Yes, 2018 is more than half over. Many changes have already occur ed in the last six months, never mind over the last decade. Quite a few of those changes have influenced the world of HR. Nevertheless, here are some changes you’ll want to stay ahead of as we run out the clock on 2018.
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Upskilling Is Essential
Millions of positions are currently unfilled in the workforce in the United States because candidates don’t have the skills they need. In addition, Millennials and Generation Z workers entering and directing the workforce have expressed sincere interest in continuous learning and leadership development opportunities.
And recent research highlighted by SHRM has indicated that upskilling employees 15 to 20 times throughout the duration of their careers will be essential in coming years and will be the norm in the workforce.
So, if you want your organization to remain competitive in 2018 and beyond, you’ll want your HR leadership to focus on promoting and advancing any and every upskilling opportunity it has at its disposal to attract and retain top-level talent.
AI and Virtual Reality Will Drive Engaging and Personalized Learning
Learners in 2018 will expect more personalized learning content and experiences. And utilizing learning management and HR management systems and apps that rely on artificial intelligence (AI) will help your HR team create more personalized employee experiences from the day each employee starts working for your organization.
In addition, you’ll want your HR leadership team to focus on developing virtual reality experiences for things like employee onboarding and safety training. Many organizations are beginning to use such technology in 2018 because of how much less expensive it’s becoming.
Focusing on the Employee Experience Is Important
Regardless of the technology your HR team implements or relies on in 2018, they’ll need to remember to focus on each employee’s experience. An organization’s competitive advantage and reputation now relies on HR’s ability to provide exceptional employee experiences throughout their entire tenure with an organization—starting with the interview process and ending with their resignation or termination.
Applying Harassment and Inclusion Policies and Cultures will be Necessary
Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen an overwhelming growth of interest in sexual harassment policies and training in the wake of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. And we’ve seen a call for more policies and company cultures to embrace more racial and gender diversity across industries and sectors.
It will be imperative for your HR leadership team to create, administer, promote, and enforce policies and company-culture guidelines that appropriately and effectively address harassment and inclusion in 2018 and beyond.
To maintain an effective and competitive HR department in 2018, ensure its leadership team knows what to focus on, mentioned above.