A number of HR professionals in BFSI, retail and other service industries are working in a HRBP and Generalist role. With the recent trends in the role of HR, in future the role of HR professional in a Generalist role will be restricted . The space will be occupied by specialists either inhouse or outsourced.

In Hiring:  Analytics & social recruitment will play a key role and the Business Managers will be able to hire the people with the help of Talent Acquisition Specialists. Inhouse recruiters have to be more efficient than external recruiters . They need to be good in all aspects of hiring – quality, cost and timeliness. A generalist guy may not be able to multi task all these aspects of hiring in addition to doing interview, writing job descriptions etc.

HR Analytics: HR professionals will embrace analytics in a big way.  The role will be handled by professional well versed in the application of statistical tools and analysis. They will provide analysis based on the Business HR and Managers requirement

Similarly the space will be occupied by specialist in each aspect of HR like PMS, Compensation Management and Benefits administration. The main reason could be complexities in administering the same in a diverse and multinational world. The number of HR professionals in employee relations will also be reduced due to technology, digitization, more employee self service. 

HR Business Patnering will move to a brand ownership role and will be occupied by Business Managers and Line Managers who have a more indepth understanding of the business ( markets, financials, new products, customers, competition, mergers and acquisitions ) than the HR professionals coming from a generalist role. Business consultants will occupy the strategic HRBP roles.  

There is also a growing interest in millenials to be specialists in their domain rather than having a generalist experience. Frequent changes in job descriptions, organization designs, structures and role have made the future roles more unpredictable and specialist.

HR professionals needs to prepare themselves for this future roles by updating their capabilities  and knowledge in different facets of HR like Talent Acquisition, Performance Management, HR Analytics, Organisational Structure, Learning and Development etc through certifications, networking & teaching. They need to dig deep into one speciality. Also they need to patner well with business in providing strategic people solutions from a business point of view. 

Organisations should also develop their young and middle level HR professionals through mentoring and capability building through various projects.