Blog: Standing out in changing landscape of work & talent

Strategic HR

Standing out in changing landscape of work & talent

While our markets were abuzz with layoffs, downfall across industries and unemployment for most part of 2019, organizations with strong, technology-backed recruitment practices stood out.
Standing out in changing landscape of work & talent

For most part of 2018, industry experts, analysts and the C-Suite foresaw an acceleration in digital progress in 2019. With advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Robotic Process Automation, Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) the world of work is changing. 

It is known that technology is creating more jobs than it is taking away. With this changing landscape, employers and employees are expected to come to terms with job responsibilities and demands. Clients and customers began expecting companies to deliver solutions quickly and promote collaboration across diverse teams, while meeting the demands. 

As a result, organizations invested heavily in newer means of recruiting, re-skilling talent, building an inclusive work culture, and leadership development.

Hiring

According to the India Skills Report 2019, the hiring intent across organizations had increased to 15% in 2019 from 10% in 2018. A positive hiring intent was complemented with the increased focus on diverse practices like social media, behavioral-based, predictive engines and Blockchain-based hiring. 

Today’s HR teams use AI-powered systems that shortlist 10 potential candidates from 1000 with the same qualification and skill set. Such systems also have the potential to analyze needs and perspectives of employees and provide comprehensive data that can help improve diverse hiring. A combination of various profiling and vetting tools help organizations to create repositories of talent profiles; giving the HR teams the flexibility to hire basis not just the educational pedigree but also competency, ambition and the ability to progress with the organization. I believe that this industry is still in its nascent stages and there is a huge scope for the industry leaders to explore and invest towards it.

Focus on building strong Internal Mobility system also grew in 2019 because it costs less than half of hiring a lateral candidate, gives HR the flexibility to extend opportunities across levels and improves competitive advantage. This trend has caught on across several countries, as suggested in a global Deloitte. Insights study. According to the study, 43% of respondents believe that their organizations are fairly effective and 36% believe their organizations are good in enabling internal mobility. Overall, Internal Mobility has helped organizations to prepare a future-ready talent pool by upskilling them.

While our markets were abuzz with layoffs, downfall across industries and unemployment for most part of 2019, organizations with strong, technology-backed recruitment practices stood out.

Up skilling

Organizations have been investing heavily on upskilling and reskilling their talent. According to the Deloitte. Insights study, 30% of respondents across the globe believe they need to make incremental investment, and 18% believe they need to make significant additional investment in reskilling their workforce.

I’d like to believe that most of these investments are going into technology and gamification. HR has increasingly found success in integrating technologies like VR and AR with their training practices. E.g. a global logistics company, which has 100,000 employees, uses VR to train them to avoid injuries and accidents at work. In 2019, we also saw emergence of gamification in coaching and learning. These gamified programs incorporate real-life practice with a fun theme, which is relevant to the business function. 

Today’s analytics-powered programs study an individual’s inherent skills and provide an evaluation report, which the leaders can use to guide the employees towards continuing progress. Such engaging approaches to skilling and development will continue to be beneficial for organizations in terms of talent retention, too.

Leadership

We all acknowledge that; technology is pushing the boundaries of leaderships while disrupting work. Organizations are shifting from hierarchal leadership model to engaged teams. Leaders are expected to have complex problem-solving skills, Emotional Intelligence (EI) competency, critical thinking, diverse team management and a mindset for navigating complexities of today and tomorrow.

Organizations can meet these expectations by building a right blend of tactical and strategic leadership. In a digitally progressive time, strategic leaders can explore the future possibilities in technologies like RPA, AI, Blockchain etc. and a range of probable outcomes based on these. Tactical leaders can provide the support to decision-makers to implement tools based on these technologies and redirect resources, as needed. Together, they can help organizations to correct the course in time to stay abreast. Eventually, organizations will have the right technologies to enhance employee experience and help teams focus on doing more meaningful work.

The HR needs to evaluate their talent repository and work closely with the decision-makers to build this combination. I believe this can transform organizations to stay relevant, be competitive and encourage and guide their people towards greater opportunities and prosperity in 2020.

The entire space of Work and Talent has been unpredictable yet exciting for more than half a decade now. On the bright side, emerging technology-based tools have the potential to boost the progress of organizations and the workforce alike. Hence, I believe that, while organizations will continue to invest in digital transformations, individuals will need to quickly find their niche, invest in getting trained and take advantage of the talent shortage to progress in 2020 and beyond.

 

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Topics: Strategic HR, #GuestArticle, #Rewind2019

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