Is Today's HR Organization Prepared For the Future Version?

By Kent Cabrera, Head of HR Optimization, Aesop

Kent Cabrera, Head of HR Optimization, Aesop

We’ve heard the terms; Predictive Analytics, Machine Learning, AI, etc. We will have seen demonstrations of the new technologies and products that have been developed. We get excited about what technology can bring and how it can give us the insight we need.

If we aren’t ready for any of the technology mentioned, we’re possibly at the point where we’re seeking to reduce the HR administration and manual effort. This way we can finally become the “business partner” we aspire to be and “have a seat at the table.” This is what was holding us back, all the volume and tasks that technology will now take away. If you are here, you’re probably talking about implementing the latest HRIS solution.

For a lot of HR teams, the benefits of implementing an HRIS have been realized. In other cases, the implementation of bespoke solutions that focus on recruitment, onboarding, learning, and performance have helped. The question to ask is, “has it improved the quality or has it only provided visibility for now?”

Now that many HR teams have data via various systems, we want to be provided with insights into potential problems along with advice on solutions. We turn to develop dashboards and reports to share with senior management. Your HR team may be at this point in the journey, realizing that retrospective data is, just that, retrospective. We may find that there will be a few ‘oh wow, is that what’s going on’ comments and hot spots become obvious. Still, we may not know what to do about it. At this point, we may be saying that we need more technology which leads us to talk about analytics, machine learning, AI, workforce planning, etc.

Let’s forget about HR for a moment and turn to our colleagues in a Sales team. Technology has been able to transform what was a very manual process to a world of a system driven lead generation, suggestive sales and deeper understanding of buyer behavior. In the HR spectrum, many mature Talent Acquisition functions understand this but may only be applying these concepts in the recruitment stream. In Marketing, terms such as “call to action” and data lead marketing come to mind. Sales and Marketing, as examples, aim to use technology to extend their base fundamentals.

Looking at Human Resources, what is our base fundamental? Current university course offerings commonly cover the subjects; employee relations, performance management, compensation, benefits, talent management, and leadership development. A Masters in Human Resources Management may spend a little more time on the various specializations in the HR field. HR can also be studied as electives through a Bachelor of Arts and some still tie it through a Bachelor of Business Administration.

It is curious that not all HR courses cover HR technology. HR professionals will often have their first introduction to HR systems once they commence in the work environment.

HR needs to understand current and upcoming technology. To do so, our base fundamentals need to include skills that haven’t traditionally been part of our HR world but are relevant today

A student graphic designer, by comparison, will have had to submit student work using the latest graphic design software and there are separate courses for people to pick up software skill or focus on advanced skills. Granted it is a direct tool of trade but so too is an HRIS and an ATS these days.

Which brings us back to the question, “what is our base fundamental?”

Has HR changed? Some will argue that it hasn’t changed all that much, that leadership, development and performance principles still apply. I will argue that how we apply these principles have changed. We have more options out our disposal, sure, but we have new problems to solve as well. Businesses and organizations are evolving and required to respond at such a rapid rate that some of our tried and tested approaches are either too slow or redundant by the time we’ve created a new HR framework to address a specific problem.

HR needs to understand current and upcoming technology. To do so, our base fundamentals need to include skills that haven’t traditionally been part of our HR world but are relevant today; business process improvement methodology, project management, change management, data analytics, to name a few. We don’t have to be experts, but some understanding about the principles will go a long way.

Let’s apply a common scenario: a new HR person to an organization, they are taught what the organizational policies and the associated processes are. It can be quite an administration heavy and maybe a manual process. W e i ntroduce t echnology t hat m ay h elp reduce the administration so we automate the process. Sounds OK? Should we have started with asking, “is the policy still current and is there an opportunity to improve the process?” T his can appear so much harder and implementing the solution may take longer but it is probably the right approach to take given there is an opportunity for change.

If you’re reading this and not from HR, it may sound like common sense but the reality is that HR policies and practices are not often updated unless an issue occurs which is quite reactionary. As mentioned earlier, business process improvement methodology is not really core to HR capability and not often practiced in a preventative manner.

In order for HR to be able to embrace these new technologies and solutions being presented, there needs to be an awareness of what the building blocks are and the foundations needed to be able to apply the solution to get maximum return on investment. AI, machine learning and predictive analytics still require data and it needs to come from somewhere. The quality of the data is determined by the consistency and application of the agreed process by the HR users. The design of the process needs to have factored the elements that may be needed for future reporting and analysis. Are these concepts covered for new HR employees and graduates?

It is exciting to see the attention that HR is receiving from developers and the innovations being released each year. However, just like new apps are developed to solve a problem we didn’t know we had, new solutions are being developed that some HR teams may not have realized were issue within their own processes. Centralized candidate and employee data may expose process gaps but that’s a good thing when we’re talking about improving the candidate or employee experience.

With today’s cloud-based HRIS systems as a foundation, assuming all the core HR processes have been optimized (but do we ever stop doing this?) and we have a level of comfort with our data quality, the future is bright. Realizing rather than talking about predictive analytics, preparing for more AI opportunities particularly in relation to ESS and MSS, while dreaming about VR and the application of this in HR strategies, there is certainly an inevitable transformation or evolution of HR on the horizon. Where and how we play today will require some HR organization redesign. Will you be ready for this version of HR?

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