HR trends
People are critical to an organisation’s success and investing in the right technology to manage and support them is vital.
Nowadays, HR departments face several challenges and need to deliver to a multi-generational workforce that demands more flexible work options. This means businesses need to be agile in adapting human resource practices to meet the needs of the organisation and the workforce. Practically speaking, HR’s role is expanding beyond its traditional focus on talent management, process, and transactions. So, what are the trends impacting on HR departments? While many trends are changing the workplace, the four highlighted below are themes which are shaping the future of HR.
1. The changing dynamics of the workforce
The changing dynamics of the workforce. The modern workforce has never been more diverse, with different models in play, greater agility required. Some of these changes:
- The movement from functional, hierarchical organisational models to more team-centric models, the predominance of millennials in the workforce, growing representation of freelancers and contract workers
- A multi-generational workforce, each with their own needs is forcing HR to rethink organisational design
2. The labour market has never been more competitive
With employment levels reaching their highest since 1975, it is increasingly more challenging to find great talent. Recruiters are having to apply a range of innovative techniques to gain traction such as passive always-on recruiting, analytics and video recruitment to help them identify and attract high calibre candidates.
With so much competition for talent in highly skilled job sectors, organisations are also becoming focused on their external employment brand and leveraging concepts from sales and marketing such as pipeline management and customer touchpoint management to win over the best candidates. 75% percent of potential employees consider an employer’s brand before filling out a job application. To attract the most qualified employees and to best serve candidates, HR leaders must take deliberate steps to create and evangelise a dynamic employer brand.
3. The importance of culture and engagement
39% of hires cited a “fun, engaging company culture” as the most attractive quality of a business. Organisations are approaching this challenge in different ways with a focus on:
- Flexible working – allowing employees the ability to work from home, or with reduced hours and more control over time
- Work-life balance – most organisations, recognise healthy and happy employees are more productive and have several initiatives supporting wellness
- Fun environment – some are looking to build strong connections between employees encouraging regular social and team building events to ensure employees want to come to work there
4. Analytics and intelligence
Management is becoming accustomed to having business intelligence (BI) on aspects of their business and expect this from their HR team. With the improvement in data visualisation solutions, this has become easier. Predictive analytics has also become a significant investment area in the last few years, with some strong use cases around flight risk and succession gaining market adoption. Now we’re seeing a growing influence in apps anticipating what a user’s next step will be and automating the process, along with bot-based solutions.
HR is a fast-changing field, and it’s never been more vital to the development of organisations worldwide. Using new data and technologies, HR has the power to revolutionise work. Read our guide ‘End to end Talent Management from Microsoft’ to discover how Dynamics 365 Talent supports you from hiring and onboarding through the entire employee lifecycle.