Owing to the rapid globalization and technological advancements ongoing, the world of business is going through seismic changes. As evidenced by the transformation of businesses, the economy and society. The changes are rippling within the Human Resources field bringing about trends in the various elements of HR processes. The paper analyzes the key trends in Human Resource over the last ten years with a focus on employee experience, data management, performance management, increased need for data analytic tools and the influence of millenials in the workplace.
Employee Experience
The digital era carries a form of transparency causing a shift towards employee experience by developing and creating a culture that encourages employee self-development and work productivity. A productive positive employee experience depends on the changing nature of organizations from the leadership and structure. Crucial to employee experience is the culture and nature of employee engagement. In a report by Deloitte (2017), on growing trends in Human Capital, there is a focus on employee journeys, studying the needs of employee and using net promoter scores to understand the employee experience. One of the elements that influence the employee experience is organizational culture. There is a shift from a top down approach through embracing teamwork and a variety of technologies. Organizations in response are shifting their business models to involve a flexible, team centric model, (Deloite, 2007). In gearing towards the improvement of employee experience, growing trends include the growth of technology, social collaboration tools, the need for work life balance and having work environments that encourage productivity.
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Technological advancement has and continues to play a role in employee experience through the availability of technological tools for the storage and management of data, (Ouye, 2011). Through the technological platforms, workers seamlessly co-operate to improve work productivity. For example, using virtual teams, workers collaborate without having to spend additional resources to organize face-to-face meetings. Companies such as HP use virtual room collaboration platform to have team members host meetings, customer briefings and training in one location. In line with technological advancement is design thinking that involves technological interventions in place to simplify life at work. Leading firms such as Nike, Telstra capitalize on technological advancements to redefine on boarding, self-service applications and recruitment, (Deloitte, 2017).
The rise in caring responsibilities, places a demand on a better work life balance. With this being a pressing concern for most employees, employers’ are allowing the use of flextime and periodic changes in the working times, (SHRM, 2011). With technology favoring a shift in virtual locations, organizations are providing opportunities for flexible work environments.
Data
As explained by SHRM (2013), one of the significant changes in HR is the growing dependence on e-HR strategies and HRIS systems. In this sense, there is expanded access of data to other entities within the organization. With the use of HR portals, employee and manager self-service systems, management of data between departments are easier. For instance, with a HR portal employees have access to resources and data relevant to their personal situation and job. Here, they can key in their hours worked that serves as a system of monitoring their attendance. With a manager self-service portal, managers can handle HR transactions such as approval of leave days, performance appraisal and succession planning without having to cascade the responsibilities to HR.
Performance Management
Concerning performance management, there is the use of clear and standardized measures to evaluate performance. In this sense, the provision of immediate feedback, goal management, and people development are becoming core elements in redesigning performance management, (Deloitte, 2017). In providing continuous feedback, the predominance of millenials necessitates the change in performance. Through feedback, employees incorporate the use of new tools to boost their performance and contribute to goal achievement.
According to Cappolli and Tavis (2016), in people development, there is improvement in talent management with learning and advancing being at the center. As such, companies are shying away from numerical ratings to tapping on learning and development on improving the employees’ performance.
Increased Need for Data Analytics
Central to supporting HR operations is the use of data analytics following the complexity and unpredictability of human behavior. The use of data and metrics to design and implement new management strategies brings about objectivity in HR operations, (King, 2016). Through analytics, it is possible to identify causes of performance improvement and development of a measure that is statistically significant to ensure achievability of the goal. With majority of organizations using HR systems, data captured from the systems makes sense using analytical tools and is the benchmark in defining if the laid out measures in place are useful. It is through analytics that HR departments develop a balanced scorecard to gauge their operations.
Changing Nature of the Workforce
With the first wave of baby boomers beginning to retire, there is a rapid increase of millenials in the workforce. Millenials have a different culture from those of baby boomers and generation X explaining rising tensions within the workforce, (SHRM, 2011). Central to their role in the workplace, millenials value independence, digital literacy and the need for a work life balance. The capacity to retain and attract top talent among millenials does not depend on the compensation package, but the ability to foster a sense of belonging and having an environment that builds on learning and development, (Deloitte 2017). With this in mind, HR professionals have in mind the need to foster a multigenerational workforce and create environments in which individuals from different generations understand the implication of their generation on work dynamics. For example, having baby boom managers understand the need for millenials implement digitally based solutions or reaffirm them for a good job done sets the tone for what to expect.
Summary
The changing trends in Human Resource Management are indicative of the rapid globalization and technological advancement. With technology, the nature of employee experience is changing through the implementation of design thinking, virtual work places and the change in organizational models to support employee development. Technology has equally revamped data management with data analytic tools coming in to help make sense of the data. As the trends are emerging, the workforce is evolving to keep up with the changes. Millenials are surging into the workforce, with them having different needs compared to other generations. Scholars and Hr professional are aware of the trends, of importance is to have in mind human capital as involving human beings influenced by other factors outside work.
References
Cappelli, Peter and Tavis, Anna. (2016).The Performance Management Revolution. Harvard Business Review. Web. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/10/the-performance-management-revolution on 19 Oct 2017.
Deloitte. (2017). Rewriting the Rules for the Digital Age. 2017 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends. Print.
King, K. G. (2016). Data Analytics in Human Resources: A Case Study and Critical Review. Human Resource Development Review , 15 (4), 487-495.
Ouye, J. A. (2011). Five trends that are dramatically changing work and the workplace. Knoll Workplace Research , 1-14.
Society of Human Resource Management, (SHRM). (2013). SHRM Workplace Forecast: The Top Workplace Trends According To HR Professionals. Web. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/Documents/13-0146%20workplace_forecast_full_fnl.pdf on 19 Oct 2017.
