With 2013 bidding goodbye, HR leaders are paying attention to the opportunities, challenges and trends that 2014 will bring with it. With HR issues gaining entry in the board meetings, it has become vital to address these issues and find a viable solution to overcome them effectively and efficiently. In the backdrop of technology lending support to the department, HR heads are plagued with issues like low productivity, negative attitudes, increased absenteeism, and reduced employee retention rates in the workplace.
IN THE WAR OF TALENT, TALENT HAS WON SEAMLESSLY
With the onset of a new year, the war of talent is hotting up more fiercely than ever before. In a very unlikely event that was not witnessed in nearly a decade, talent acquisition, engagement and retention will cloud the minds of HR managers. From every sphere, employees will ride the wave of change in 2014. From reducing costs and rationalising spending to restructuring system and pushing people to work harder, companies have tried every remedy available in the book. More than 2/3rd of the companies have prioritised ‘the overwhelmed employee’ as their prime concern. Equipped to bring in a sea change, efficient and high-performing employees will stamp their authority across the sectors in 2014.
Unlike prior years, issues like recruiting top officials and hiring better professionals than your competition will not influence the policies of HR departments. As the country’s economy head towards a better future, managers need to intelligently and aggressively source talent. With key skills being scarce in this year, the need to source talent from around the world will be high. Going beyond the boundaries, the need of the hour is to source and recruit talent from across the globe.
With the term ‘Glocalisation’ coming into existence in 2013, HR leaders will reap its fruits in 2014. With borders becoming meaningless in this era of globalisation and localisation, the knack to manage internationally and perform locally is becoming more and more evident. To leave a lasting impression in the new year, companies have to respect and meet cultural demands and integrate it with talent management system.
In order to ensure continuous supply of talent, HR has to focus on continuous learning of their employees by partnering with universities, organising training programmes, and designing development assignments. The word training will lose its charm in the current year. Engage people by developing talent networks, assessment programmes, global strategy, and using BigData. This is essential as an employee experiences what is expressed in the outside world.
The conventional way of reviewing performance of employees will gradually go away. Stacked ranking will be the thing of past. Stressing on recognition, goal alignment, coaching, and development, organisations will aggressively revamp their appraisal and evaluation systems in today’s talent-restrained structure. Instead of surveys, 360 degree engagement of employees will gain prominence. Rather than annually, employee engagement will happen continuously in a company. Horizons will be expanded by investing into corporate mission, management practices, career development, and work environment.
With spotlight on internal development, 2014 will be the year when ‘facilitated talent mobility’ will create a niche for itself. With a set of practices and culture dedicated to talent mobility and employee grooming, a company can direct talent to thriving markets for its growth.
The finest source of skill is available right within the organisation. It is vital for HR to recognise and nurture it; otherwise the talented employee will leave. With the flood of mobile apps and videos, it has become easy to connect with employees round the clock. Such applications and career websites are supported by the companies with a desire to reduce cost-to-recruit and time to bridge the gap between their requirements and talent availability.
Thanks to Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, professionals will be well informed about internal positions, interview guides, assessment systems, and leadership values. To strategise their game plan, HR leaders must pull their sleeves to create social media playbooks. Employees would view new job openings at their tablets, provide feedback on the performance of a team member with just a click of button, and interact with colleagues on smartphones.
HR OPENS ITS DOORS FOR INNOVATION
One of the issues that the companies are confronted with is ‘equipping or reskilling’ their HR personnel. It is a time to bring about systematic change in the functioning of the department. It has to emerge as the custodian of corporate talent system. The focus will not just be on administrative efficiency and delivering services to employees, but a HR manager’s capability will be measured on the basis of his/her skill to develop, acquire, retain and
manage talent.
Companies will have to restructure its HR policies on the pillars of specialisation and external intelligence. By working on BigData, HR will have to update their practices to become data-oriented and manage employees on data than opinions and speculations. This will lead to high-impact and performing HR. By betting their money on technological solutions that are delivered through a software-as-a-service (SAAS) model, the department will have an access to deeper and efficient functions beneficial for career path planning and candidate relationship management. This will lead to a new technical platform where candidates will be evaluated by their merits, achievements and contributions, rather than how perfectly they sell themselves during their interviews.
Packed with experience, HR personnel will exert control as training experts working on the basis of networks of expertise. By venturing into the domains of innovation and technology, HR will have a bigger role to play in the growth of the company. In 2014, companies will be guided by business-oriented and strong-minded chief human resource officer (CHRO). Their role will gain leadership and strategic edge to it.
With HR-themed analytics in place, 2014 promises rewarding, empowering and exciting experience for employees. It is all set to change the dynamics of the department in terms of workforce demographics, competencies and professional techniques. It will be responsible for transformation of HR, organisation’s culture, talent management, and planning for the coming times.
It is the time to witness what we have suspected for long. With current business models getting outdated, talent management, continuous learning, social media, technology advancement, and employee engagement are the trends that will create ripples in the global business arena.
