.”
Life @ ADP is available on iTunes, Spotify, Google, iHeartRadio, and Amazon Music. Listen to the full episode here or on your preferred podcast player!
Interested in the unique culture and career opportunities at ADP?
Visit who we hire and our current openings.
Tech & Innovation Blog
Roberto S. Named ADP Inventor of the Year: This is How We Roll
Innovation, Future of Work, What We Do
We thrive on innovation and turning ideas into action. Anyone can be an inventor and an innovator.
When Roberto S. joined ADP, he never imagined how far he’d “Roll.”
He started his ADP journey by working as a Machine Learning Engineer. In May 2022, he moved from the Brazil Labs to the Innovation Lab in Roseland and was awarded the ADP 2022 Inventor of the Year.
ADP’s Inventor of the Year recognizes an associate who develops products with great features. Tech associates submit a summary of the invention to the ADP Patient Program, providing a unique solution to a challenge.
Roll is the first digital AI/ML HCM solution for small businesses, offering payroll, time and attendance, and more. Everything a small business needs for running HR & payroll in a simple chat-based mobile application. Roberto’s patents have driven Roll from an idea on a whiteboard to a real in-market offering.
“Roberto’s contributions to ADP and, specifically, Roll, has been invaluable, and how he focuses on driving technology forward and innovating to create new technology makes him so successful,” Roberto Masiero, SVP of Innovation, said. “It’s no surprise he’s been named the Inventor of the Year!”
ADP recognizes the hard work and innovative efforts that go into filing a patent application. Every inventor named on a patent application receives a monetary award for each utility and each design. Roberto was chosen based on his contributions, providing technically detailed and sound documentation.
Machine Learning in Roll
The machine learning models Roberto designed for Roll use a chat interface to interact with clients. In the process, Roberto and his team developed a variety of NLPS (Natural Language Processing) technologies for Roll in the intent classification, questioning, and answering domains.
On a weekly basis, the team meets to discuss strategic and tactical developmental ideas for Roll, including a technical paper reading session, in which they collectively brainstorm ideas to help make a better application.
“Developing technologies for Roll is a never-ending process of asking questions and learning,” Roberto said. “This is a team effort. I’m only the messenger and sometimes the guy poking everybody with links and technical articles.” On the team, he gives kudos to Guilherme G., Roberto C., Carlos N., and Juliano V.
The Team’s Patent Process
Roberto sees the patent process as a method to transform ideas into a formal document that will increase ADP’s innovative power on the market. “There is always a great team working behind the scenes to help engineers describe a solution and ensure this initial description will make it to a patent, with all the legal aspects covered,” Roberto said.
As the Inventor of the Year, Roberto encourages other inventors to keep in touch with the patent team to understand the process and give their ideas a try.
Advice for Technologists
“My career journey has been a remarkable, fun 5-year ride at ADP,” Roberto said. “If you’re considering a tech career, I’d encourage you to apply to ADP because this is where you can bring your ideas forward, receive feedback, and try new things.”
Transformation is at the heart of what makes ADP unique. With innovation rooted in our values, ADP continues to provide opportunities such as our patent program, showcasing ideas from associates at all levels.
“It is always important to ask yourself how the idea will benefit ADP,” Roberto said. “Keep your minds open and study new areas and domains. Sometimes the innovation happens in the intersection of domains of expertise!”
#MachineLearning #MachineLearning #HCM #Technologists #Roll #Inventor
We’re Hiring!
Click here to search for your next move, and visit Who We Hire.
Tech & Innovation Blog
Data Privacy: The Future is Now
Innovation, Tech Trends, Career Insights
As a leader in the industry that collects a wide range of data from employees, we ensure the information is safe with us.
Say you met a technologist at a hackathon and want to connect with the person more. Instead of exchanging business cards like before, you’ll likely pull out your phone and exchange information digitally.
From LinkedIn profiles, Instagram usernames, hometown, and family relationships to mentions in articles from years ago, the internet and digital world do not erase one’s footprints in most cases.
With all information and data becoming digitalized in the 21st century, it’s time to utilize them in a way that’s never been done before. Data is not just your social media photo or where you went for vacation; it can be numbers and confidential information from financial to hospital records.
We recently had the opportunity to speak with Xiaojing W., our Distinguished Engineer who advocates for data privacy and user-respectful interactions. She shared with us some ways she keeps applications safe and secured at ADP.
Why Data Privacy is important
By Xiaojing W., Distinguished Engineer
On September 7, 2017, a consumer credit reporting agency announced that it had breached the data of approximately 143 million U.S. consumers, including customers’ names, dates of birth, social security, driver’s license, and credit card numbers. These incidents resulted in a loss of consumer trust, therefore, future business opportunities.
ADP takes pride in building applications that put customers’ privacy first with holistic security and privacy practices. In fact, our Chief Data Officer developed a holistic privacy framework instilling the privacy culture and centrally managing the practices in daily data operations. 
Here are some of our methods:
- Identification and classification of sensitive information as a part of data governance and management
- Implementation of enterprise-level and system-level data observability/monitoring
- Safeguarding information through various data security controls and advanced technologies such as privileged access management credential choices, secured APIs, file shares, and encryption through data’s entire lifecycle Implementation of Data Management Capability Assessment Model (DCAM) measurement processes to make privacy and security auditable
When it comes to creating a trusting experience for users, we have five best practices to share:
- Engage users in setting the privacy boundaries they want while getting the desired functionalities.
- Build a consistent consent model whenever we collect or use data
- Always include a system of consent receipts for auditing
- Bring full transparency and visibility into why we collect the data, how the data is processed/stored, and with whom we share the data
- Practice minimal data collection and store only the necessary data for future operations
With over 1M clients (about the population of Delaware in the United States), ADP pays more than 38M workers worldwide (about the population of California in the United States), and just in the US alone, we reach nearly 20% of the private US workforce.
As a leader in the industry that collects a wide range of data from employees, we make sure the information is safe with us. At the same time, we pay attention to the design process, ensuring a safe, user-friendly experience for everyone involved.
Here are five design patterns for creating user-respectful and privacy-aware interactions:
- Users must actively opt-in to having their data collected and used
- Users must give consent to every type of data processing activity
- Users must be allowed to withdraw their consent easily at any time
- Users should be able to check every organization and all third parties that will handle the data
- Use just-in-time data collection
Tech Trend: All about Data
Data is always changing, which means more people want ways to keep their information private. This has led to the development of new techniques that preserve user information in large datasets.
Here are four types of technologies that are getting attention in the industry:
- De-identification: we remove or encrypt PII and CII. Multiple techniques, such as tokenization, K-anonymization, and pseudo-anonymization, are provisioned within a Single Global Data Platform (SGDP).
- Differential Privacy: The idea is to add a layer of privacy by adding noise to the original data sets. The new sets make it extremely difficult to infer information about a single individual, while the accuracy of the data analysis and machine learning tasks is not compromised too much.
- Synthetic Data: is algorithmically generated data that mirrors the patterns and composition of the original dataset. Synthetic data can be significant for engineers to test with production-like data. It is also widely used for training the machine learning models used in fraud detection systems and applications with no data or hard-to-get initial data.
- Zero-knowledge proof: Utilizing cryptographic technology, a claimant can validate assertions of confidential information to its verifier without disclosing the details. By leveraging blockchain-based decentralized identity ledger, individuals and companies can easily control who has access to their digital identities. This provides trustful proof of identity, making it easier for users to manage credentials across the web securely.
You may ask, how does the new landscape in data privacy change our product design thinking?
To better understand our clients and the needs of their employees, we must have a comprehensive view of who they are (i.e., profile data) and what they do, and how that impacts their day-to-day (i.e. behavior).
By following HBR‘s new data privacy rules, our products will empower users with trustworthy technology solutions.
Our private permissioned blockchain also safeguards highly sensitive personal data while simultaneously allowing individuals complete control. This innovative technology enables ADP to craft new products and services that benefit employees and clients.
Closing Thoughts
Data privacy isn’t the Privacy Officers’ job; it’s a collective responsibility. As engineers who are often tasked with the technical aspects of securing sensitive data, we must understand the landscape of privacy-enhancing tools and technologies.
Keep in mind that we must stay up to date with the changes in the data industry as our users trust us with their information. Taking care of the trust and protecting the data should be everyone’s top priority.
#Data #DataPrivacy #WomeninStem #Automation #UserExperience
We’re Hiring!
Click here to search for your next move, and visit Who We Hire.
Tech & Innovation Blog
GPT Associates Win Big at +Hackathona PUCRS in Brazil
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
“Be creative and trust your solution. Always believe in your idea, work, and team’s dedication.”
GPT Associates Win Big at +Hackathona PUCRS in Brazil
ADP’s Global Hackathon is an exciting time for all ADP associates to be a part of hands-on innovation, no matter where they are. Hackathons serve as a way for participants to dive deep into their creative spirits and innovate in a start-up, sprint-like atmosphere. Beyond ADP, numerous hackathons cover a wide gamut of subjects. Two GPT associates recently shined, coming in second place, at the +Hackathona PUCRS, a 24-hour hackathon in Brazil’s Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) University.
Manoella J., Associate Developer, and Waldyr S., Software Development Intern, partnered on an exciting top-of-mind topic for our products: accessibility. The theme of the event was creating a healthier and more accessible internet. The two focused on mental health and created a browser extension that identifies offensive words and replaces them with their definition, reframing context and reducing negative mental health impacts. We spoke with Manoella and Waldyr to learn more about their experiences participating in Hackathon.
Q: What encouraged you to sign up?
Manoella: I am a student who enjoys problem-solving at PUCRS, and I saw the event’s publicity. As someone who’s always looking for opportunities to innovate, I signed up!
Waldyr: My friends were interested in participating, and we got together to form a team. I hadn’t participated in a Hackathon before, so there was a lot of excitement (and anxiety!).
Q: What was the most difficult part? How did you overcome the challenges?
Manoella: The most challenging part was adapting the extension to change the word on external sites. To overcome this obstacle, we focused on researching bibliographies and collaborating with the IT community to find a possible solution.
Waldyr: Because it’s an extension, my team thought it would be easier, but we faced a few challenges. First, it wasn’t easy calling the API that identifies hate speech, and it was hard to know exactly which words we should replace. We also had to access the User Interface (UI) to send automatically for analysis, which took a large amount of time. We made sure to reach out for help from other developers, addressing the deeper issues. Some tools we used included AWS, Google Perspective API, Python, and JavaScript. My team was proud to develop a creative solution that doesn’t change the meaning of the sentences—but still makes sentences less negative for the users, creating a healthier web experience.
Manoella (third from the right) and Waldyr (second from the right) celebrate with their team.
Q: How did you feel when you heard that you won the challenge in second place?
Manoella: I was pleased and proud of our team. We worked hard for 24 hours to deliver a well-structured, efficient and viable project. It was great to get recognized for sure!
Waldyr: It was a surprise! Even though we believed in our solution, there are other teams that presented great ideas with great experiences as well. We’ve learned a lot connecting with everyone. On top of that, this was our first time participating in the Hackathon and our results exceeded my own expectations.
Q: How did ADP support your participation throughout the Hackathon?
Manoella: At ADP, I have daily contact with good development practices, code optimization, and code versioning—these helped maintain clean and well-presented code for our team. The Hackathon highlights the value of teamwork for me!
Waldyr: When I joined ADP, I learned about agile methodologies—we use them to organize and divide tasks. By understanding these methods at work, I brought what already knew to Hackathon. I’m grateful for all the support I’ve gotten along the way. Here we are, so glad to share our story with fellow associates!
Q: Participating in Hackathon can be intimidating. What advice do you have for future participants?
Manoella: Be creative and trust your solution. Creativity is essential to developing a solution that draws attention to your project. Always believe in your idea, work, and team’s dedication!
Waldyr: Everyone should try it at least once! It’s quite different from what I imagined, doing it with friends there for the same reason as you. We went to learn, have fun and meet new people—reaching second place was a bonus.
Congratulations again to Manoella and Waldyr!
Learn more about working at Brazil Labs and visit Who We Hire.
Podcast: ADP’s UX Leader on Data-Driven Design
Podcast: ADP’s UX Leader on Data-Driven Design
Transcript
Mark:
Welcome to PeopleTech, the podcast of the HCM Technology Report. I’m Mark Feffer. My guest today is Joe Kleinwaechter, the vice president of Global UX for ADP. Among other things, it’s his job to make data accessible and useful. So he’ll tell us about those efforts, about how you make use of tens of millions of records and whether analytics and HR deserves all the attention it gets, on this edition of People Tech.
Mark:
Hey Joe, it’s good to see you again. Could you tell me what you’re working on right now? ADP’s a big company, deal with a lot of data. You are basically in charge of helping people get access to the information. So what’s that translate to on the ground right now?
Joe:
On the ground, my job is a lot of questions. Asking lots of questions and trying to really understand. One of the greatest challenges with us as human beings is that we think we have a really good understanding of others and we only understand it through our lens. And so trying to dismiss that and constantly realize that people do things a lot differently than I do on a daily basis. So my job is to figure out when they need data, when they need access to something, why do they need it? What are they ultimately trying to do? Not necessarily, yeah, maybe they’re trying to get their pay slip, but why are they doing that? What’s the bigger picture?
Joe:
Because it’s in that understanding of what they’re actually trying to do and those emotional states they have, that I can maybe get them there quicker to the end, rather than through a series of steps such as this is the way you always get your pay slip. So I really focus a lot on trying to listen for things that don’t make sense to me or are cognitive dissonance to the way we think about the world.
Mark:
Do you have an example of that cognitive dissonance?
Joe:
Yeah. It’s funny. You think that, listen, if I wanted to pay in the old days, if I wanted to pay somebody, I would have to go to my wallet, give them money because that’s where the money was, in my wallet. And it was only until you realize later that the money was just there because that’s all we had. People didn’t want to have a wallet. People didn’t want to have money. They wanted to ultimately give something in exchange for something else. They didn’t even want to spend money. They wanted to go get a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
Joe:
And then Starbucks figures out guess what? If I have a card for you, I can keep on file for you, or I can know about you. I can maybe help you get there better, not just in paying for the money, but maybe there’s something else. Your favorites, your history. How you operate. Things that make you happier as a customer that maybe you didn’t think about when you pull out your wallet with your Starbucks case, $20 for my coffee. But at the same time, what were the other things along the way that maybe could have been easier for you? So in my job, it’s not just about how do I go and look at my pay. I got to figure out what are they really trying to do? Are they trying to figure out if they have enough money to pay something? Or better yet, maybe they have some ambitious goals to try to accomplish and I can help them along that way. And that’s exactly what we’re doing in wisely right now, in our wisely product line.
Mark:
Now, obviously ADP has a ton of data and that’s kind of factored into your work, I would think. How does it factor in? How do you approach making all of this data digestible and useful?
Joe:
By ignoring most of it. I know that sounds kind of contrarian, but you could get absolutely awash in all of the data. Data’s a really fascinating thing. They say from a mathematical sense, data never lies, no, but, reading it does, right? Somebody could say something perfectly legitimate, but you can interpret it a lot of different ways. So the danger you have with lots of data is that the more you read, the more you make it confused. And what you have to do is take the data and figure out, okay, what can I start with as a hypothesis? Does the data support this? Does it not? And if it’s not, how do I change and pivot on my hypothesis? Those pivots often come by taking that hypothesis and trying it out with people. Seeing does it resonate?
Joe:
Okay, this says, this says this about the great resignation. This is what we know about it. Is that really what’s happening down there? And that’s where UX comes into play. Because we then go out and say, okay, we have this hypothesis, the data says this, what really is it? Is it really true or not? Maybe there’s other ways to interpret that data. And that’s probably one of our biggest challenges, there’s many ways to look at data and you can make data loo, however you want, right? The old statistics line, right? You’ve got to figure out a way that it’s unequivocally true for the people that you serve and localized to their needs. That’s the hard part about data.
Mark:
Okay. Can you tell me a little bit about the technology that’s behind all this? What’s going on under the hood?
Joe:
You mean gathering the data?
Mark:
Not just gathering the data, but putting it together and presenting it in a way that’s usable.
Joe:
Yeah, I think the biggest thing we have to focus on really is what are people actually doing versus what does the data? So the data gives us a starting spot, but really the really good data comes from what they’re actually doing as they’re using your software, for instance. How are they using it? What are they doing? So the best data is the one that actually follows them doing what they’re trying to do, rather than maybe some larger data set that gives you great demographics and breakdowns, but doesn’t really get personal enough. So what we typically do, I’ll give you a great example. In one of our latest products here called Intelligent Self-Service, we actually go back and look at all of our calls that come into the service center. And we find out which ones are the most plentiful, because those are the ones that are probably, our hypothesis is, nobody wants to call into a service center. Nobody wants to call cam Comcast, right? Or call Google. They don’t want to do that. So therefore, how can we subvert those calls ahead of time?
Joe:
Well, okay, we go and look at the top 10, and this is what they’re calling in for. It doesn’t really tell me why or what their circumstance was, or other characteristics like do they really need a human, maybe they need some confidence. We then take that data and apply it in, let’s say hypothesis. We say, listen, people want to know, for instance, who their HR benefits person is whenever they do this. We then watch the way they behave using our software and say, okay, at this time we think they want this. And that combination will help them not call. So it’s a series of hypothesis driven design along the way that takes the data that we see in the call center, combined with the demographics of what we know from our products and how they use our products. Combined with what the user did at that moment, that triggers us wonderful little in, we use the AIML phrase, this black magic that happens with AIML that causes us to say, oh, these things when together have a high degree of confidence that what he’s trying to do is this. Give him this.
Joe:
Now 20 years ago, I mean, we’ve been try AI for a real long time, right? For a very long time. And what makes it really good today is that the models have gotten so good that we’re right far more than we are wrong. Remember the old days of Clippy trying to figure out what you were trying to do? Hey, it looks like you’re trying to write a resume. Irritating as all get out. But now we know what you’re actually trying to do with some high degree of confidence, because we have so much data that built that model so great that we actually have a good idea that maybe not only can we tell you what you need, but maybe we can actually do it on your behalf if you want us to.
Joe:
And that’s really where the state of experience is going to, can we be predictive? Can we be insightful? Can we be intuitive to what they’re trying to do and then be bold enough to offer to do it. And then when we find out that we’ve got really high degree of confidence, that we can do it every time, maybe recommend doing it on their behalf, without them knowing about it, if that’s what they want. That’s the model that the experience is going to.
Mark:
Well, how does this all fit into ADP’s efforts overall?
Joe:
In which respect? In terms of the UX, the experience model, this intuitive model?
Mark:
Yeah.
Joe:
So I would say right now we recognize that the big position that ADP has different than a lot of others in the industry and competitors, is that data, is the wealth of data. It would not be wise for us to ignore the fact that’s a competitive differentiator. So we use that data all over the place. So what’s really key? Our data sciences inside of ADP are pretty, pretty high level. And I say that with the great degree of confidence, because I’ve seen it operate on myself. Our AIML models that we have out there for telling where you’re going to go separates from everybody else. Now, since we have all that data, now the question is what’s the right thing to do with that data? What is the proper thing to do with the data?
Joe:
And our view is really simple. If it helps our clients, our customers, our users out there to do something that they wanted to do or to make them aware of something that they want they should know, then that’s good. Right? So it’s the alignment of that big data through a good model to get into the data at the right time. That’s across the whole product line. That’s across everything ADP is trying to do. We’re trying to become, a little bit like a barista at Starbucks where we know you enough that maybe we have your coffee ready for you because you always do that. You come and say the usual. Okay, good. Here’s the thing that took you half an hour to spout out before, now happens as you get in line. And that’s what ADP is really trying to do, is to be there before even you are there.
Mark:
I mean, obviously there’s a lot of technology behind this and that makes me wonder, how has the technology evolved over the last 10 years say. Which as the technology was evolving, it seemed also that the use of data was spreading. And I’m curious about, first how the technology became more of a foundation. But also how did the growing demand for it influence the technology and vice versa?
Joe:
Yeah, there’s a couple of things. It’s funny having been in many industries that relied on data. There’s a good natural checks and balances with the using of data as we know. There’s good ways to use data. There’s bad ways to use data. And it’s different for every person. I used to, and I still do, refer to something called the creep factor. Something is creepy. Back in 2002, if somebody told you that you need to get in your car because your flight is going to leave in a half an hour and the roads are blocked, you’d be kind of like, well, that’s kind of creepy. How did it know all this stuff, right? And you go, well, that’s creepy. But there’s a point at which you say but that’s useful. Okay.
Joe:
In the early days, we didn’t expect people to have all of that data. Now we’ve come to the point where we are growing up with societies where our kids and all others just assume you have that data, just assume that data is out there. It’s a different world about what we assume the data. Right or wrong, or whether you have that data, they make an assumption that data is there. Therefore, why wouldn’t you use it for me? How dare you not use it to help me become better? And that’s a far cry from where we were in the early 2000s, where how dare you use that data, to the point we said that data’s actually pretty useful. I kind of like the fact that you can do this for me. And then you start allowing a little bit more data, a little bit more data. And next thing we have data fields all over the place that are being mined for lots of different reasons.
Joe:
First, it was just concrete data, physical data. Now it’s behavioral data. How you operate, where you move, where you go. And to the point that it’s useful, great. But there’s always this paranoia that it’s not being used in the right way. And that’s something that I think is really healthy. I think that’s a really healthy check on making sure that we are good ambassadors of that data.
Mark:
What do you mean by paranoia around the data?
Joe:
Well, I think anytime somebody knows something about you that you either A, didn’t want them to know or didn’t know that they know, there’s a natural paranoia in us that asks how are you going to use that? What are you going to do with that, right? And knowing that if this were a benevolent world where everybody was going to use it, right, we’d have no problem with it probably. Not everyone, but a higher majority. But now we’re in the place where we have to be very careful about those that want to use the data to harm us or to use it in a way that annoys us at the very least, right? The scam calls that you get all the time, all the phishing techniques that are being used, things like that. There’s a whole black science of UX out there to trick you to go do things because they have some data, right?
Joe:
There’s reason HIPAA was set up, right? There’s a very valid reason why HIPAA was set up and needs to be needs to be respected and done because of the bad that you could do with that data they aren’t governed correctly. So we treat governance with data incredibly, incredibly important. It’s at the top of what we do in all of that governance. We know we have an ethics board. We have our chief data officers constantly making sure that we are using data in an ethical way. And that it really truly not only is just ethical, it’s got to be valuable. It’s got to be something valuable for our clients and our customers. Otherwise, it’s just data.
Mark:
I’d like to shift gears a little bit for the last few questions. Delivering data in the flow of work, the whole notion of in the flow of work is gaining a lot of traction. A lot more vendors are exploring ways to present their products that way. Does that pose any particular challenges for a data service or is it better? What’s your response to it?
Joe:
Yeah. There’s a fascinating thing that I learned, again back in the early 2000s, I worked at a company that we decided at the time Google had come up with Appliance, right? That you could put inside your internet and all of sudden you could use as a search engine localized to your internet. We put the Appliance up there and it didn’t perform well at all. We let it run. We let it run for a couple of months and it kept getting data. It could never, the finds were just not good. They weren’t even close to what you would get on the internet. And what we learned from the Google data scientist at the time was the reason that the internet is so valuable as a search tool and so accurate, is because it has so much heterogeneous dat. Data that doesn’t appear related but in a way is, and that heterogeneous data gives us a much greater chance of finding that needle in the haystack that you’re looking for.
Joe:
Whereas inside of a company, it all looks like the same thing, give me the latest dev report, give me the latest financial report. It’s more of a monocosm of stuff, and therefore you couldn’t find things. As we start meeting people on the go, where they are, we now have the chances for other types of data to improve that. Now depending upon where you land on the privacy of knowing where you are, geofencing and things like that, there’s a lot that can be done by knowing where you are. The question is by knowing where you are could you also use that for nefarious means? Yes, I guess so. Sure.
Joe:
So you’ve got, I think the real challenge is, as we learn all this new data, what’s right to keep and what’s right not? And that’s not necessarily our choice, right? That needs to be our client’s choice of what’s valuable because again, going back to the creep line, if I know where you are and I can offer you this new service, it should be your choice, whether you want to exchange that data for that service. Not we’re going to take this all from you.
Joe:
Companies have gotten in trouble in the past. We’re going to take this data. We’re going to read where you are and not tell you, and we’re going to give you a great product. Even if it may benefit you, the fact that you took that without my knowledge makes me suspicious that you may take it to do something else. And I think we’ve got to be really, really careful that having an honest conversation, a full disclosure and a strong ethics policy behind your data is really going to make the difference. Now with that in place, now I can meet people where they are. I can see where they are. I can get a lot more information.
Joe:
A great example. One of our customers has a lot of field workers, right? And they have their phones on, they got GPS on their phones. If they want to transmit their GPS information, great, they’ll be great. They can do it. We can tell when they’re going to clock in, when they’re going to clock out and maybe even clock them in automatically. So we get rid of the single biggest call, to most HR departments, is I forgot to clock in. Can you clock me in? I forgot to clock out. Can you clock me out? Something as simple as that, just by turning on GPS location. Is that valuable or not? Well, that’s kind of a client thing, isn’t it? You tell me. Is it something you want to exchange for that? Then I have put governance about what I’m not going to do with that data. That’s just as important. And maybe I’d say is even more important. Because just because I have the data doesn’t mean I can use it however I want. I’ve got to use it in a prescriptive way,
Mark:
Joe. Thanks very much. Really appreciate it.
Joe:
My pleasure, Mark. Thank you.
Mark:
My guest today has been Joe Kleinwaechter, the vice president of global UX for ADP. And this has been PeopleTech, the podcast of the HCM Technology Report, a publication of RecruitingDaily. We’re also a part of Evergreen podcasts. To see all of their programs visit www.evergreenpodcasts.com. And to keep up with HR Technology, visit the HCM Technology Report every day. We’re the most trusted source of news in the HR tech industry. Find us at www.hcmtechnologyreport.com. I’m Mark Feffer.
