Keynes rightly said, “The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent”. Last 12-24 months we saw acquisitions, consolidations and emergence of new unicorns that transformed the landscape of workplace and had a deep impact on the eco-system. While many of these changes were relevant and expected by most, there were also some unfortunate yet necessary movements that made its impact. 

Here are some of the key changes/developments/trends that have benefitted HR fraternity as a whole: 

‘Social by Design’ – With the explosion of social media in the professional circuit, companies like LinkedIn saw massive growth and even platforms like Facebook and Instagram became source of branding for corporates. This change meant companies were looking at attract both consumers and prospective employees who could align to the vision and be a part of the journey. While Marketing has been leveraging social forever, the last 18 months we saw HR leveraging social media more than ever. They got an opportunity to showcase the quantum and quality of work that was being injected in building organization culture and focus on employee experience. It is no surprise that more and more organizations are now leveraging social media to hire top talent from the market. HR is expected to build a strong employer brand using social media that has really helped HR build credibility and visibility among companies and candidates. 

#Metoo Movement – An unfortunate but an ugly reality that caught everyone’s attention was the #metoo movement. Many celebrated names, people at C-suite level and critical roles were accused of sexual misconduct and that made organizations, CEOs and business leaders take note of the importance of having a diverse, safe and inclusive culture that doesn’t take practices like POSH as a tick mark item or one more of the many HR policies. Companies are making their leaders undergo session on POSH and spreading awareness to ensure a healthier, safer workplace. It was/is an important movement that helped HR reiterate the importance of creating a safe workplace for its people and make organizations responsible and equal partners in this journey.

Org Designing & Structuring – ‘Do more with less’ has been the mantra for most companies in 2018 and that has required most organizations to relook at their organization structures, hierarchies, manpower requirements and overall people & process efficiencies. This required specialized skillset of HR folks to work closely with business and help them create a lean structure that augments productivity & efficiency at both people and process level. This also was a great opportunity for HR to partner with business in carving our strategy in a VUCA world. With an ever-dynamic work environment, HR is going to be a key player in business growth & transformation. 

2019 will be no different. HR will continue to be a solid part of the organization’s strategy for growth and performance. Some of the key trends that people can expect to see that may not have flown/taken shape in 2018 are: 

Moving from Task to Tactic & Strategy 

With influx of technology and the need for HR to partner with business for critical decision making, many of the routine /mundane tasks might move towards digitization or automation. Chat-bots & AI are already being used by companies to gather feedback on people experiences and engagement levels. This may further get enhanced with more tools that can help save manual effort for HR professionals. 

Predictive & Data analytics to enhance company performance

The use of analytics can help HR to make better business decisions around hiring, developing and retaining the talent that can help organization to improve its performance. HR analytics can help business identify existing pain points and make better business and people decisions. For instance, with data analytics for hiring, HR may find a correlation between a particular industry and performers in their company that may help them zero down on aspects like target companies, industries, academic institutions to hire the right fit. Predictive analytics may even help companies to accurately recognize people who are at a high probability of exiting and influence and retain them in time (especially top performers). 

The next 12-24 months will be even more dynamic, challenging and worth-while for HR as they continue to become equal partner in creating value and growth proposition.