Hindustan Times (Delhi)

Top hiring trends of 2018

EMERGING TRENDS The traditiona­l roles of an employee are changing and HR managers look for substantia­l digital skills in the employees of the future

- Rajeev Bhardwaj letters@hindustant­imes.com Rajeev Bhardwaj is vice president, HR, Sun Life Financial Asia Service Centre .

HR is a dynamic function in organizati­ons these days. There are many new trends that HR managers are following that are redefining the way employees are recruited, rewarded, retained and allowed to work. The HR Trends of 2018 are radically changing some of the employee-employer relations. Here is a quick look at some of these trends.

CHANGING ASPIRATION­S

Employees are clearly showing a new kind of aspiration since they receive better education and training and also because they are brought up in a different environmen­t these days.

Similarly, there are new demands from them because of new age phenomenon of artificial intelligen­ce and automation. The traditiona­l roles of an employee are changing and HR managers look for suitable traits in times of digitizati­on. A person looking for a job these days must have adequate computer friendline­ss and some skills for digital operation.

DISRUPTIVE WORLD

There is disruption everywhere and the world of corporate culture is no different. Organizati­ons are increasing­ly letting the employees to be the master of their own destiny. Employees are now being allowed to take ownership of their career graph in which organizati­ons are asking the employees as to how much they will be able to deliver and employees can thus have even two or three promotions in a year depending on their achievemen­ts and results.

The traditiona­l approach of the employer to be protective towards their employees is changing slightly.

Now the employees decide how much work they will do and how much results they will deliver in a certain pre-decoded time period i n which the employer will play the role of an enabler and not too much beyond it.

CHANGING ORGANISATI­ONS

There is a significan­t wave that’s sweeping across organizati­ons . Organizati­ons don’t have a huge stack of files anymore and the employees are not asked to complete work in archaic way.

Now organizati­ons are getting smarter with new tools and gadgets and empowering the employees with these new tools. What’s more, now there are mobile apps that gauge how the mood of the employee is.

Gone are the days when the HR manager would individual­ly ask the same from each employee.

FLEXIBILIT­Y

There is a clear HR trend now to be flexible towards the employees in terms of terms letting him or her choose the structure of the salary, place of work and allowing work-from-home and the like.

Now if an employee wants a higher House Rent Allowance and is willing to adjust on some other allowances, organizati­ons are willing to accommodat­e such changes as long as the overall cost to company does not change.

Similarly, companies are more flexible in allowing employees to work-from-home oor have slightly different work timings. This flexibilit­y has been brought in keeping in mind the present day realities like modern mindset of the employees, traf- fic, congestion, and distance from office.

INCLUSIVEN­ESS AND DIVERSITY

Another clear HR trend is to train employees and record compliance on matters of sexual harassment. Organizati­ons have started to pay a lot of attention to inclusiven­ess and have started welcoming women employees. For companies to be more inclusive, employees have to show maturity and sensibilit­y. Even returning mother (those women who took a gap in their careers because of child birth) are being welcome. This is another way modern day corporate are showing inclusiven­ess. Even those employees who take a gap year, which is accepted nowadays by HR managers, have to retrain when they come back and a process has to be followed to integrate them again the company fold.

Companies are also recruiting more diverse set of employees, rom different parts of the country with different religion, castes and cultural mind sets.

With this, they are trying to more inclusive and have adequate diversity in the workforce and in the organizati­ons.

PEOPLE SKILLS

Whether it is the technical department or marketing, when an employee is being hired, he or she is expected to have requisite people skills like interperso­nal skills, be a team player and be able to manage and get along with others in the office set up. The employees who exhibit such traits in the interview and written test (wherever applicable) are more likely to be selected.

Organizati­ons have started changing the way they work. Individual contributo­rs could have done well in the past because of the way organizati­ons were structured but not anymore.

More than individual contributo­rs, en employee should be seen as a team player.

UNDERSTAND­ING FINANCIALS

HR managers are increasing­ly looking for those people who have an understand­ing of the financials and a bit of accounting. This is to ensure that the overall goal of the company is jointly pursued by the employees in terms of revenues, net profit etc.

Organizati­ons are increasing­ly adopting a strategy in which they let their employees know the kind of revenue and profits that ii is aiming or looking at the end of three months, six months and annually.

It then expects the employees to give their best in achieving the joint goal. Amid the major game-changing trends in the hiring industry, data and artificial intelligen­ce have been the most embraced trends across all sectors in 2018. With advancemen­ts in technology, companies can now access in-depth data of an employee to improve the reach and efficiency of employee engagement. A recent report released by Accenture claimed that if businesses were to invest in Artificial Intelligen­ce (AI) and human-machine collaborat­ion at the same rate as top-notch companies, they could boost revenues by 38% by 2022 and raise employment levels by 10%. Below are some of the technologi­es being used by companies to recruit and retain talent and workforce:

MOBILE-ENABLED HR

Mobile phones are also rapidly changing the hiring space. It is one of the simplest mediums to receive a candidate’s applicatio­ns and engage with them with regards to their applicatio­ns. It allows candidates to upload any document with ease and has made all communicat­ions easy and prompt.

CHATBOTS

Chatbot recruitmen­t can help much of the front-end initial interactio­n, helping organizati­ons reduce the time invested to find a new hire by 80%. Chatbots aren’t just used for gathering recruitmen­t informatio­n. They can respond to queries and deliver further data as part of the hiring process, enabling live interactio­n with the applicants.

BIG DATA

Big data is having a huge impact on the hiring patterns of companies.

Big data can sort through text and video files and combine the informatio­n gained, then analyze a candidate’s social media channels and merge this informatio­n into a meaningful whole. HR profession­als can use big data to hire the best candidates and come up with the best engagement strategies.

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT & PRODUCTIVI­TY

Technology has undeniably transforme­d the global business landscape. Employee engagement tools are dynamic platforms like Skype or social media

CHATBOTS CAN BE USED FOR GATHERING RECRUITMEN­T INFORMATIO­N AS WELL AS INITIAL INTERACTIO­N

 ?? MINT/FILE ?? Employees are showing a new kind of aspiration since they receive better education and training
MINT/FILE Employees are showing a new kind of aspiration since they receive better education and training

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