Technology is contributing in revolutionising HR practices

 

The ongoing digital revolution has led to several technological implementations in organisations across the globe. This has helped many companies in redefining their purpose, process and strategy to make things simple. It has also impacted every department in an organisation, including the Human Resources. From being just an administrative counterpart to assuming strategic roles, HR practices have transformed greatly in the past decade. Increased tech integration has led HR practices to witness a reasonable shift with the help of data analytics and insight that foster decision-making across all levels of the organisation.

 

HR Analytics: Need of the hour

 

For those companies that consider their workforce to be their most valuable and expensive asset, HR analytics is the need of the hour. Studies have proved that organizations that use HR analytics to provide business leaders visibility into talent data, have the most engaged and effective workforces, who are productive even in harsh conditions. Integrating HR analytics within the overall analytics strategy of an organisation will deliver tangible business results, and improve productivity, profitability and performance.

 

Recruitment

 

The recruitment division of HR, amongst others, lends itself for leveraging knowledge from the stage of candidate interface to assessment and appraisal for best fit and on-boarding. Assessments will be driven by AI, machine learning and analytics, enabling high-speed and accurate search that gets better with each cycle of use. Skill can also render the assessment process using close to real-life simulations in a gamified form. The foundation process of defining job competencies and requirements accurately will continue to be the most critical aspect that needs human judgement and understanding of the work context.

 

Soft skills are important for getting the dream job

 

Topping the most-desirable list is soft skills. The LinkedIn report states that majority of  talent professionals find it to be a critical trend when it comes to recruitment. As advancements in automation and AI further compromise the need for hard skills, employers are eyeing teamwork, work ethic and flexibility as essential to a company. While most survey respondents have difficulty assessing soft skills, the report indicates. It is believed that asking problem-solving questions and identifying the skills needed for a position are just some of the methods employers can use to better identify soft skills.

 

Rewards & recognition

 

Millennials will constitute 35% of our workforce, with Gen Z at about 24%. We will see a disruption in reward and recognition methodologies, triggering organizations to re-look at compensation structures, benefits, policies and recognition modes. Annual and bi-annual incentives may go under the scanner to see if these benefits can be passed on through innovative methodologies. We will also see trends such as ‘hyper personalization’ take shape where policies and benefits are as per employee needs.

 

Employee learning

 

The scope and mode of employee learning will undergo a shift, with customized ‘learner-led learning’ becoming the norm. Organizations will move towards digital byte-sized capsules and learning paths, flexible to individual profiles. Accessing learning will become more user-friendly with employees accessing learning inputs anytime, anywhere. The need of classroom training will reduce, but continue for programmed that require trainer interface. Peer network groups, discussion forums and interactive tools will help increase the effectiveness of learning. The models to emulate are ‘do it yourself’ videos that target need-based learning inputs in engaging presentation.

 

Employer branding

 

Organizations will look to designing newer outlook from inside out to tell their story to the world. Reputation management and employer branding will hold more significance than ever. With the ubiquitous nature of information on social media, customers and employees are privy to a large amount of un-curated data. Towards this, organizations will have to strengthen their focus on establishing official social media connections and channels, and managing them effectively. Candidate and employee experience will become the cornerstone of recruitment, employer branding teams.

 

Workplace

 

Different business models are evolving that do not necessarily require physical presence at a centralized office, but can very well be dispersed location, co-working spaces or even homes. The connecting thread is a reliable internet connection. The identity of the workplace is moving away from being just an efficient infrastructure arrangement to other requirements that include recognition of diversity and inclusion practices, making workplaces safe, healthy and ecologically sensitive. To optimize resource-efficiency, organizations will move from ‘tenure’ to ‘gig’ model, to ensure fast delivery of products and services to customers.