There are always different approaches to managing people. For years, giant corporates have adopted a relatively straightforward and reactive approach that was beyond the bounds of workforce agility and inclusive behaviour. To accommodate the organization’s unique needs and build a highly driven workforce, HRs used a mix of business partners, excellence and shared service centers.
In the present market volatility and complexity, talent managers are rapidly evolving their HR management strategies. The onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic has further resulted in an ambiguous business environment. This has created a space for the evolution of workplace technology, accelerated adoption of alternatives, and new working models – remote and hybrid working as well as bringing forth challenges in monitoring employee performance.
With the majority millennial workforce taking dominance in the industry, employee preferences have taken a paradigm shift and have led to exacerbating attrition. Demographic developments and digital-first business models across the world have further intensified talent shortages with broadening skill gaps.
Modern HR businesses have recognized the role of talent managers in adopting strategic approaches to bridge learning gaps. These managers work as leaders to rise to a new level of adaptability. They are collectively transforming their HR functions to drive new operating models in the space.
Adoption of agile principles
Agility is no longer a new concept and in the context of HR, it defines their ability to move quickly to adapt and evolve people and processes. As part of the adoption of agile principles, talent managers must ensure strict prioritization of their capacity and relocate resources to ensure faster evolution of business. This allows HRs to be more responsive to the changing business landscape and technologies.
Excelling in improving employee experience
The looming great recession has shifted the focus of talent managers towards improving employee experience (EX). The rate of quitting has gone up across industries and employees are leaving their job with new opportunities in hand. As per the facts – 4 in 5 i.e. 80 percent working professionals are considering changing their job in 2023. The trend is followed by GenZ professionals who are on the lookout for new roles. Therefore, talent managers are excelling in EX to win the talent war by enabling employee health as well as resilience.
Leveraging data analytics
Running through data and analytics could possibly be one of the best functions to become agile. It minimized the risk of guesswork which eliminates the chances of biases from HR functions. Tapping into the right resources leads to Insightful decision-making that further reduces the chances of severe consequences emerging from wrong decisions. In addition, analytics helps talent managers to be mindful of employee engagement and performance based on which leaders can realign the business targets or job roles to drive work efficiency and business growth.
Automation of HR practices
The world is moving towards a digitized economy. Organizational culture, employee experience and retention have emerged as key priorities for talent managers. To build an agile workforce, talent managers need to leverage new technologies and automation and ensure seamless delivery of all HR functions across the employee lifecycle. Each function from HR planning to talent acquisition and employee engagement can take advantage of the cloud, artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation.
Learning to the art of personalization
Talent managers are known for managing a diverse workforce spanning different cultures, backgrounds and generations. The key to connecting with each one of them involves personalization as one size fits all approach no longer appeals to today’s workforce. Offering individualized services can widely address the significantly varied employee expectations and create a compelling employee experience. This consists more of an employee-centric approach to customization of career paths, remuneration and benefits, learning and development, work arrangements, etc.
Reimagining transformation of HR future
With a series of changes in operation models, talent managers can leverage the best opportunities and deliver value-based employee experience. For decades, HR functions were always assessed against peer functions, however, with shifting workforce trends, it is now being measured by its value to the business. This proves to be ultimately most transformative for the organization and its workforce.
(The author is Ms. Yogita Tulsiani, MD & Co-founder, iXceed Solutions (Global Tech-Recruiter Provider). and the views expressed in this article are her own)
