Top 5 Trends in Human Resource Management We Can Expect to See in the Near Future

 

The pandemic is likely to bring a lot of new trends in every work domain, and human resource is no exception to it. This article will explore the top 5 of such trends that we can expect to see in HR management in the near future.

30-second summary:

• Remote working facilities will gain importance, and that will alter multiple organizational processes
• Work from home facilities likely to continue in the future with greater effectiveness than the present time
• HR management to enable organizations to focus more on building resilience compared to increasing efficiencies
• Employee well-being to receive as much attention as their productivity, with new policies to be implemented for their physical and mental wellness
• Contingency workers to receive greater importance, with the HR outlining their roles in the organization
• HR leaders will enable greater transparency in employee data collection to enable more effective worker benefits in the long run

There’s no denying the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic is going to have a lasting impact on the future of businesses, and that would be regardless of their scale of operation. This makes it imperative for HR managers to evaluate the impact of the rising trends on the strategic and operative goals of their organizations so as to identify the ones that need immediate action.

With the pandemic resetting major work trends, it’s time for the HR leaders to reconsider employee and workforce planning, management, experience, and performance strategies. And on that note, in this article today, we, at the Advanced Institute of Technology and Management, regarded as the Best MBA College in Faridabad, have brought to you a brief overview of:

• How the HR management trends will evolve in the post COVID world
• How the trends are surfacing at present
• The changes to be implemented in ushering the trends
• The redefined roles of HR leaders in the days to come

1. Increased focus on remote working

The spread of the pandemic has made employers mandate the employees to work from home, but it’s a trend that is here to stay in the near future. In fact, a recent poll suggests that 48% of employees will continue to work remotely at least for a significant part of the year, even in the post COVID era. However, there will be greater preparedness for remote working in the times to come.

HR management will focus on exploring the critical competencies needed by the employees for digital collaboration, and be ready to adjust the strategies based on employee experience. They will consider the changes to be brought in employee evaluation and performance goals for the remote context.

Some of the possible strategies that the HR managers will probably focus on for remote working would include:

• Mentoring and training employees for remote working
• Enabling sophisticated tech and tools for increased efficiency
• Considering employee feedback to improve remote working facilities
• Creating a set of definitive guidelines for working from home

The shift to remote working might have been sudden for most business organizations, but with the passage of time, there has been a realization of the positive aspects of it. Things like cost-saving, greater work-life balance for employees, and more will enable increased emphasis on remote working.

2. Expanded role in acting as a safety net for employees’ wellbeing

The current situation has also brought the significance of paying attention to employee wellness at the forefront. Though employees’ wellbeing has always been on the top of HR leaders’ agendas, the redefined working conditions in the future would also warrant a rethinking of worker’s wellness policies.

The growth of the digital economy, the stress of managing work-life balance, and the ‘always on’ trend of working mean that paying attention to employee wellbeing has never been more important. The future will bring forth a crucial realization about the connection between the well-being of workers and the growth of the organization.

HR managers are more likely to play an expanded role in the mental, physical, and financial wellbeing of the employees in the near future. Some of the ways in which support will be extended include increased sick leaves, child care provisions, adjusted working hours, financial assistance, and healthcare benefits.

The ongoing economic crisis has also redefined the boundaries of the ways in which the HR management views worker experience. External factors have taken a backseat over personal factors over the things that matter for employees and organizations alike. Measures employed after taking such considerations into account would be effective in promoting physical and mental health, as well as improving the emotional well-being, of the workers.

3. A movement from efficiency-based design to a resilience-based approach

The Marketing Organizational Survey 2019 by Gartner showed that 55% of the organizational designs were based on streamlining workflows, supply chains, and roles for increasing efficiency.

However, though the efficiency-based approach delivered what it set out to do and captured efficiencies, it also led to the creation of fragilities. The systems based on efficiencies lacked the flexibility to respond quickly to disruptions. Thus, the companies could only maintain the optimum level of productivity and capacities when all the other factors remained constant, and there were no major glitches in its path.

This issue has made resilience-based approach a trend to watch out for. Resilient organizations are able to better respond to problems, and correct their course of action quickly with the changes. Hence, in the near future, HR managers are likely to focus more on building a responsive organization, where the design structures and roles aim to increase flexibility and agility. They will also provide employees with flexible, adaptive, and varied roles so that they gain cross-functional training and knowledge.

HR leaders will be involved in designing new roles and creating flexible work systems for ensuring that the employees of all needs and backgrounds are accounted in designing organizational workflows.

4. Growth in the hiring of contingent workers in place of full-time workers

The economic uncertainty brought by the pandemic has made many employees lose their jobs and exposed many others to new work models for the first time. The initial response of HR teams to the economic impact of the pandemic might have been a significant reduction in contractor budgets, but there will be a major shift in the near future, and the shift will be from full-time employees to contingent workers.

In future, the HR departments will continue increasing the use of contingent workers for maintaining greater agility in workforce management. In fact, we are also expecting to witness the introduction of other job models in the future that have shown positive response during the COVID times, like talent sharing.

Research suggests that at least 32% of the organizations are already planning to bring more contingent workers on board as a cost-cutting measure.

While there is no denying the fact that the contingent workers provide greater flexibility to the employers in terms of workforce management, HR leaders will have to consider the ways in which the performance management systems can be applied to these workers. HR will also play a critical role in determining whether these workers will be held eligible for similar benefits as full-time employees.

5. Using better tools for expanded collection of employee data

The HR professionals are already using technologies that enable effective monitoring of the employees through methods like tracking computer usage, virtual clocking times, and employee emails. We, at AITM, believe that we can expect to see a greater expansion in tracking employee data by organizations, which will serve the threefold purpose of:

• Tracking employee productivity
• Monitoring employee well-being and engagement
• Better understanding of employee experience

Organizations were focused on using employee monitoring tools even before the pandemic hit us. However, the trend will certainly be accelerated through the renewed monitoring of remote employees in future, and greater attention will be paid to gathering worker safety and health data.

Organizations will now focus more on outlining the best practices for using employee data. Even though remote working makes it more important for HR teams to collect worker data, it has to be done by keeping in sight the best practices of data collection and usage. And in the near future, questions of digital ethics will probably arise as a result.

At Advanced Institute of Technology and Management, we firmly believe that there is no harm in collecting worker data to extend greater facilities to the employees, but there has to be an element of transparency in the entire process. And, working as the advocates of the employees, the HR leaders will need to outline and enforce worker data usage principles for their organizations and their teams.

AITM: Preparing the ambitious minds for the changing management responsibilities

The roles and responsibilities of the management leaders are undergoing a steady change in the present era. The organizational complexities are increasing, and as such, employers nowadays are looking for individuals who not only have the right skills but also hold a vision for innovation. This is the reason why we, at the Advanced Institute of Technology & Management, recognized as the Top Management College in Faridabad, always stress on prepping up the future professionals in accordance with the industry standards and trends. We train our students as per the latest norms being followed in the industry while focusing on enabling them to cope with any challenges they would likely get to face in the future. No wonder, we have consistently maintained a high placement record and our alumni have been working with the leading players in the country and abroad.

We have always believed that management studies are more about a real-world understanding of people and situations, rather than a simple case of understanding theories and conventional ideas. With that in sight, we, at AITM, groom our students into skilled future professionals who know how to find their way in the ever-changing global business scenario of the future. At AITM, we can proudly proclaim that our students don’t just know how to keep up with the trends; they are trained at leading the changes.