2018 HR trends that are triggered by tech
LOOKING OUT Here are some of the trends HR departments across sectors can look out for in 2018 to build and propagate company culture
When it comes to propagating company culture in an organization, the services of the Human Resources department is absolutely imperative to accomplish this task. With the emergence of the digital age, there are a number of new and improved trends that have completely taken over the HR industry in more ways than one. Here are some of the major trends that HR departments will definitely familiarize themselves within 2018. Edited excerpts:
EMPLOYER BRANDING
Headhunting passive candidates, has always been a significant part of the recruitment process, and the forthcoming of social media has made the process of getting in touch with candidates easier than ever before. New and promising talent pools can be wooed and attracted through unique branding campaigns on social media. Engagement with candidates can be done through the judicious use of Linkedin groups, company Facebook pages, etc. By analyzing their digital footprints, recruiters can get a sense of their candidates, connect with them and explore if they are willing to change their existing careers. Companies will also adopt employer branding strategies to woo talent from the marketplace to attain a competitive advantage.
A REMOTE WORKFORCE
Working from home or anywhere else where one has access to Wi-fi is on the rise. Millennials are also looking for flexibility when it comes to their job description as well. Many startups are built with remote teams, such as Whatsapp and WordPress. From a corporate perspective, it opens a promising pool of candidates, and by offering remote work capabilities, it also transforms into a viable way to retain current employees and boost job satisfaction by encouraging a better work-life equilibrium. With video conferencing and other connectivity tools evolving every year, this trend will only continue to rise at an exponential rate.
GAMIFICATION
In the realm of business, the method of gamification can be used as a form of a candidate screening by turning tests of critical skill sets and cognitive abilities into an entertaining way of engagement. With the advent of smartphone apps, it’s also possible to have a specific user base play innocent recruitment games, while sneaky algorithms help an organization track critical analytics. The result benefits both candidates and employers; candidates have a fun reason to try to increase their scores and show off to potential employers while hiring managers to end up gathering a ton of data that can help predict the strengths and weaknesses of candidates. — with the added possibility of finding that rare diamond in the rough.
CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE
Candidate experience is undoubtedly related to employer branding. While the primary focus of 2017 has mainly been on employer branding as a significant trend, candidate experience is just as necessary. It will be detrimental to the overall efficiency if one builds a strong employment brand on the back of a weak candidate experience since it will never perform at the highest efficiency possible.
EXPERIENCE AND ENGAGEMENT
Free food, work from home programmes and other such perks that are usually offered in the workplace are a great example of employee engagement.
Even though these perks might prove to be a neat touch, the sad truth is that they don’t usually achieve excellent results for both employees and companies. However, it’s increasingly essential to improve the employee experience.
To do this efficiently, companies must redesign their workplace operations and develop a space that fits their people.
WELLBEING
As per certain research studies, nearly 40% of employees assert that their job environment and conditions can be attributed to creating negative stress in their life.
Employees want their employers to respect their physi- cal, emotional, social, and financial needs.
They have a strong desire to better connect with themselves, the people around them, and the world.
PURPOSE AND ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE:
Only 54% of employees admit that their organization’s purpose motivates them. Make sure that you have articulated your organization’s reason for being and the vision for the future because research indicates that employees are no longer satisfied by merely going into work each day and leaving with a paycheque.
One needs to help them understand how the organization is positively changing the world, to begin with. Encourage management to meet with team members, and explain how individual roles are effectively making a difference.
FEEDBACK LOOP = MORE PERSONAL GROWTH
Continuous feedback across hierarchies is a thing of utmost importance for the leading organizations in the world. As a practice, many employees that receive input at more regular intervals assert to be highly engaged in their workspace.
However, many employees report being uninterested in performance reviews.
Ongoing corrective feedback is far more desirable and constructive than any other form of feedback. You can give employees an old fashion pat on the back, but how will they know what specifically went right, and what can be improved for next time?
Professionals want career advancement, and without any apparent direction, they won’t know where to begin advancing.
BRINGING LEARNING TO THE ORGANIZATION
Continuous learning will be a hot trend in 2018. HR leaders are recognizing the need to improve employee learning and development opportunities, especially when one considers that careers are now likely to span more than 60 years. Another attractive option must be digital training through Learning Management Software (LMS), which has become an increasingly attractive option since it provides HR teams with the ability to measure employee productivity through data analysis. It also makes for a more cohesive experience, as many internal functions across the organization supply learning content.
CHATBOTS IN HR
It’s inevitable that chatbots are going to become the Ai-powered virtual personal assistant for HR professionals. Since this trend is relatively new, several companies are smartly incorporating only one chatbot into the HR department, to see how this improvement can be brought about seamlessly.
PEOPLE ANALYTICS
People analytics has now become a rather serious business, and the field of HR is no exception. In fact, new-age HR experts are using a social network, interaction and data analysis to properly understand what is going on within their organization. HR teams are also applying the insights gained from these quality mediums to carry out efficient talent acquisition, workforce planning, task operations, and other such tasks. Analytics services are being incorporated to identify the right candidates as per the required skillset. Today, millennials form majority of the workforce for many industries. As they gather more spaces in workplaces, they are constantly changing the traditional way of things and also bring with them a new set of working styles and preferences.
As per Sapient’s Millennial Research conducted with IMRB in July 2015, 74% millennials possess “Universalism” as a key value and like to work in a multicultural environment, where they are encouraged to try different things. Sapient’s differentiator has always been its culture that is built on the foundation of our core values. We encourage an open and a nonhierarchical environment for our people. Maintaining a collaborative, collective culture, built on mutual understanding has always been key to our organization, which in turn works well with millennials. Our current employee strength is dominated by 84% millennials in India. Additionally, the study also points towards an insight that millennials seek to make a difference and want to work in an entrepreneurial, fast-paced, high-growth and non-hierarchal culture. Lastly, retention has always been an important parameter for us and we ensure maximum retention by developing suitable programs for engagement, recognition and nur-