Building a business case for new HR tech
Getting your organisation to invest in HR technology is not always straight-forward. Read our top tips on how to make your plan of investing in new HR technology a reality.
Read the eGuideThe future of work is here.
Here are the 4 most important HR trends to watch in 2021 and forward.
The world of work is undergoing unprecedented changes, and it is HR leaders’ mission to ensure that their organisations and people have all the necessary tools, skills, processes and support to thrive. But where do you start? And what should HR do to build and support the future of work?
We at Sympa have the unique chance to work with thousands of talented HR professionals scattered worldwide, in companies of all shapes and sizes. I had countless insightful conversations with HR leaders over the past months. As a result, —and with the help of fellow industry experts—I was able to identify four key trends that HR professionals hold dear for 2021 and beyond.
On top of that, I went around and asked my dear colleagues to share inspiring content in relation to those trends, from attending online courses to exploring new ways of working.
“We find that there’s a common characteristic between all five trends: technology. HR professionals have all sorts of supporting tech at their disposal to build the future of work.”
– Kati Tammisto, Head of CX
Here they are, starting with the growing influence of HR across the board.
When businesses navigate uncertain times, HR professionals need to step up and guide the world of work forward.
Being on top of what happens both inside and outside of your organisation gives you the insights needed to deal with a changing business landscape. One way to stay ahead of the game in 2021 and provide your organisation with actionable insight will be to build the right skillset strategically.
What is the best way to reach your organisational goals? Have the right people with the right set of skills. HR pros will increasingly rely on technology to precisely understand what their people can bring to the table, as well as what skills are missing to meet and exceed organisational goals.
The future of your organisation lies in your people. Invest in them! We compiled key questions to ask yourself – and the people you work with – to craft the foundations of a strong talent management strategy.
For reasons that are now obvious to everyone, remote work became the new normal during the pandemic, and we now know that it’s here to stay, even post-pandemic. The increase of remote work calls for suitable and well-functioning processes that ensure a digital workplace supporting your organisation and your employees.
For HR, this means adjusting or rethinking HR processes, processes for internal communication and remote leadership.
Of course, no one expects all businesses to become 100 % remote starting tomorrow, or ever for that matter. However, mainstream remote work started many discussions in organisations and has seen the beginning of flexible working. This means that HR teams are beginning to imagine a workplace where employees can work from the office or any other place IF they find it suitable, WHEN they find it suitable.
“Mentalities are evolving fast. Tomorrow, the norm will be to spend a couple of days a week at the office, to complete tasks that require teamwork, while working from a calm and remote place the rest of the time to complete tasks requiring a lot of brain muscle.”
– Kati Tammisto, Head of CX
One of the most common reasons for employee turnover is the absence of personal growth and perspective. For this reason, constantly challenging employees into learning new skills is key.
Of course, With a drastic reduction in human interactions in the past year, it has been extra challenging for HR managers and team leads to provide a structured approach to developing their skills. Fortunately, from VR (virtual reality) training to simple conference calls, online collaborative solutions are legions. Part of HR’s role will be to introduce new methods/media to learn/grow skills.
People make successful businesses, not the other way around. As we just went through one of the biggest crisis in recorded history, the world of work was abruptly reminded of this. Now, if we’d have to extract one positive thing from the hectic year 2020, it is that it fueled a worldwide movement to bring people (and, therefore, HR) back at the centre of organisations.
While the “COVID-19 pandemic provided a master course, through success and failure, on vaccine development, data deployment, and global collaboration” (direct quote from McKinsey), the overall unpreparedness of organisations has taken a toll on mental health.
A survey conducted in Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK and the US even shows that 66.9 % reported being more stressed since the COVID-19 outbreak.
Of course, HR doesn’t have all the answers and cannot fix everything. However, now is a perfect time to shape the future of work based on how your colleagues and employees feel comfortable working. A concrete example of this is to ensure that remote workers have all the necessary equipment to work from home in the best conditions (computer, deck and sitting arrangements, etc.).
The pressure HR has dealt with this year has been substantial. When a crisis hits, core HR processes and organisational resilience are truly tested. HR tech – without a doubt – is essential if you want to roll with the punches.
HR technologies are assets, not competition. No one expects technology to replace the human in Human Resources. On the contrary, we expect technology to unlock more time for HR professionals. A time that they can dedicate to higher-valued tasks such as talking to their people.
People data is important. Understanding it means understanding your people: why they succeed, where they struggle, and what they need to be more effective at work. Most teams now heavily rely on data to make more informed decisions and positively affect their organisations, using external data.
Moving forward, we will see organisations increasingly rely on HR to make more informed decisions – from the inside out – to outcompete their rivals.
Getting your organisation to invest in HR technology is not always straight-forward. Read our top tips on how to make your plan of investing in new HR technology a reality.
Read the eGuideIt’s impossible to know what tomorrow will be made of. And, truth be told, what would be the fun in that? However, what organisations can do is prepare for the future and ensure that they are ready to function and support their people in the face of change.
One way to cope is to shift focus to the present, gain an accurate understanding of what’s happening now and how current events affect your organisation and its people. The more HR knows about your organisation’s people, the more it can do to keep them happy, motivated, productive, and at work.
With the necessary processes and technology to back you up, these signals can be read in near real-time, data can help make better predictions of the future, and leaders can quickly make adjustments to minimise impact – and take advantage of new opportunities.
Check out our library of more HR insights or reach out to us and let us know how we can help with your HR challenges, current and future.