The importance of employee engagement — and the advantage corporate culture can bestow in the war for talent — were front and center of discussions at the HR Tech World conference yesterday in San Francisco.

“HR technology drives culture,” said Jason Averbook, CEO of LeapGen and master of ceremonies.

Another speaker quoted Gallup statistics that only a third of employees are engaged — and 16% were worse than just disengaged, they were “actively” disengaged.

The conference focused on the tech needs of HR professionals at large firms, but it shined a light on trends HR pros are following. One key concept discussed was the ability of tech to improve engagement.

One firm at the show, Never Eat Alone, provides an app that allows workers at large companies to schedule lunches with one another — the idea being to promote camaraderie.

Another example is a firm called The Muse, which creates and promotes profiles for companies to attract top talent.

Peter Hinssen, author of the upcoming book The Day After Tomorrow: How to Survive in Times of Radical Innovation, cautioned the audience to keep looking ahead at the new technologies to come.

“We live in the world where technology has become normal,” Hinssen said. “Our kids are going to have eight or nine jobs, of which five or six don’t have names yet.”

Could some of the jobs being created be for independent workers? Separately, MBO Partners released a new report this week finding continued growth in the number of US independent workers — which includes consultants, freelancers, contractors, temporary and on-call workers. MBO estimates the number of independent workers will grow by 3.1% annually to 47.6 million within the next five years alone.