Rewriting the HR Playbook for the Future

Abstract

As organisations deal with the evolving nature of the new normal, the role of the human resources (HR) is getting redefined to meet the ongoing needs of its workforce. Designing employee–HR experiences in an uncertain and ambiguous work world emerges as one of the top challenges for HR leaders. On the one hand, employee well-being initiatives like employee mentoring, virtual mindfulness workshops, health tips and free consulting and counselling services are becoming the norm. On the other hand, the HR function is itself being re-crafted for the emergent workplace. Technology plays a pivotal role, fuelling the need for scaling HR activities to provide next-gen employee experiences. As the war for high-tech talent increases, organisations are re-crafting an all new HR playbook to differentiate themselves as preferred employers. Within the transforming work and workplace context, the worker continues to be in the eye of the storm and demands both attention and action.

The Future of HR

“…HR can navigate this new landscape by taking advantage of the advancement in technology -most notably by utilising AI and big data to open up opportunities for strategic value creation [15]. Technological agility will therefore be a key differentiator for HR's value add to business outcome [5]. There could be a more dramatic, revolutionary impact in the business environment and on workforce management from AI and technological advancements in the near future.…”

“…Functional HR competencies alone will not enable successful HR careers. Specialist skills will be required to fast track HR career opportunities and career growth [5]. Within the overall HR skill sets, future-oriented capabilities…”

“…It looks like there could be a shift from engagement to experience, and employees will expect a truly personalised employee journey, from first point of contact right through to their continued employment [28]. [5] proposes ongoing employee surveys to sustain and engage employee participation in building the organisation's desired digital culture. [9] agrees by stating that focusing on employee engagement through pulse and satisfaction surveys is a great way to gauge their experience and ideas, and get their recommendations on how best to transition to the new normal.…”

“…The involvement of automation processes and the use of robots in the fourth industrial revolution have necessitated management to rethink and improve issues related to human resources (HR) to ensure organisational performance [43]. Nurturing resilience as a core value and building HR processes that support resilience through encouraging career path shifts, job sculpting and job crafting opportunities are of utmost importance [5].…”

“…[2] also found that innovation, business acumen, leadership, analytics and metrics and personal characteristics such as self-efficacy, honesty, openness, agility, flexibility and adaptability are of the essence. Leveraging HR Analytics to drive all people-related decisions is an essential future HR competency [5]. HR needs to start developing core business acumen rather than standardised HR capabilities.…”