The KPMG report titled 'International’s global Future of HR 2020 : Which path are you taking?', reveals the key priorities of HR for the coming year.
To begin with, the report shows that 3 in 5 HR leaders globally (57 percent) compared to 67 percent in India believe that the HR function will rapidly become irrelevant if it doesn’t modernize its approach to understanding and planning for the future needs of the workforce.
It is no news that the HR function has to undergo tremendous transformation to be able to manage the changing nature of work. From managing diverse workforce to preparing for the rapid technological development, there are many elements the HR function had to prepare for.
The report highlights some specific trends that will shape the HR function in 2020 and reveals the key priorities of HR leaders for the coming year. Here are a few insights:
Top HR initiatives India Inc. will focus on in 2020
- Enabling a culture that is aligned to the wider business strategy (42 percent).
- Providing advanced /predictive workforce analytics and insight (39 percent) and Identifying new ways to create value in the organization ( 39 percent).
- Automating established HR processes (37 percent).
- The fourth one being – designing a good employee experience (34 percent).
- 77 percent strongly believe that upskilling the existing workforce is among their top priorities.
- Only 60 percent of HR Functions in India are reasonably prepared to navigate the cultural change the enterprise needs.
- 52 percent believe that the impact of Artificial Intelligence and related technologies will make no significant difference especially in the area of Sales and Marketing.
As the report also highlights, shaping the workforce of the future, shaping a purpose led culture, shaping the employee experience and shaping decisions about people and the workforce by using insights from data, are some of the areas where HR function would have to focus on in the coming year. However, these priorities for HR have been relevant for a couple of years now. The question is how are they becoming even more relevant and how the approach to manage these focus areas has to now be transformed.
For instance, skilling and upskilling has been highlighted as top priority time and again, but how much has really been done in that area? While there are some companies which are leading and driving the change by transforming the HR function, there are some who are still looking to start the journey. As the organizations now move into the next year and prepare for even more complex world of work in the backdrop of a slowing economy, HR leaders have to now fastrack their transformational journey and look for more sustainable menthods to address all the talent priorities.