In today’s dynamic business environment, multiple variables (and their interplay with each other) are changing the workplace as we know it. Changing employee expectations, new technologies, increasing globalization, and a pressing need for agility are all transforming our relationship with work. This is posing unique questions for HR leaders. A few of these questions are:
- Are we prepared to handle market volatility? Are we slated for growth in the current environment?
- Are we managing employee expectations well? Can we continue to do so in the future?
- Are we efficiently leveraging the new technological landscape? If not, do we have a plan for it?
A research conducted to understand how HR leaders can identify the answers to the above questions has predicted 10 trends that will impact HR in the future:
- Reconfiguring the Global Talent Landscape
- The Rise of the Extended Workforce
- Driving the Agile Organization
- Tapping Skills Anywhere, Anytime
- Delivering Seamless Employee Experiences
- Managing Your People as a Workforce of One
- Navigating Risk and Privacy in a More Complex World
- Driving Democratization of Work Social Media
- Radical Disruption of HR by the Digital
- Meeting of the science of Human Behavior and Talent Management
Let us understand each trend and its impact on HR in detail.
1) Reconfiguring the Global Talent Landscape As the mismatch between talent supply and demand continues to increase, companies will increasingly draw from global, diverse workforce. This will require organizations to adopt new talent sourcing strategies to match requirements around the globe. In order to do this successfully, HR will have to understand geographic cultural differences, different labor markets, and labor laws to deploy the best talent required to execute organizational strategy. In addition, HR will have to design / adopt new roles and organizational models to manage such a global workforce which is deployed across continents.
2) The Rise of the Extended Workforce Business models have evolved to operate more flexibly and efficiently. These business models require work to be performed by dynamically configured teams, made up of employees and external talent (contractors, business partners, outsourcing providers). In such a scenario, HR will have to extend its scope and redefine its boundaries to accommodate such external talent. The organizational structure, roles, talent practices will have to be designed to accommodate the extended workforce. In addition, HR will also have to leverage technology to successfully create avenues / platforms/forums where he extended workforce will interact and reside (such as social networks, clubs, online games, etc).
3) Driving the Agile Organization Since flexibility and agility are the needs of the hour for all organizations, HR has to redesign its own organization, which will be capable of flexibly deployment of skills, across organizational boundaries based on business need. HR has to understand and communicate that jobs are now neither static nor rigidly defined. HR has to ensure that the organization should have the flexibility to “pull” in expertise whenever and wherever needed.
4). Tapping Skills Anywhere, Anytime As external talent becomes scarce in a demanding business environment, an organization must have the ability to readily tap available skills from within. HR should develop a “Just-in-time” workforce which will have a large extended workforce; proactive, global and data-driven talent sourcing strategy; and mobile, fluid traditional & extended workforce. This will help HR to quickly and easily deliver skills as and when it is needed.
5) HR Expands Its Reach to Deliver Seamless Employee Experiences With an extended workforce in place, which is deployed fluidly across the globe, the employees will expect end-to-end seamless workplace experiences. HR will have to ensure that they are equipped to deliver holistic employee experiences across disciplines and across boundaries.
6) Managing Your People as a Workforce of One While delivering seamless employee experiences, organizations will also have to improve performance of this diverse, knowledge-oriented workforce by customizing people practices to individual employees. This balance will be critical for any organization to achieve. In order to accommodate customization of people practices while ensuring seamless experience, HR will have to create a unique blueprint for customization which will help adopt marketing-like approaches to customize people practices.
7) HR Must Navigate Risk and Privacy in a More Complex World In order to mobilize an extended workforce, HR will have to leverage technology for multiple tasks such as networking, communication, knowledge sharing. These will bring their own share of risks, such as data security risks, laws and privacy concerns arising in the Internet age, against which the organization will have to safeguard itself. HR will have to advise the business on legal issues related to labor and privacy in various countries and help the business balance its own interests with ethics and employee privacy when using technology-based tools.
8) Social Media Drives the Democratization of Work In order to operationalize an agile workforce which works seamlessly across boundaries, organizations will increasingly rely on people across boundaries and at all levels, including knowledge workers who harness social media and other technologies, to co-create solutions. HR will have to facilitate the building of an organizational culture that supports such work. This will require significant change management in aspects such as redefining traditional notions of leadership, succession planning, career paths and job-specific competencies.
9) Digital Radically Disrupts HR With social media and technology becoming increasingly relevant levers for HR solutions, HR should also ensure that technology transforms talent management and weaves it into the fabric of everyday business. HR should leverage IT to give greater power to employees, use cloud computing to drive greater agility, use technologies to provide customized talent management solutions.
10) Talent Management Meets the Science of Human Behavior As technology tools are increasingly embedded into organizational infrastructure, organizations have a vast pool of data, which they can leverage for decision making. Analytics as a tool can consume this data to provide insights to significantly drive better decisions and performance from the workforce.
Author Information:
Shuchi Mehta is Senior Manager, Talent Organization Practice, Accenture strategy
Swapnil Kudle is Strategy Consultant, Talent Organization Practice, Accenture strategy
Abhinav Verma is Strategy Consultant, Talent Organization Practice, Accenture strategy
