Isn’t it ironical that machines which were invented to ease humans are now seemingly becoming a threat to humans losing their jobs? – And the HR industry might not be an exception. In this technological era, we see things changing at a rapid pace. That puts forward a question – Is disruption in HR technology, causing HR to lose its human touch, thereby making it a hot victim? Let’s analyze.
The term ‘human resources’ may soon become obsolete only to be replaced by the term ‘hiring resources.’ As machines are getting smarter every day with the dawn of modern-day advancements such as artificial intelligence, we can transparently see a colossal drift in the way companies hire, train, retain and fire employees. In the near future, a resource, in HR’s parlance need not only refer to a human, but could also refer to a machine as well.
CEO: I want 100 resources for the upcoming project.
HRM: Human resources or machine resources
Let’s break it down into three ways how technology serves to transform the entire hire to retire cycle of employees and helps HR retain the human touch.
- Hiring the right talent
The applications of artificial intelligence pertaining to HR are endless! As machines can learn faster and give better accuracy than a human, HR operational jobs could become obsolete in a matter of time. With machine learning, robotics and artificial intelligence, HR processes like hiring, onboarding, payroll processing, attendance tracking and appraisalcan be made more efficient by leveraging big data. In today’s business environment, every individual has both a physical identity and a digital identity. Background verifications are becoming a piece of cake with the use of digital identities. All these time-consuming operations can be automated with the help of handy tools available in the market.
- Tweaking the training process
With augmented reality coming into the picture, training sessions are becoming outmoded. Employees can learn much better through augmented reality than mundane boring sessions. Moreover, today, the internet is available and accessible even in the remote places of the world.
So, are HR professionals losing their purpose? No. If we take a closer look, we can see a gap between behavioral personas and the impact of HR process automation. Automation has probably reduced the reasons for HR to connect with employees and have rather resulted in employees speaking to a system that does not have the human touch. HR strategy should be devised in such a way that technologies like augmented reality do not become the sole solution but are rather utilized to assist the HR.
- Changing working behavior
On the other hand, the character and behavior of the employees are constantly evolving. They are more open-minded towards the work that they are involved in and are less concerned about job security. This change in behavior that has taken multiple decades, was once a daydream. Individuals are getting more comfortable with ‘freelancing’ where they need not necessarily be committed to an employer on a long-term basis. ‘You pay I work’ attitude is becoming the new trend.
‘What you do is work and not where you do’ has become the trending mantra of employees these days. They want to work from home, beaches, restaurants, coffee shops and where not! The traditional way of working from 9 to 6 inside an allotted cabin is on the verge of its death. Employees want to work anywhere and anytime they like to. Engaging such remote workforce is paramount to HR – whether the employee is hired on a full-time basis or is a contractual staff for the organization.
Why employee experience is the key
The new generation employees don’t want to be tagged as paid slaves to an employer. They desire to feel at home and be appreciated often. As the saying goes, claps get an artist high an appreciation can make a resource far more productive than you think. Human resource executives hope that merging AI into HR administration can have a positive impact on employee experience.
It’s high time HR professionals realized that things are not the same and acted on it immediately. Transforming an organization’s work culture has already gotten into the list of next big things in the world of HR. Take care of the employees and they will take care of the company. In the end, the experience that the employees get is what matters as that will proportionately reciprocate in the results they deliver.
With all these shifts and drifts, the dust is far from settling. There’s more to come. The HR department certainly needs to re-architect itself to escape from being obsolete and to remain as the backbone of a company. A smart machine can be an assistant but can never be a replacement. Everything in this world needs a human touch, and the human resources industry is no exception to that. Technology is just another opportunity for it to become better.
To understand more about the changing trends in the HR world and the tools available, click here.
