Top 10 HR Trends Defining the Future of Work

Discover the top 10 HR trends shaping the future of work. From remote work to AI integration, stay ahead of the curve and unlock new opportunities for your organization. Read more now.

 

Amid digital expansion, every workplace is going through a phase of transformation. While we head towards the new decade, organizations must be prepared for the global change context. HR leaders are busy rethinking workforce and employee planning and management, and business leaders are revisiting performance assessment strategies. The future of work will be totally different from what we have experienced now. Some interesting HR trends that would define future workplaces will be –

1. Remote Working

Remote working used to be discussed as the ‘future of work.’ People believed remote would remain restricted to specific segments. No one predicted that remote working would dominate every industry and function. An employee’s location is irrelevant now; their knowledge and experience matter

. While most of us are not voluntarily participating in this experiment, it is still on. We feel that remote working will keep undergoing improvements through rapid changes in collaboration tools, work processes (including a focus on documentation), and HR strategies.

2. Future of Work = Blended Workforce of Humans + Bots

Humans and bots will work together to reduce operating costs and eliminate human error. Research conducted by Oracle and Future Workplace, with over 8000 global HR leaders, hiring managers, and employees, found that half (50%) of workers already use some form of AI at work, up from 32% in 2018. Gartner’s research suggests that 25% of workers will use a virtual employee assistant (VEA) daily, a remarkable increase from less than 2% in 2019.

This includes Amazon Alexa for Business and other conversational bots used in HR processes. It will be interesting to see a new skill set of knowing how to orient, develop, engage, and work side-by-side with a bot.

3. Focus on Building Ethical AI

HR applications empowered by AI can analyze, predict, diagnose, and become more powerful and capable resources. Another trend organizations will observe is how they will use AI ethically and responsibly.HR leaders must be prepared for issues related to employee data privacy and data security breaches. To build ethical AI, organizations need to –

• Provide a privacy notice to employees explaining why their data needs to be used for AI solutions.
• Ensure that the chatbot solutions don’t store Personal Identifiable Information (PII) or confidential information.
• Communicate PII and confidential information via a secure internet or intranet protocol.
• Secure training data for machine-learning purposes and ensure there is no PII or confidential information
• Release authorized information to employees only during conversational AI transactions.
• Ensure usage of the right algorithms for the HR data to provide better decision-making.

4. More Transparency

HR departments are “cleaning their windows” and being increasingly transparent in their management. Transparency in the workplace can be promoted by –

• Keeping the employees in the loop about matters regarding the company
• Improving communication and collaboration and making employees feel respected, valued, and trusted
• Practicing discretion
• Inviting employees to share feedback and ideas about the company
• Avoiding micromanagement

For e.g., This transparency will be reflected in regular HR activities like employee performance appraisal. More transparency and the use of digital landscapes will allow real-time performance evaluations, allowing smart decision-making.

5. Soft Skills, the New Power Skills

One of the hottest topics in business today is upskilling, reskilling, and redefining jobs for the future of work. Managers are expected to hone their soft skills and learn all the complexities of leadership, critical thinking, management, supervision, and alignment. Skills that make you more relevant to the future of the workplace are –

• Being a better coach
• Communicating and listening well
• Critical thinking
• Empathy towards colleagues
• Problem-solving
• Social awareness

6. More Personalized Talent Management

For most companies, the definition of talent refers to employees with growth potential. That is why talent management will be even more personalized. Therefore, less standardization and more customization will be crucial to people’s development.

In this regard, we think that the performance review process will undergo a massive change. Those fond of annual reviews will realize that check-ins and feedback will become more frequent. Some of the key areas to implement more personalized talent management include –

• Compensation & benefits
• Recruitment
• Internal communications
• Training & development
• Performance management
• Management & leadership
• Onboarding
• Organizational design

7. Gamification is the Future of Work

Gamification has been talked about a lot, but very few industries have been able to use it well. In the future, we expect gamification to contribute to the hiring and training processes. For software engineers and data scientists, platforms like HackerRank and Kaggle use gamification to grab the attention of professionals and keep them engaged. Moreover, many companies will implement gaming techniques to reinforce their training efforts.

8. Greater Importance of the “Digital Employer Branding”

If developing a “brand as employers” has been necessary in recent years, forming a digital brand strategy is vital. Digital employer branding is becoming strategically more important to CXOs and HR leaders. With the help of strong “Digital Employer Branding”, you can attract quality applicants, reduce costs per recruitment, and differentiate yourself from competitors. For example, while searching for jobs, candidates also research companies, just as employers research the online presence of their candidates in their selection processes. This implies the significance of “Digital Employer Branding.”

9. People Analytics – the Effective Use of Big Data

It is not a secret that macro data analysis is a global trend of great internal potential. It will be necessary to have a People Analytics System in HR processes to track employee performance and aspects that influence their productivity and motivation. People Analytics System can largely contribute towards –

• Recruiting the best talent
• Prioritizing recruitment channels
• Detecting employee health and injuries
• Enhancing employee motivation and engagement
• Increasing employee retention

10. Towards the Future of Work

How organisations operate today radically differs

from how they did ten years ago. Breaking the hierarchical structures and moving towards models focused on teamwork, each with resources and decision-making capabilities, is necessary to compete and win in today’s business environment. This is why we think that resources that operate without supervision and structures that promote self-management will be the foundation of a futuristic organization. Another key aspect

is passing on the organisation’s purpose down to the last mile. This new model of team management requires leaders –

• With skills such as negotiation, resilience, and systematic thinking
• With knowledge of expertise of each individual to manage work efficiently
• Who knows how to define clear and measurable objectives for the teams

In A Nutshell

These HR trends show that the future of the workforce would be interesting. Artificial Intelligence and cognitive technologies will rule every aspect of HR management, which will play a crucial role in helping organizations achieve business goals. The sooner organizations adapt to these transformations, the quicker they become a part of the future of work.