Modern HR Trends

By Hasini Senarathne

The role of HR has been transformed to be more demanding and agile one. So, there are several modern HR trends that can be identified.

01) Simplification of work for overwhelmed employees

Companies need to decrease the complexity of work to increase employee focus and relieve stress. Overwhelmed employees are an emerging trend in today’s work culture. By applying simplification of work to a busy work flow, employees can recover their sanity and make productive promotions.

Smaller teams and shorter meetings encourage productivity. The longer a project takes, productivity of employees’ decreases. Stand up meetings can also be effective where employees gather to discuss the project without sitting. Similarly the benefits of standing desks, holding meetings standing up improves blood flow, energy, and mood, resulting in shorter, more productive meeting times.

02) Culture and engagement

One of the most powerful trends in corporate culture involves the dramatic shift from focusing on each employee’s contribution to the organization to focus on employee experience within the organization. If an organization wants to grow and attract the best people, then it must be able to provide features that rise above the competition. A culture that keeps employees happy while providing ample encouragement and opportunity for development is a win-win for both employees and the organization.

Employee engagement is the level of an employee’s emotional connection, involvement, and commitment to their organization. When employees feel valued, their dedication and enthusiasm for their jobs, coworkers, and companies grow. This, in turn, increases employee retention, performance and productivity.

03) Performance management

Today, traditional performance appraisals are being replaced with innovative performance management processes that help setting inclusive performance goals and encourage review and feedback. Companies are seeking expert support to define and map performance at various levels.

Low unemployment rates and a critical need for technological skills have created a war for talent. As a result, businesses recognize that to stay competitive, they must find ways to bring out their employees’ best performance, by ensuring that they feel a sense of belonging and purpose. Increasingly, companies realize that to succeed, they must create an employee centric culture and employ the latest performance trends, because they are able to hire, retain and develop employees.

04) Less = more

The realization that HR is doing too much, and that the list of HR initiatives is far too long, is slowly dripping into organizations. What employees and senior management are looking for is more impact with less effort.

Methods to get more impact with a less effort are keeping the HR team small, invest in HR Tech and other apps, and stay close to the most urgent business issues.

05) HR Innovation Labs

Experimenting with new technologies and new innovative HR solutions can be enhanced by installing an “HR Innovation Lab”. This is good for the organizations, as they increase the angle of learning curve. HR Tech providers benefit, as they can work with and learn from clients. It helps HR to change the image of HR, from slow and traditional to fast and innovative.

Organizations, and specially HR in organizations, sometimes seems to change slowly. So, we have to sense the trends and use them to accelerate the procedures.

References

  1. https://www.15five.com/blog/employee-performance-management-trends-2019/
  2. https://learn.g2crowd.com/2019-hr-trends
  3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/adp/2017/04/18/trends-in-corporate-culture-focus-on-the-employee-experience/#51f7e8646cc2