Human Resources
7 HR Tech Trends to Watch in 2017
Contemporary HR management is going through significant changes due to information technologies and the newly-emerged needs of employees. In such reconfiguration of HR processes, even the biggest corporations are struggling to find alternative ways of acquiring talents or keeping the most productive employees. Companies realize that only a strong workforce can fulfill the objectives.
“I strongly believe that people – not the products you offer – make a company valuable. After all, products don’t sell people. It’s the other way around.” – Herbert Marrow, HR Manager at Careers Booster.
Therefore, a continuous evolution in the HR field requires you to keep up with the latest trends.
There are dozens of new ideas and HR tools nowadays. Here are the 7 most influential trends in 2017.
1. Talent Acquisition
Talent acquisition is becoming a major issue that surpasses the borders of HR departments. Today, all members of senior management partake in talent recruitment, fully aware of the fact that wrong acquisition can equal 30% of an employee’s annual salary. Organizations adapt their hiring platforms to create the attractive environment for potential recruiters and offer candidates flexible career opportunities. Numerous market leaders now utilize customized software solutions to precisely detect both the needs of the company and potential employees.
2. Employee Experience
It’s not enough to hire someone, so companies are trying to improve employee retention as well. Proactive HR managers expand their points of view and don’t simply analyze company benefits. They also take into account employee experience within the organization, making sure to understand their conditions at work.
This trend suggests that companies are developing plans to increase employee satisfaction in order to boost productivity. The best way to do it is to invest in staff training, create a friendly work environment, and to reward them for good results.
3. People Analytics Makes a Step Forward
People analytics is not a big novelty here since a lot of international corporations have been using it recently to make smarter and more precise decisions on talent acquisition. It initiated a huge step forward in hiring the right candidates and also improved retention and performance rates.
However, people analytics in 2017 introduces culture surveys to identify the perfect interview candidates. This allows companies to present their expectations and demands clearly, while it helps new employees to prepare for future challenges. That’s why survey results show that more than 60% of companies already use or plan to adopt people analytics.
4. Learning
With so many changes in the digital age, no one knows what is going to be the next big deal or totally obsolete in the years to come. It means that companies have to provide employees with the continuous learning experience, which makes career management one of the biggest challenges. eLearning tools replace traditional teaching formats and allow employees to gain new knowledge.
It’s not the classroom model anymore as team members can follow online courses and set their own study pace. The learning process is crucial to improve employees’ competence and preserve their productivity.
5. Social Media
People spend a few hours each day using mobile devices and checking out social platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. It seems like almost 90% of HR professionals think that mobile phones make an important tool in the hiring process and job searching.
It is obvious that organizations have to use these networks to look for emerging talents and to make vacancy announcements. Furthermore, social media is full of information which can serve to analyze potential candidates and see if they fit the company standards.
6. Diversity
Inclusion and diversity aren’t exclusively social and political terms anymore. Today, it’s an extremely important business issue globally. Diversity is crucial if you want to maintain the public image of the brand. Employees also worry about it and express demands for higher inclusion.
On the other hand, international companies rely heavily on heterogeneous teams, creating unique corporate cultures. This gives organizations advantage on the global market since most of them tend to localize their offers. It’s becoming increasingly important to think globally but act locally, which gives HR teams a reason to calculate with diversity as well.
7. Values
There are many young employees, especially among Millennials, who really care about company values and corporate culture. For them, it’s not enough to offer small on-site benefits like a comfortable couch or darts. They require a reliable senior staff and efficient communication, with enough potential for self-improvement. Only companies that offer this kind of environment for their workers can count on higher retention rates, so HR teams tend to develop a strong corporate culture.
Conclusion
Not more than a decade ago, human resources seemed so simple. Today, companies need entire teams of HR experts to find appropriate candidates or to keep the most successful employees. HR professionals use a number of state-of-the-art tools to create comprehensive workforce analysis and secure a bright future for the company. These tools and strategies keep evolving, so we’ll make sure to keep you updated with the trends to come!
Photo courtesy of Pexels user Negative Space
