Human resource management is heading into a working environment that has drastically changed. People no longer stay at jobs for a life time, instead, the average worker will change jobs every 4 years.
Add to that the digital and technological transitions, the shift in workforce demographics and you have a landscape that will greatly impact the future of HR jobs. In this article we discuss, what future HR jobs will look like in light of all these changes.
Technology will become indispensable
Tech and AI are already being used heavily in human resource departments around the world and this will likely increase. Tools to collect and analyse data will be used to ease recruitment. Imagine the human hours necessary to sift through a pool of resumes.
This time would be better directed towards another activity. The right tools will be used to screen candidates and grade them on different desired qualities like experience, skills and qualifications.
Once people are hired, technology will still be used to help in managing them. It will be used to track their progress, design suitable trainings and more. As remote work rises, technology to manage human resource remotely will be indispensable.
Closer interaction between HR and IT
Because of the heavy reliance on technology, future HR jobs will see practitioners working closely with IT departments. The two departments will work together to make decisions around what platforms or software can be used to make human resource more efficient.
This may mean anything from developing better tools for communication to implementing systems that track employee performance.
Candidates will vet companies more closely
The interviewing process will become more balanced, with candidates needing to know more about the company they are interviewing for. Some might say, candidates will be interviewing the interviewer. This trend has already been set in motion by sites like Glassdoor which allow employees to share information about companies they have worked for.
As the competition for talent increases, future HR jobs will need to be filled by people who can sell a company to candidates and champion policies that increase retention.
Diversity and inclusion will be prioritised more
Companies are going to be paying more attention to recruiting diverse sets of employees. They will also work to ensure that once they are hired, they are given the same opportunities as everyone else. To show how seriously this will be taken the role of ‘Diversity and inclusivity manager’ has been showing up more and more on job boards.
Diversity has many benefits that have become clear to HR managers. These include; talent acquisition, employee retention, improved creativity as diverse employees bring different perspectives to work and the added bonus of boosting a company’s reputation.
As the workforce becomes more diverse, diversity and inclusion trainings may become a part of what HR departments offer to employees.
HR professionals will need to expand their skills
Future HR jobs will be about more than Human resource management. As certain HR functions like payroll and recruitment become automated, HR managers will need to continuously upgrade their skills.
A knowledge of business strategy, finance and sharper leadership skills will be required for HR managers to continue contributing meaningfully. With more skills, the HR role will become even more central than it is today.
In addition to these new competencies, future HR job holders will have to keep up with the new regulations in order to be compliant. Some of these will require attending trainings or getting certifications.
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Future HR jobs will see a greater emphasis on compliance
Regulations, whether on the government, global or industry level, are changing and Human resource managers will need to remain on top of all of them. In the last 10 years alone, there have been amendments to sexual harassment laws, changes in labour standards and new laws around data privacy.
In addition, the way people work is changing. As remote and gig work become the norm, HR managers are going to have to craft policies that equitably govern the relationship between a company and its workers. For instance, drivers have sued Uber for violating overtime pay and minimum wage benefits.
As models of work continue to change, precedents such as these will continue to be set. Future HR managers have to navigate such scenarios or forestall them by thinking ahead and anticipating the needs of anyone in their employment.
Future HR jobs will necessitate those in charge to train employees on developing standards. Employee handbooks will continue to evolve, harassment training will become even more common. A failure to do so will expose both employees and corporations to legal (among other) risks.
There will be new entrants into the labour market
Technology companies are entering into the talent market place; the likes of Microsoft’s LinkedIn, Google’s Google jobs and are just a precursor for what may become a more common trend in the future. This means that Human resource managers will have even more avenues to recruit from.
It will also mean that companies may take their labour sourcing in-house, leaving those working in recruitment firms with a need to change the way that they work or risk becoming obsolete.
Human resource management will not become obsolete
Despite the large reliance on technology and AI, future HR jobs are still safe. Human resource management is yet to become obsolete because AI is still not able to fully replace human beings. Intuition, empathy, emotions; these are human traits that are essential in managing people and machines are yet to learn them.
People will still be needed to reach out to candidates, to maintain contact between interviews, to resolve certain workplace conflicts and to build trust that is needed between employees and the company.
In Summary
HR is evolving and those in future HR jobs will be required to evolve their skills, policies and systems. A major theme for future HR jobs is the heavier reliance of technology. As opposed to seeing that as a threat, HR managers should see technology as a partner that can aid them in achieving their objectives.
