In every phase of human civilization, there are random ups and downs but the job sector has seen the worst in recent times. The world politics and economics have been through a lot of fluctuations. Let it be the US or the global scenario, the world has witnessed horrible stress and pressure in the workplace last year. The job of a Human Resource(HR) manager or a Human Resource Management (HRM) company has become more challenging especially after the extreme level of pressure applied on the employees for long working hours and rapid cutting down of jobs. The HRM teams must look carefully on the matter and focus on the new challenges to keep up with the pace.
The Global Head of Talent Management at a German software corporation, SAP, Bhuvaneswar Naik said, “The only way to have a competitive advantage will be to keep reinventing the fundamentals of HR.”
Talent acquisition and its challenges
In every country, the present scenario seems that the population is rising at a rapid pace, more talented and better skilled labors are outsourced from other countries, machines and computers are replacing human workers, and factories are shutting down. In such a time when entrepreneurs are going for more automated workers, the unemployment is rising and simultaneously the demand for HRMs are getting reduced.
As more and more jobs are getting automated now, companies are looking for people with only specific set of skills. Clearly, once that person with the required set of skill is a part of the company’s workforce, the HR team must constantly remember to appease them. The vice-president and HR of Metropolis Health Services, Russell Rozario, pointed out another challenge and said, “For example, we are reaching out to the retail space because people have some knowledge about the healthcare space, or to telecom, because they have worked within an industrial distribution network.”
Hiring, training and keeping employees stay relevant to the industry
In most enterprises, employees are traditionally trained by the organizations but the trend is changing now. Experts say that while the person who is hired might be skilled and good in performing certain roles, the companies must look for the ones who are curious to learn. These curious people are the ones who can shift from one to another role. They suggest that a mix of apprenticeships as well as some online certifications and courses can help employees to stay updated and relevant even in the rapid changing scenario of the professional world.
Stephane Kasriel, the Chief Executive Officer at a global freelancing platform named Upwork, mentioned the need for updating themselves and staying relevant, in an article for World Economic Forum published last year. Kasriel said, “No matter how much training is on offer, companies probably won’t have all the tools they need and freelancers will begin filling those gaps.” He informed that the employees must renew their skills as often as possible to stay relevant to the industry.
Redefine Work-Diversity through HR tactics
Experts say that diversity is not just a matter of demographics but the approach to diversity is most likely to become more varied where corporations need to look at attaching thought diversity as an important aspect of the workforce diversity. The Human Resource Managers must focus more on the individual’s unique and exceptional skills and at the same time they should acknowledge and encourage their unique perspective and the ways of thinking.
The modern industry is different from what it was few years ago and it is evolving daily. Those days are coming to an end when people used to spend their whole life working in a single corporation. Its time when freelancing is reaching at the peak. Professionals define a diverse workforce as a mixture of full-time and freelance employees which includes young and old of all genders. The Chief of HR at VFS Global Bernard Martyris said, “Diverse workforce is a trend we can see, but it will make employee engagement more complex.”
Entering the Digital Industry
With the increase in the work- pressure for the HR and HRM providers, organizations are soon going to employ analytics to understand the people’s demand in a more customized and individual manner to provide solutions using mobile technology and other newer platforms. The possibilities of digital technology into the process of Human Resource Management are endless, that is, easier ways to analyze and manage performance, the mobile friendly platforms for communication, continuous feedback and pulse surveys and easier HR systems, automated processes, chatbots and a lot more.
While talking about the possibilities of ultimate digitalization of the HRM processes, the Head of HR of Infosys, Richard Lobo said, “Automation of HR processes must take place to reduce effort spent in redundant processes. The time made available through automation can be used to truly partner with business and people, towards better employee experience.”
Data Analytics is the new point to focus on
Every businesses and enterprises are relying heavily on technology to keep a track of life-cycle of every employee. Technological advancements are opening a wide window for the HRM providers. With these, the extent of data available with the HR team will go beyond just joining date and remuneration increase. Experts comment that data analytics will not enable HR to provide and track training, but also enable them to correlate reasons for attribution and client loss.
Highly experienced people in the human resource management industry mentioned that the introduction of more artificial intelligence and robotics in data analytics will smoothen sharper people insights and predictive analytics for the proactive and the better-quality decisions of the HR Managers and HRM providers.
