Once Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic said, “Technology is best when it brings people together.” It is pertinent for any organization to adopt the most relevant and cutting-edge technology to stay ahead of the competitors.
Be it the technology offered to customers or be it the technology for internal processes (including people processes), organizations need to continuously experiment and reinvent themselves.
This endeavour of organizations towards Technological Advancement has also helped HR Tech to come a long way- earlier days, while the focus was on transforming manual HR processes into automated ones, now, the focus has shifted to Employee/User Experience.
The HR Tech Platforms that offer the best of the Employee Experience features are the most sought ones. Great Interface, User Friendliness, Ease of Navigation and Intuitiveness coupled with continuous updates with the new technical developments are the key features of a great HR Tech Platform. With the emergence of AI and ML, HR Tech is going to reach the next level shortly.
Also Watch- HR Tech and Gen AI and Trends in 2024, Click Here
A few of the key HR Tech trends in the recent time and future are as follows:
HR Chatbots for Employee Assistance
Today’s norm is that whenever there is any query, like a bank account-related issue or delay in food delivery, everybody is using the chatbots of the service providers for resolution.
To our satisfaction, on most occasions, they are resolving the queries accurately. In every walk of life, people are using chatbots. Same way, many organizations have started using chatbots for HR-related queries on Pay, PMS, Leaves, etc.
By using a chatbot, employees receive standard and unbiased responses which create uniform experiences across the organization. The old saying “You show me the man, I’ll show you the rule” is eliminated with the use of a trained Chatbot.
It has a long way ahead. One of the challenges in the implementation of Chatbot is the extensive training required before its deployment which is a resource-consuming process.
On top of that, Chatbots are required to be continuously updated and trained about the ever-changing and evolving HR policies. To mitigate this, many platforms have started integrating AI into the chatbots.
Learning Management System (LMS)
One of the most common traits of all progressive organizations is their commitment to employees’ learning and development. Traditional classroom training sessions will always be an effective tool. But all the employees cannot be covered in classroom training. Also, our reading and information-gathering habits have changed.
Many of us might have visited the library last while we were students. Today, people are more comfortable browsing the internet than flipping the pages of a book. Organizations need to capitalize and adapt to this behaviour of learners which is the Digital Way. LMS is a revolution as well as a gift to organizations in terms of its wide coverage of learners and offerings of various contents. It helps in eliminating logistical hurdles.
But everything depends on how much the organization is committed to the philosophy of learning and what is the value addition for the employees through the LMS. Content curation, and making the learning process fun and interesting are the keys to making LMS meaningful for the organization.
Many organizations are yet to get into this Digital Way and LMS will continue to flourish and play an important role in employee development. Micro byte size learning coupled with gamification is another great evolving trend.
Real-Time Automated Dashboard
This is one of the most neglected or least developed areas in HR Tech. Every HR Tech platform gives reports with a lot of data/information. But making real meaning out of the data and creating a dashboard is not as advanced as other functional dashboards.
Till date, many HR professionals keep downloading various data and creating the dashboards manually. The outcome and insights vary from person to person based on their understanding.
Hence, many platform providers are shifting focus toward the development of the automated dashboard by leveraging AI. This amalgamation of AI with HR Tech Dashboard would be the real game changer.
This can be a great Management Information System (MIS) tool, which can also track Service Level Agreements (SLA), and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Employee Engagement Assessors and Predictors
It becomes pertinent for organizations to gauge the level of engagement of employees. A bunch of disengaged workforce leads to low productivity, high attrition and negative rankings (as an employer of choice).
There are HR Tech Platforms that help organizations to assess the level of employee engagement. By regular nudges and surveys, this Tech gives the reports with various parameters on engagement.
Be it at the workplace or work from home scenario personal connect with employees is the best way of engagement. But logistically, it is a humongous task. Also, many employees feel comfortable giving their honest feedback through the system rather than opening up in person.
Based on the level of engagement, this type of system predicts various outcomes like possible churn in the organization, the impact of any organization-wide initiatives (positive or negative), etc. Soon organizations will be in a rush to leverage this type of tech to introduce proactive measures.
Compliance and Security
Many times, organizations tend to miss the basic requirement of compliance. Compliance is technically, the License to Operate. Without adherence to compliance, organizations may put themselves through the biggest risk. Engaging a partner with cutting-edge technology can help in consolidating all the statutory requirements and being compliant.
Also, Information Security Management and Data Privacy are the need of the hour. Organizations need to be more vigilant and mindful of any data breach. There should be a carefully crafted policy and continuous monitoring system for database management. Auditing of all HR Techs and creation of Corrective Actions and Preventive Actions will be another pertinent intervention in this digital journey.
Before COVID, when everybody was at the workplace/office, it was a tad easier for organizations to provide a uniform/standardized service. But post-COVID, as many of the organizations turned to the Hybrid model, it has been quite a challenge to nail the balancing act.
Though many organizations have started calling back their employees, it is noteworthy that Hybrid model of working is there to stay for longer. It has become a new norm and the only way to support this norm is to bring the employees together through Technology.
Organizations need to provide the Technology that gives a seamless standardized employee experience by eliminating the barrier of work from office or work from home.
