In the last decade Human Resources (HR) has undergone a dynamic shift in terms of the roles, functions and responsibilities it plays in an organisation. They have taken a holistic approach in shaping an organization. From operating in closed conference rooms to holding a chief seat at the senior leadership table, HR surely has come a long way. Today, the role of HR in planning and driving strategic growth is as important as technology or business leadership. 

In a recent survey conducted by KPMG, 1200 global HR executives exposed a clear gulf between action and inertia: Forward-looking HR leaders are confidently harnessing the resources and insights that will redefine the traditional HR model and its contribution to the enterprise. Let us look at some numbers: About two-third of HR executives agree that it has undergone a digital transformation. But survey reveals that only 40% have a digital work plan in place. 70% recognize the need for a digital transformation at the workplaces yet only 37% feel “very confident” about HR’s actual ability to transform and take them forward via key capabilities like digitisation and AI.

A serious challenge is often the non-alignment between Human Resources and the C- Suite. Today, CHROs must assist businesses in paving the way for strategic growth decisions relating to recruitment, compensation, talent management, performance management, training, employee experience and more. 

Key imperatives for HR to be Future Ready: 

The changing nature of organizations and their employees poses a serious challenge to the Human Resources of a company. HR needs to be more proactive with regard to digital transformation as it plays an important role in shaping the organization’s digital identity. It is a challenge and a real complexity to plan future capabilities of a workforce in the digital economy; as is the ability to integrate the right people into a dynamic organizational context and also help existing employees and leaders gain new digital competencies which will enable them to drive transformation. 

The success of any organization depends on how efficiently and effectively people, process and technology combine and delivers value at optimal level. Artificial Intelligence is a technological tool that aims to help us resolve cognitive issues and enable machine to think like humans. 

• Machine Learning creates and make predictions based on certain data pattern and hence aids in effective decision making. For example study of employee attrition, personalised feeds or detecting anomaly in data. Taking it ahead, sentiment analysis based on the interactions between employees and their managers will pave way for the new age evaluation.
• Deep Learning comprehends a large volume of data through neural artwork architecture. Its sets up basic parameters around data and leaves computer to learn through own its pattern. For example speech identification or Chat Bots are the key areas of deep learning in the HR context. 

In spite of this progression there is a myth which many believe: Technology will outstand the human intervention. In fact, it is going to be other way round, HR managers in next decade will have more time to focus on their employees, enhancing on aspects like, talent acquisition, retention and employee engagement and taking them to the next level.

We should encourage innovative ideas and ensure people are valued for bringing them to the table. Born in the digital age, millennials are tech-savvy and value digitalisation in all its forms. At their best, millennials bring fresh ideas and new workflows into an organisation and value new ways of working. In comparison with previous generations and their style of work, millennials generally value different aspects of working life, like flexibility, collaboration and transparency with strong core values. 

Next gen CHROs are managing businesses and adding value as business partners in real sense. Being more engaged with business and making hands dirty by penetrating to the grass root level where the rubber meets the road will be the key to drive this agenda. When HR leaders understand the key business controls and drive it aggressively with the right productivity matrix and performance scorecards they will be seen as a function to recon with. 

Today’s HR managers need to ask a question to themselves – if they can, why can’t we?

They should work hand in hand with the business.

To summarise, HR is going to play a vital role since their work need to narrow down to individual employees and understand their pulse. While luxury for Gen X are the basics, for Gen Y customization is going to be the key. The ability to capture the right nerve by adding Human element in Human Resource with the help of AI and digitization is what will take this profession to greater heights.