HR Trends

www.humancapitalonline.com16 � January 2016

COVER STORY

HR trends and challenges for

2016: A 360 degree makeover?

2016 promises to be an exciting year for HR and HR Practitioners. This

article endeavours to look into the HR scene in general and the Talent

Management scene in particular. Here are early insights, albeit general,

into the year ahead

- BY RAJIB KUMAR

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C O V E R S T O R Y

the verge of becoming a critical factor in the process of identification and response to business challenges. Companies desirous of achieving a competitive edge need to get data oriented insights into workforce trends and take appropriate action in assorted areas like recruitment, compensation and performance management.

At the end of the day, it is the people factor which draws the distinction between a successful organization and an unsuccessful one. It is therefore pertinent that people centric data is used suitably and on a timely basis for an efficient managerial decision making process.

Need For Integrated Human Capital Management Systems The Obama Government has amended the Affordable Care Act that favours all those employees working in companies that carry a workforce of more than 50. This has implied that the previous practice of the annual enrolment programme to a monthly process of tracking and reporting extensive data. Thus, it would be incumbent upon firms to collect data from personnel in assorted functions to address statutory requirements. This also revisits the need for the development of an integrated human capital management solution. (See box)

Employee Engagements To Rule Organizations are increasingly focusing on enhancing their employee engagement to achieve better performance. Research indicates that employee engagement is strongly linked to business outcomes that is so much necessary for financial success. Engaged employees are conventionally seen to drive the cause of innovation and growth. Further, with the expansion of the service sector, the

Transformation through employee participation

A culture of participation is driving efficiency at

Eaga Eaga is one of Europe's fastest growing

green support services companies. Established

as an employee owned company in 1990, Eaga

continued its commitment to employee

ownership when the business floated in 2007.

Today, 36% of Eaga's share capital is held in

Trust for its employees (still referred to as

"Partners") by the Eaga Partnership Trust.

A culture of participation is driving efficiency at

Eaga Eaga is one of Europe's fastest growing

green support services companies. Established

as an employee owned company in 1990, Eaga

continued its commitment to employee

ownership when the business floated in 2007.

Today, 36% of Eaga's share capital is held in

Trust for its employees (still referred to as

"Partners") by the Eaga Partnership Trust.

Eaga has expanded rapidly over the last four

years, growing from 400 to over 4,000 Partners

and at the same time diversifying and expanding

its services. This was part of a programme

called Eaga Cares which was designed to ensure

that the values of the business continued to

shape day to day decisions and behaviour.

(Source: www.ipa-involve.com/EasySiteWeb/ GatewayLink.aspx?alId=161904)(Source: http://www.surveycrest.com/blog/infographic-millenials-vs-

baby-boomers/

I

(Source: http://www.slideshare.net/singhalshubham/hr-analytics-32826595)

direct customer interface factor enhances the employee development requirement.

Again, the service proposition mandates quicker decision making on the part of the employees directly involved in servicing customers. It is therefore mandatory for greater employee engagement to ensure that this occurs in an effective and a sustained manner.

ncreased Need For Analytics Tools Analytics-The ability to collect, process and analyse large amounts of data- is on

www.humancapitalonline.com18 � January 2016

(Source: http://www.recruitingunblog.com/tag/talent- mapping)

More Customized Programs Based on the previous proposition, "Less standardization, Greater customization" is expected to be the order of the day. Organizational programs need to be customized based on specific requirements and capabilities of the Talent Inventory. This is akin to a firm making products based on customer needs. It makes no sense for the organization to endeavour or move into areas wherein its workforce do not carry the required acumen or skillsets.

Importance Of Subject Knowledge Over Intuitive Management Subject knowledge of HR is gaining importance with every passing day. Intuitive thinking is not seen to be sufficiently reliable and organizations are seeking proven ability. Employers, on the othr hand, are looking for a

tangible correlation with organizational success in prospective profiles. Academic qualifications and acquired certifications therefore shall continue to hold importance. Among several factors that are

driving the cause of certified knowledge and experience- promiment among them being the higher supply of competent human resources. Thus, comparative analysis among prospects shall be based on the quality of certified experience and knowledge.

From Secrecy To Transparency While confidentiality and secrecy have ruled the ambit of Talent Management over the years, the new generation seeks greater transparency. In such a scenario, it would

COVER STORY

More Millennials Research data show that the Millennials will account for nearly half the global workforce by the year 2020. In certain organizations, they are already the dominant workforce and exceed the combined numbers of Gen X and the Baby Boomers. Therefore, organizations wanting to attract and retain Millennial talent will need to ensure that the e n t i r e

process from sourcing through onboarding is managed through social media.

Expected Trends in Talent Management: In today's global business environment, conceivably, the key to success in an enterprise lies in creating a sustainable talent pipeline. It is therefore sensible to carry out a detailed review on the Talent Management arena.

Community management as a recruitment tool "Recruitment has to make the shift from reactive to proactive. The practice to create communities around your organization, a kind of "fan clubs", is growing rapidly. The communities are connected to your organizations by various means and through the community you can give people a real experience of what it means to be part of your organization. When opportunities occur, candidates from the communities can very organically become part of your organization." - Suman Datta, Assistant Manager HR, DQ Entertainment International Limited

Broader view of Talent With changing business as well as employee needs, talent today has a much wider perspective. On the one hand, we have individuals who are merely looking to garner experience with the intention of moving on to something else sooner than later. On the other, we have those who are strictly looking for a specific kind of experience in a certain project or assignment. In light of this, it is important for recruiters to assess the personal objectives of the available human resource. In other words, the need is to create a broader Talent pool based on individual resourcerequirements. This adds to the challenge of encompassing the dimension of sustainability to the Talent pipeline.

For The Layman HR ANALYTICS - Human resource analytics (HR

analytics) is an area in the field of analytics that denotes

application of analytic processes to the human resource

function with the goal of improving employee performance

and consequently ensuring better return on investment.

HR analytics is not just about gathering data on employee

efficiency; it endeavours to provide insight into each

Human Resource process by organizing data and then

making suitable use of the same for taking appropriate

decisions on how these processes could be improved.

What HR analytics essentially does is correlate business

data and people data, which subsequently helps in

establishing important connections. A key aspect of HR

analytics is to overwhelmingly demonstrate the impact

the HR function has on the organization as a whole.

Establishing a cause-and-effect relationship between what

HR does and appropriate business outcomes - and then

formulating strategies based on such information is what

HR analytics is all about.

HR has core functions that can be enriched by applying

processes in analytics. HR analytics helps address

problems associated with these core functions and

guide the managers and gaining insights from

information at hand, then make relevant decisions and

take appropriate actions.

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C O V E R S T O R Y

be important to use transparency in Talent Management to achieve better engagement. Again, this is in the general alignment of the overall paradigm shift in business. From the dark days of secrecy and confidentiality, transparency is the new buzz word acquiring the required wings and demonstrating equality in the workplace. It has been found that organizations that have practised transparency in the area of employee management have got better results in terms of employee engagement.

The Increasing Importance Of HR Analytics Just like in the general HR scene, analytics would continue to play an important role in terms of Talent Management. Data would continue to give greater insights into Talent Management and Acquisition. HR analytics is taking people management to the next level. Unwarranted reliance on "instinct" is giving way to an effective use of data. HR analytics is adding a totally new dimension to the way we are looking at data as well; from a reactive role, we are looking at a proactive role of data under its aegis.

From Annual To Frequent Feedback In a dynamic business environment with ever changing operational and strategic requirements, people feedback needs to be made available more frequently for pure business needs. From an annual fare, the need for feedback would increasingly be a more frequent affair.

From Succession Planning And Management To Creating Broad Talent Pools In a dynamic business environment, meticulous succession planning is going to take a backseat. The process has in fact already started. It makes no sense to put in so much effort into an area that poses uncertainties, given the changing business dynamics. The point is that all the sincere efforts to groom talent to take up a certain position may come to nought if the positional requirements need to be fulfilled in a radical manner in the ever changing business landscape. It therefore does not require rocket science to deduce that the talent pool is required to be broadened to fulfil the required resource for the business.

The Way Forward A new era awaits us! An era that promises

For The Layman GEN Y/MILLENNIALS - Each Generation consists of approximately

a 20-year span (though all generation researchers do not agree on

the exact start and stop dates) having unique set of values.

The Veterans (also known as the Silent Generation) 1925-1943;The

Baby Boomers 1943-1964; The Gen Xers 1965-1982; Millennial/Gen Y

1982 -2002

Some characteristics of Millennial Generation: � civic-minded � collectively optimistic, long-term planners, high achievers with lower

rates of violent crime, smoking and alcohol use/abuse � They believe that they have the potential to be great � Individualistic but appreciate groups/teams � Hate chores � Ambitious yet lack focus

HUMAN CAPITAL - It is a measure of the economic value of employees'

skills. The Human Capital concept builds on the basic production input

of "labour" wherein all labour is thought to be equal. Human Capital goes

on to give recognition to the fact that all labour is not equal and quality

of labour can actually be improved by appropriate investments. Human

Capital concept gives credence to the fact that appropriate education,

experience and capabilities of employees hold economic value for the

enterprise as well as the economy as a whole.

HC

Credits: http://blog.adp.com/2015/11/04/5-top-hr-trends-to-watch-for-in-2016 #sthash.e6IFopt9.dpuf

http://hrtrendinstitute.com/2015/05/13/10-talent management-trends-for-2016/

to be on quick response mode at all times to the ever changing strategic and operational business needs. In light of this, the expanse of Talent Acquisition and Management would be even greater, rendering it imperative to make use of tools like People Analytics and

Social Media. At a juncture, when Time itself is the most diminishing resource and is being equated with money, the onus is ever on human resources department to bell the cat in an organization. Talent Acquisition Managers can in no way ignore proven and documented success for Talent. Further, on- board, transparency in Talent Management over "under the wraps" manoeuvres shall ever ensure continued quality engagement. All the above can therefore be translated as

the best times for HR and it is up to us to make hay while the sun is shining upon us in all his resplendent glory.

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