Peter Drucker once stated, “The Future arrived when we weren't looking, so
we’re still dealing with issues, ideas and programs that don’t fit the world’s
new realities.”
We are still in the era of economic
crisis. Growth expected is normal and not like what was there earlier. The challenge for business leaders is
to create growth opportunities that far outstrip the potential of the global economy.
All Business Leaders and functional managers
will have to think and act very differently -- the differences between “fast
growth” which we witnessed in past and
“new era of business” conditions are not inconsequential.
HR trends are not also isolated from such changes. We need to think
differently. We should change the way we are working today. The issue today is
not the talent, you advertise the vacancy, you will get hundreds of CV in your
inbox. The issues is for RIGHT talent, Right talent which grows the business.
And this is also applicable to all HR practices.
Some trends I see in following years are as under.
HR Business Partnership:
Please read my earlier post on this on this link http://vinodtbidwaik.blogspot.sg/2012/08/are-you-hr-professionals-partnering.html.
HR professionals are expected to play the role of business partner. Every
HR person should ask the question how his role or the function aligned to the
number decided by the top management. How they can relate the consequences,
impact of the actions of HR function on the overall business. Question is not
related to the cost control, but how HR play the role to optimize the
productivity, engagement and people cost, how people are aligned towards the
organizational goals. HR professional are consultants for the business leaders
and functional leaders on their people issues. HR is expected to play the role
of Coach to managers on people issues.
Leaders Readiness and
maturity for the new economic era:
How we are going to measure the readiness of leaders to new change, adapt
and create new growth. This is not an easy task. It is easy to understand that
outsized performance in an easy growth era will not automatically transfer the
new economic era. Business leaders role here with the support of HR is raising
awareness and providing clarity around changing expectations and supporting to
create the right matrix for the growth.
At the other side, how our leaders are enough matured to come out from
their conventional thinking and think the business in different perspective is
also important. leadership maturity is an individual’s ability to operate
effectively at the appropriate level of complexity, ambiguity and scale. HR is
expected to act as a Coach, if required arrange development plan for leaders if
required to cope up with the situation.
Leaders are those who come out from the comfort zone, challenge the
status quo and operate in disruptive, turbulent and volatile market or
situation with speed.
Off course HR is expected to identify issues, development needs and act
proactively to take the leadership at next level.
(RE)emergence of Industrial Relations Role:
You must have notice the turbulence in Industrial Relations during last
few months. (Strike in Bajaj Auto Ltd, Murder of Maruti Manesar plant HR head
etc.) Maintaining good Industrial
Relations is crucial now a days. Employee expectations are increasing day by
day. They don’t have the moderate expectations. Due to speed, insecurity and
fear, workmen are again coming together to go aggressive on their demands.
Impact on the business is critical.
In such situation, IR role again has been (re) emerged as the important
role. HR professional will have to update themselves on the trends in IR, keep
an eye on the behaviour of workmen and roll out the IR risk assessment and
mitigation plans.
No more (more) fresher:
We have also
seen the mass recruitment in past. Recruitment from college campuses was common,
the placements will still be there, but not for all. There are so many (engineering and management) colleges are shutting their shops due to
less response from the industries for the placement. The main issue is
employability skills of these students. Industries will be very choosy to recruit the candidates from colleges.
Offloading HR transactional jobs:
If you are
good in payroll, attendance, other HR operational jobs, better you upgrade your
skills as a HR expert or HR generalist or HR business Partner. Most of the
companies are eliminating HR transactional jobs and such jobs are outsourced to
optimize the cost. Still you will be employed, but your growth will remain
restricted.
More focus on building organizational
capabilities (training & development):
“
Organizational Capability is a business’s ability to establish internal
structures and processes that influence its members to create
organization-specific competencies and thus enable the business to adapt to
changing customer and strategic needs”. (D. Ulrich & D. Lake (1990).
Organizational Capability).
What D.
Ulrich & D Lake told in 1990 is still relevant. Perhaps the focus was still
missing and people miss the opportunities. Now this has to be continued. Identifying
and building right capabilities is the first priority to HR.
There are
certain issues with talent, one of the issues is RIGHT talent, another is their
skills and competencies suitable with your company. You will not get the apple
to backfill the apple. You have to hire good oranges. To convert them into apple, companies have to
continue the focus on training and development of their staff.
More focus on OD and Culture Change
initiatives:
The business
scenario is changing. Organizations have to tune their cultural bandwidth with
the changing scenario. Management is expecting (from HR) steering more organizational development initiatives.
It is not the expert role now, you can still hire the consultants, but first
stage, HR is expected to diagnose and act on the plan and devise the HR
strategy. HR will have to play the role of deployment leaders of new initiates
and measure the success of such initiatives.
Recruitment through job referrals,
networking & online platforms:
Recruitment
(placement) agencies are now outdated. Everybody have the job portals with
them. More jobs will be filled through internal job postings, referrals and
through professional & social sites. Companies are tracking the candidates
through LinkedIn, Facebook, Plaxo, Twitter etc. now a days virtual presence is
must.
Focus on HR technology and tools and
reduce HR FTEs:
Instead of relying on person, companies are automating
their HR processes. Everything is online, If you don't swap your card, you get
the sms intimating the same, your training history is online, your appraisals
are online. Managers are not expected to go to HR for small issues. Managers
will have their control on their team through Managers Self Service and
Employee Self Service. HR is only here to advise and consult. No paper work and
bureaucracy, however more face to face discussion is expected.
Focus on Ethics, Code of Business Conduct
and corporate governance.:
Companies are
looking for sustainability and trust for shareholders. To build this, companies
are advocating work ethics, code of business conduct and corporate
governance. HR is expected to train
their employees on value system, ethics and create the positive work culture to
foster the same. There is lot of awareness among the people about the same and
they expect that they are well treated, respected, valued and follow the work
ethics.
No hefty Compensation, but benefits can
be more:
Today, there
is no differentiation between Software
Engineer working in IT industry and Production Engineer working in
Manufacturing industry. Compensation
percentile and compa ratios may be different in different segments, but there
is not big gaps. Only compensation is also not the differentiation factor.
There are no heavy increments unlike in past. You may hardly receive 8-10%
increase in coming years. However right employees will be rewarded. They will
get more salaries.
HR Demographics and HR analytics
Do you know
what is the employee cost against the revenue & sales? What is the contribution
margin of the product? How HR cost has the impact on the product? DO we know
the demography of our employee. How HR cost are trending and making the
business impact? HR is expected to work on HR analytics and demography not only
understand what that is, but to understand the business impact, analysis and
make HR plans. HR
demographics help you to devise your customized HR strategy.
This is the continual change and we should sense that….
This is the continual change and we should sense that….
“Change is the law of life, and those
who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” John F.
Kennedy. Let’s not miss the future.
3 comments:
Mr Vinod, good article focusing on preventive than curative, i.e. to be prepared for 2014...:)
While I appreciate all the points you mentioned, I would like to talk about area of training, OD and organisational culture, ethics, code of business conduct and corporate governance.
I am of the opinion, that our academic system has hugely failed to educate us on emotions management and therefore almost 50% of mind energy of human capital is drained in unproductive thinking and doing in the organisation. This is now established, worldwide, across sectors and cultures; that the training of Emotional Intelligence does impact productivity and profitability in a positive manner.
Emotionally literate human capital in the organisation would know where to focus and what is the ROI of time invested in that activity. So, if culture of the company to be improved, I feel, training in the area of Expanding Emotional Intelligence would help in a great way. These will also help to improve ethical behaviour, conforming to code of conduct and better governance.
Thank you for opportunity to share. Best wishes.
By Dr. Vipul Vyas, Ph.D.(EQ), MBA
While all of the above is important, it is vital to inculcate a culture of professionalism and employee engagement which is missing in most corporates. The communication is more often than not, one sided and effective feedback mechanism needs to be encouraged to foster a positive environment.
A nicely written article giving pointers to the current & future trends. HR would do well reposition itself to be able to contribute effectively.
Rajeev Moothedath
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