HR trends

Faster, Flexible, and Well-being

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It is always a good time in January to look forward into the new year and see what the trends in HR will be. It seems as we head into 2020, we can consider these three words to sum up the upcoming trends in the HR world:1

  • Faster
  • Flexible
  • Well-being

These words sound more in line with what you’d expect from an ad for a yoga class, rather than what you’d use to describe new organizational trends for HR, so let’s expand on these.

In 2020, the new 5G networks will start to take hold and have an impact in the workplace. Greater and faster communication will lead to the increased use of Artificial Intelligence to speed up all processes in the workplace. Workers will have to be ready to respond to change unlike ever before.

Companies in 2020 may also be forced into embracing the 4-day work week. A financial services company in New Zealand, called Perpetual Guardian, moved to a 4-day work week and saw a 20% increase in productivity.2 According to Human Resources Director article, “Workplace 2020: Key trends for the future of Work”, flexible working “has emerged as a super trend, with 62% of businesses worldwide now offering a flexible working policy.”1 Incorporating flexible schedules into their workplace will be challenging for some organizations, but with the tight labour market in North America, many will have no choice but to offer creative and flexible working schedules for their employees.

Employee burnout is real as well, and “research shows that 95% of HR leaders think that stress is ‘sabotaging workforce retention’.”1 If there can only be one change organizations make in 2020, it should be dealing with workplace stress and employee burnout. As the speed of workplace processes increase, so will workplace stress levels. As things get faster, there is a greater need in our workplaces to counterbalance the speed of change with greater organizational flexibility and well-being to support our employees.

Discussion Question:

Pick one of the three HR trends for 2020 to research. Create a 5-minute presentation to convince your VP of HR that a new program should be implemented so the organization can be more successful in 2020.

Sources:

1 https://www.hcamag.com/ca/specialization/hr-technology/workplace-2020-key-trends-for-the-future-of-work/195995

2 https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/feb/19/four-day-week-trial-study-finds-lower-stress-but-no-cut-in-output

HR is More Important Than Ever

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The HR profession has evolved drastically over the years. HR professionals have seen a general shift from a transactional focus to a focus on strategic activities. HR also has an increased presence at the executive table and can truly influence an organization. In fact, HR may be more critical now than ever—indeed, not having an effective HR system in place may be the demise of an organization.

The quest to hire and to keep employees is at a critical juncture in North America: organizations that are able to retain employees will prosper, while those that are not will perish.

The statistics coming out of the USA are alarming. The Seattle Times states that American workers’ willingness to quit their jobs is at a 17-year high, and that “there are now just 0.91 unemployed workers for each available job, the lowest on record”.

Click here to read more about the hiring crunch.

These statistics are alarming for any employer that is trying to hire or keep employees. The potential supply of employees is small, meaning companies will have to do things differently to be successful — and HR has to be at the heart of this activity.

The activities HR must do differently include the following:

  1. Speed up the hiring process. Would-be employees do not wait for HR to get back to them, employment candidates move on very quickly.
  2. Focus on turnover rates. Find out why employees are leaving and address the issues.
  3. Be flexible. Millennials and older members of the working population represent two of the largest available hiring pools, but both of these groups want flexibility in the employment relationship.

HR has always been the gate keeper for hiring, and HR professionals now have to find ways to draw potential employees in as fast as they can by offering competitive wages and flexible policies.

 

Discussion Questions:

Research whether or not using applicant tracking software speeds up or slows down an employer’s ability to hire?

What can HR do to hire suitably qualified employees in a timely manner?

How an Organization Views Their Employees Matters!

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Big data it is a huge trend in today’s business world. It’s in the headlines and organizations are trying to gather and use it effectively. Big data analytics has expanded its scope yet again, the hot new topic being employee analytics. Actually, Deloitte has a fancier name for this leading-edge HR trend: High-impact people analytics.

Research conducted by Deloitte illustrates that when an organization reaches a high level of maturity on high-impact people analytics it is significantly more successful. The research demonstrates that organizations using people analytics in effective ways report 82 percent higher three-year average profit than “low-maturity” organizations.

An 82% increase in profit is a huge return. How does organizational success like that come about? Well, Deloitte provides a road map to develop a high-impact people analytics organization.

Click here to see the map.

The Bersin Deloitte consulting study outlines seven key findings on how an organization can mature their people analytics. This blog will focus on one key finding from this study, which is: “using multiple listening channels.”

Click here and scroll until to you see the concept of Enterprise “listening” architecture.

HR in today’s organizations is complex as many organizational problems have multiple causes. If there are multiple causes, the more information channels an organization can access, the greater the probability that it can solve a problem effectively.

This is where the use of multiple listening channels comes in. There are a number of ways to listen to what employees are saying about an organization. For example:

  • Organizational cultural audits
  • Frequent pulse surveys
  • Anonymous feedback tools
  • Performance reviews
  • Coaching programs
  • Exit interviews
  • HR key performance indicators
  • Social media monitoring

Which of the above channels is your organization listening to? Deciding which channels to listen to is key to designing your listening architecture. HR has always been about taking subjective information and making it more objective. By using sophisticated people-analytics and developing the correct listening architecture you can greatly improve your capabilities, which will in turn increase your organization’s chances of success.

Discussion Questions:

Pick three of the above listening channels, and for each one research a system that would allow you to collect credible information.

If you were an HR director, and were asked to pick only one listening channel, which one would you choose as your first priority and why?

 

Upcoming HR Trends, 2018

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HR trends may not be radically changing year after year, but they are becoming more intense and more critical to organization success. Every year the HR professional should consider what the current success driver for HR is in their industry. You never want to be the dinosaur asking, “does anyone else feel it’s getting colder here?” To avoid becoming obsolete in your profession you need to stay on top of what is happening in the external business world, and reflect on industry trends.

  • Here is a 2017 survey that sums up some of the current HR trends:
  • Less transaction, more strategy
  • Less formal but more frequent feedback
  • Less manual process, more data

Click here to read about the Paycor HR trends survey.

These are not radical trends, nor are they particularly disruptive, but they are important changes in HR. Each one should be reflected upon by the HR professional. All HR professionals should ask themselves the following big questions every year:

  1. Which transactional activity does HR do that is obsolete?
  2. What is the most important area of business strategy I should focus on this year?
  3. How can HR improve the employee performance management system this year?
  4. What HR data should we keep tracking? What data should we stop tracking? What data should we start tracking?

Doing this on a regular basis will keep you and your organization current, and will enable your organization to be proactive instead of reactive. This is what Jim Collins calls the flywheel effect in his book “Good to Great”.

Combine the flywheel concept with a reflective HR practice and there is business success in the forecast.

Discussion questions:

Read the Paycor HR trends and survey. Pick the HR trend you feel is the most important, explaining your decision. In addition, research a company that is a leader with respect to that trend.

Click on this link. Pick one of Jim Collins’ articles and create a 3-minute presentation summary of the topic.

 

Should Managers Become Extinct?

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Snake curled in infinity ring. Ouroboros devouring its own tail. Serpent tattoo design, witchcraft masonic, vector illustration
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What does HR do in a world without managers?

Morningstar Farms, Sun Hydraulics, Valve, Medium, W.L. Gore, Zappos, Treehouse, Crisp: what do all these companies have in common? It is hard to guess, but all the above organizations have done away with traditional management. Crisp, a Swedish company, even axed its CEO.

Click here to watch a BBC video clip on the CEO-less company.

In 2011, Gary Hamel wrote an article called, “First lets’ fire all the Managers.” This was published in the Harvard Business Review (HBR).

Click here to read the article.

Now, in his new book (2016) Under New Management, David Burkus is saying“fire all managers.”

Is this a real trend or a fleeting notion? Organizations have been downsizing and flattening hierarchies for decades. Has the time come to really eliminate managers? If managers are gone what is the role of an HR department? Traditional HR spends a lot if its time on supporting managers. If managers are gone is HR next, or does the opposite happen and more HR resources are required to support employees?

Is it an interesting thought? Is getting rid of managers the Ouroboros of HR (the Greek mythological symbol of the snake devouring itself)?

This will be an interesting HR trend to watch; will manager-less companies become the norm or not?

Discussion Questions

  1. Your CEO has asked you to prepare a business case outlining the benefits of eliminating managers in your organizations. Develop a 10-minute presentation.
  2. Your VP of HR has asked to develop a list of recommendation on what would the role of HR be in an organization with no managers.