The field of HR is going to change. Post the COVID-19 global pandemic there are many disciplines that will fundamentally transform – but HR has always been one of the last bastions to find budgets for intelligent automation and technology products.
Over the last few weeks, there has been a constant buzz about the advent of the post-COVID, human-first and employee-first workplace, the sea change in how internal communications is run, advisories on leadership practices for a largely remote workforce.
Similarly, HR is already undergoing changes that were never planned for or predicted before the pandemic. The discipline has to adapt, but how?
Here are some key changes we can expect in the future of HR:
HR operations will be automated
All operations and administrative tasks that are manual will be automated. Paper-pushing, calling other stakeholders to remind them about pending items, following up with new hires, and managing onboarding on excel sheets, background verification, initiating surveys, creating programs for managers to deploy, and more. All of these activities will become automated and personalized.
“In the past couple of months, we have seen a surge of inquiries from companies wanting to fast track their digital transformation especially when it comes to overhauling the onboarding experience for their new hires. Automation is key to making the process more efficient while also ensuring your employees are set up for success from offer acceptance, regardless of whether it is done remotely or in person,” says Kiran Menon, CEO of Tydy, a virtual onboarding and automation firm that helps companies digitize and personalize the employee experience.
Internal events are going to blow up and get democratized
HR used to have the mandate to conceptualize and create employee engagement events. However, with 100% of the workforce working from home, we have seen a new trend appear. Colleagues creating Zoom and virtual events that bring people together. We have seen cooking, quizzes, online games, virtual Happy Hours, and many more such fun and creative ideas that aim to bring people together through various forums.
This bodes well for HR who have so far been the sole custodians of culture and team building activities. There will now be an emergence of services that are going to help democratize engagement, event creation and management and make it easy to channel the energy of the entire team.
HR + IT = the rise of the Techno-Functional HR
With the influx of technology, there will be a confluence of HR & IT. The HR department is going to harness more automation for employee processes, and it’s only expected that IT will become a closer partner than ever before. Techno-functional HR experience will become a valued and needed asset in companies. Moving between employee processes and IT architecture understanding will be a much sought after skill.
Managers will manage more
Team Leads and Managers will be given tools to manage their teams. We often hear that managers do not have the time to think about his or her team because the manager has too much to do. So how does one reduce that “burden”?
With the new normal, we will see platforms that give managers a set of tools for them to deploy within their teams and get instant feedback through dashboards on the health and needs of the individuals.
A more hands-on approach to the management of teams with the help of automated tools and analytics can help drive better managerial decisions. And this will not be limited to large enterprises alone.
Menon continues, “Ever since the lockdown began, we’ve been receiving queries not just from the enterprise, but from SMBs and startups about how they could transition to a completely digital employee experience that also allows them to build greater employee engagement across multiple locations. It’s an exciting time for HR, and it’ll be interesting to see the transition happen for the better.”
It’s time HR changed from a tactical and transactional discipline to one which has a business and revenue impact. And that means all of the above have to happen and COVID-19 might just be the shot in the arm for it.
