Upcoming & Disruptive Technologies are fast changing the business environment across this globalised world. Technological disruptions in this era are changing the work force requirements and working environment in unimaginable and unprecedented ways.
The world we live and around is globalized which is represented well in most of the products and services. Even the smallest of organisations and businesses are bound to think “globally,” today.
The technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Analytics and cognitive technologies are forcing organizations to change the business models and strategies to remain relevant and competitive in this new digital world. In other words, organizations across globe are striving hard to undergo digital transformations.
To enable organisations to the speed up process of digital transformation, all functions including HR play crucial role. To align to the new globalised and digital economy HR Leaders need to think global and act local providing customized solutions to fit fast changing organizational needs. Main functions of Human Resource teams remain focussed on attracting & retaining top talent along with developing robust leadership pipeline however the game has changed and now every vertical possible in HR should be digitally transformed to remain at the front foot.
Major shifts in the working culture dominating world around us
Changing in skill set requirements
Fast changing technical landscape is not letting any particular technology settle down. These fast paced changes are rendering the existing old world competencies obsolete. Today’s employee must be proficient and eager to keep abreast of new technologies. Skills required to succeed in today’s digital world are completely different from yesteryear competencies.
Rise in work from home culture
Improvement in virtualization technologies, faster broadband/internet speeds are making it possible for workforce to work from home with wasting his/her time in commuting physically to office daily. This trend is giving HR teams new challenge to access and manage work from home work force. It is a challenge for HR teams to devise new norms and policies to encourage healthy competitive participation of all employees.
Rise of Gig work force
Another visible change in organization nowadays is rise of Gig workforce in payrolls. Gig workers are nothing but temporary/part-time workers which are the need of the day. Many employees just don’t want to be employed as full-time employees.
Harmonization of Robots and Human work force
Advances in robotics and artificial Intelligence are slowly throwing up trend of humans working with robots in the same premises. This is pitting super powerful robots against vulnerable human beings. Regulatory environment and organizational policies are yet to catch up with these complexities. Future will surely throw up sensitive and ethical debates pertaining coexistence of humans with robots.
HR Mindshift is the need of the Hour
Organizational leadership is grappling with challenges in shifting mindset of employees in HR department to be in sync with fast changing times and ensure success of digital transformation initiatives.
Embrace Technology
General perception about HR workforce is that they are averse to adopt and use new technology. If HR teams want successful digital transformation of organizations, they must come forward and embrace technology to break this stereotype. This will help organizations to improve overall productivity of HR departments and ensure better employee engagement and employee experience.
Learn to be comfortable with data and drive actionable insights
Again it is a general perception that HR teams are not very comfortable with analytics and statistics. In today’s world data generated via various means may prove to be a goldmine of information and insights for HR teams. This data and analytics based tools certainly help HR leaders to gauze the trends and foresee future. It may help correctly predict the turnover rate or may even help in forecasting the future recruitment needs. Data may help HR leadership get instant feedback on newly launched policies and get actionable insights to keep employees engaged.
From business enablers to strategic partners in business decisions
HR has always been thought off as an enabler department but if organizations want their efforts in digital transformations to yield faster results than HR leadership must understand the overall landscape of technological disruptions and must be party to formulation of vision and align themselves with top leadership.
Nowadays personalization is the buzz word providing personalized experience to customers is a buzz word nowadays. For HR department employees of the organization are customers and to recruit, retrain and retain the scare resources proficient in new, upcoming and fast changing technologies requires that potential employees and employees are provided with personalized experience. New technologies such as Analytics are capable of providing HR departments with actionable insights to ensure highly customized and personalized stay in the organization.
HR has to be forefront on adoption of digital technologies as every vertical of HR and whatever touches employees today and in future is digital and about being digital technology savvy. Digital technologies are benefiting HR teams to move from operational teams to strategic stakeholders and supporting larger objective of organisation transformation.
It is not only transforming HR departments in enhancing their performance but also increasing their customer effectiveness by the way of speed and delivery to their internal customers i.e. employees. Whether we talk about recruiting talent within country and abroad which has never been easy but thanks to social platforms like LinkedIn that facilitate the search for employees in a talent pool that has grown exponentially. Prospective employees are just a click away from which is working so well in advantage of employers and job seekers both. Engaging employees by continuously listening to their voice, providing continuous feedback to enable more efficient Performance Management systems, Gamification of learning tools, background checks of potential hires using Blockchain technology are throwing up new ways to transform HR functions. It is the time for HR leadership to step up and embrace change or be ready to perish.
Author- Nida Khanam is a Leadership & Success Coach and strategic HR Leader. She is an IIM Calcutta alumni coach. She has experience of heading HR function with leading organisations, few to name Grohe-Lixil India, Rockwell Automation, JSL diversified industries and carries 17 years of work experience in transformational journey of HR and leadership. She works with individuals & organizations unleash their untapped potential to drive exponential growth, achieve purpose in life and work towards success. She has been instrumental in aligning organisational processes and people practices for exponential growth trajectory.
