Spearheading Workplace Innovation Globally
As the pioneering innovation lab and venture capital arm of SHRM, headquartered in Alexandria, Va., SHRMLabs drives the development of revolutionary and ethical technologies tailored to solve pressing real-world workplace challenges. By connecting a global community of over 325,000 HR professionals with leading startups and innovators worldwide, SHRMLabs spearheads collaborative projects that touch the lives of more than 362 million workers and their families globally while reshaping the future of work.
Driving Groundbreaking HR Technologies
Since 2020, SHRMLabs has been instrumental in bringing to life technologies that transform employee experiences, including data-driven talent optimization platforms, predictive HR decision-making intelligence, and AI-powered support chatbots. SHRMLabs connects stakeholders across backgrounds and industries to facilitate creative collisions that spark lasting innovation in enhancing employee experience, improving talent assessment, and reducing management burden.
“We are living at the intersection of technology and work like never before. As the world leader in all things work, SHRMLabs is strategically positioned to be on the front edge of where these trends are moving. On a daily basis, we engage with HR leaders, technology leaders, futurists, and founders to shape our trusted, objective perspective on what the future holds for workplace technology,” says Andy Biladeau, chief transformation officer at SHRM.
Accelerating Workplace Innovation Through Strategic Initiatives
As the pioneering innovation arm of SHRM, SHRMLabs advances it’s mission to reshape the future of work through four key programs:
- WorkplaceTech Accelerator: This 12-week hybrid program provides selected HR tech startups with extensive training, introductions to elite networks, and a $200,000 investment to fund hypergrowth trajectories. Participants refine their products and strategies while engaging directly with end users and advisors. The startups that graduate from the program are poised for exponential impact in transforming the workplace.
- Better Workplaces Challenge Cup: This pitch competition showcases bold innovations that tackle the workplace’s biggest evolving challenges, from skills gaps to mental health support for hybrid teams. Competitors present their breakthrough ideas to elevate the workplace to leading HR experts and tech enthusiasts from around the world. Winners unlock piloting opportunities, access to the SHRM community, and potential funding to bring concepts to life.
- Impact Investing: SHRMLabs provides capital to seed bold ideas that are spearheading positive social change through HR tech. These investments prioritize innovations advancing next-generation people practices, technologies accelerating the growth and careers of workers around the globe, and solutions addressing the most complex workplace challenges.
- Workplace Tech Community: This global forum facilitates connections among peers to discuss trends and imagine future solutions. Members learn from leading workplace experts, discover new technologies, and collaborate to guide the ethical evolution of work powered by tech.
These programs link international innovators with the funding, networks, and resources they need to drive leading-edge HR technology development with real business impact. SHRMLabs also convenes diverse thinkers at events, meetups, and workshops worldwide to develop revolutionary solutions tailored to evolving practitioner needs.
Empowering the Global Workforce of the Future
SHRMLabs’ goal is to arm HR leaders across borders with cutting-edge, ethical technologies that create empowering, equitable, and productive work environments for the global workforce of the future. By giving voice to international practitioner pain points and uniting world-class partners, SHRMLabs fosters innovations that solve needs on the ground level while transforming employee experiences from the inside out.
From international startups and global corporations to investors and business leaders across emerging markets, SHRMLabs welcomes all who share its mission to reshape the future of work through technology. Together with its partners across industries and geographies, SHRMLabs leads the way in building a bright outlook through human-centered technologies that create more empowering and equitable workplaces.
