Article: Employment outlook for HR professionals

Compensation & Benefits

Employment outlook for HR professionals

In 2018, HR professionals who are analytical and execution-focused will be high in demand, along with those experienced in performance management, leadership and high-volume hiring, as per the latest report by Michael Page India.
Employment outlook for HR professionals

HR Professionals in India can expect a 16 to 20 percent increase in salary when moving jobs, as per the report, India Salary Benchmark 2018 by Michael Page India. Contrary to the popular beliefs and fear of losing HR jobs to technology and automation, HR is among one of the top domains in generating jobs and is aligned with other functions like engineering and analytics. Pranshu Upadhyay, Director, Michael Page shares insights from the internal data and says that the number of opportunities in HR has gone up by 26 percent from quarter one in 2017 to quarter one in 2018.

Pranshu Upadhyay, Director, Michael Page India said, "HR from practice perspective is quite high in demand. It's among one of the top domains in generating jobs and is aligned with other functions like engineering and analytics." 

It's interesting to know that the demand for HR professionals is increasing. But the question is which roles are in demand and which skills are they expected to have. Let's find out here:

HR Roles in Demand

Within the HR function, the roles that will be higher in demand include:

  • Compensation & Benefits

  • HR Business Partners in Sales

  • Talent Acquisition with Social Branding/Analytics experience 

  • Talent Management & Diversity Inclusion

Namita Bharadwaj, Principal, Mercer, said, "There are multiple disruptions seen in the industry today – in the shape of automation/robotics, machine learning, globalization, 3D Printing & Digitalization. As a consequence, the way work gets done, how value chains operate & how business models operate is all changing. In this backdrop, HR as a function is also reviewing its priorities & its composition."

Desired skills in HR professionals 

There will be a high demand for HR professionals who are analytical and execution-focused, along with those experienced in performance management, leadership, and high-volume hiring.  

According to Namita Bharadwaj, Principal, Mercer the skills which will be in high demand over the next few years are design thinking, business acumen and agility, ability to build & communicate EVP (or IVP), the deep know-how of job redesign, change management, career frameworks and predictive analytics. She further added that the HR model for most organizations would continue to be broken into HRBPs, COEs & Shared Services. Some of the specific job roles within the COEs which she foresees to be high in demand include- Inclusion & Engagement, Workforce Analytics and Planning, HR Effectiveness, HR Controller and Risk Management, Responsibility & Compliance. 

Salary outlook for HR Professionals

Further, deep diving into the salary of HR professionals, the report highlights compensation under various domains in two cities, Delhi and Mumbai. In commerce and industry sector, the head of human resources of a small to medium-sized company with 10 to 15 years of experience has an average salary of INR 80 Lakhs in Delhi and INR 85 Lakhs in Mumbai. And the average Salary of the head of human resources of a large-sized company is INR 150 Lakhs in Delhi and INR 175 Lakhs in Mumbai. 

The average salary for someone with experience in 5 to 10 years is quite low at INR 25 Lakhs as compared to 38 Lakhs for other sub-functions including compensation and benefits, learning and development and talent management. 

It is safe to say that technological and demographic disruptions are not eliminating but changing the roles and affecting the HR composition.  The focus is on analytics and having the capability to leverage the same for achieving business goals. While this was experts' perspective, let's find out what HR professionals have to say: 

HRs outlook on HR roles and skills in demand

Shubhayu Sengupta, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, HGS India believes that finding as well as retaining the top talent will be the top priority. He says, "It is necessary for HR leaders and professionals to find the talent who have the specific skill sets to support the business." Considering this, the Human Resources, will focus on recruitment and talent management and enhance the employee experience.  And this is where the ability to use data analysis and technology in driving various employee and HR initiatives will play a role. 

Shubhayu talks about the significance of talent management, diversity, and inclusion and says, "Talent management champions – How HR works with existing talent and enable growth-readiness will be key to success as the "war for talent" will continue as always. How HR can be a catalyst in the D&I journey and challenge unconscious biases and create platforms of change will define how companies reflect D&I in their key ethos."

Ekta Bhardwaj, HR Head, Nissan Motor India Private Limited agrees and says, " A dynamic talent pool requires the talent management team to be agile and more strategic, and hence Talent Management will be in demand." She further emphasizes the importance of technology and says, "Given the emphasis on digitization in all walks of life, Digital HR will be a big focus area in the future." 

The digital revolution has undoubtedly, impacted the HR ecosystem but contrary to the popular beliefs it's not taking away HR's jobs. The efficient utilization of the available solutions and tools will only improve their roles and enhance their capabilities. In this context, besides digital literacy, talent managers would also require sharp business acumen to start playing a more prominent role in furthering business goals.  As People Analytics continues to emerge and expand, HR departments will need professionals who are analytical and execution-focused. With an understanding of the trends and demands of roles in HR ecosystem, professionals can work on building their capabilities to make the most use of the emerging opportunities and move ahead with the continually changing ecosystem. 

(The article is based on the report - India Salary Benchmark 2018 by Michael Page India and opinions of some experts and HR professionals.)

How far do you agree with these insights? Share your thoughts and experience with us in the comments below.  

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Topics: Compensation & Benefits, Recruitment

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