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SPEAKER particular need an HR system that works “behind the scenes.” In fact, in my keynote, I will talk more about the “disappearing HR system,” which employees can use and interact with without actually logging in.
Skills engines and talent marketplaces are becoming mainstream.
Five HR Tech Trends You Need to Consider
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R technology is an essential part of business today. More than 12.1 million employers in the US alone spend over US$5 trillion on payroll, benefits, training, and other employee programmes. More than a third of the workforce changes jobs every year, creating a $250 billion-plus market for recruitment, advertisement, assessment, and interviewing. The L&D marketplace is over $240 billion per year and spans the range from onboarding to leadership development to technical and continuous skills programmes. And the market for wellbeing, benefits, insurance, workplace tools, and workplace productivity systems is similarly large. Needless to say, the pandemic has radically changed the marketplace and disrupted purchasing and implementation plans. In this article, I preview five of the trends I will cover in my upcoming keynote presentation at HR Tech Fest Connect 2021.
The HR tech market has been turned inside out, and now it is entirely focused on employees, not HR. Most company leaders are recognising the need to reinvent employee experience, and to do so, they need tools that simplify, automate, and digitize every aspect involved. We are well beyond building portals or mobile apps. Companies need AI-enabled tools that fit together like puzzle
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pieces and platforms that let them easily build employee journeys, back-to-workplace programmes, onboarding and transition processes, and wellbeing solutions. To accommodate this need, the market is moving from systems of record to systems of design. Solution providers are creating platforms that are easy to use and equally easy to customize. Vendors like Microsoft (Viva), ServiceNow (the Quebec release), and new offerings from Workday, Oracle, SuccessFactors and others are opening the door to creator tools for HR.
Microsoft’s entry into the market could change everything. It is hard to think of an HR tech vendor that will not be impacted by Microsoft Viva. Learning platforms are integrating with Viva Learning and Microsoft Teams. Content companies are building Viva-enabled search and discovery features. Communication and wellbeing tools are developing plugins. The wave is just beginning, and every HR tech product manager is trying to figure out how to adapt.
New user interfaces and AI-enabled agents are transformational. The user experience for HR platforms is dramatically changing. Every new system needs a conversational interface, and most are now working through messaging. Upwards of 40% of the workforce is now “deskless,” and these employees in
There are dozens of new solutions in this area. The LXP market is now the most important design center for corporate training, and every LXP has its own builtin skills engine. The need for integrated skills technology is enabling newer vendors like Gloat, Hitch, Eightfold, Fuel50, Workday, and others to disrupt the market. Companies such as SAP, Pepsi, Allianz, Standard Chartered, NetApp, Verizon, Citibank, and P&G are piloting skills taxonomies and talent marketplace platforms.
ServiceNow, employee portals, and service-delivery platforms are white-hot. As we enter a world of hybrid work, companies need systems to schedule desks, monitor safe workplaces, and manage travel, location, and system access. Employees want self-service tools and workflow management platforms to build new employee journeys. The ERP vendors have not focused in this area until recently, opening the door to ServiceNow, Microsoft Viva, Oracle, and tools like Embark from WillisTowersWatson to move in. ServiceNow is enabling teams to build employee apps without learning how to code. Its strong ties to IT are an advantage in a world where HR tech, work tech, and messaging and communication tech are integrated. I will have much more to discuss at HR Tech Fest Connect 2021. If you would like to learn more in advance, download the report, HR Technology 2021: The Definitive Guide, here.
About the Author JOSH BERSIN is a Global Industry Analyst and Dean of the Josh Bersin Academy. He will be making the opening keynote address at HR Tech Fest Connect 2021 on May 27 at 10.05am (SGT).
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Decoding the top priorities facing HR leaders today
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he pandemic has made one thing clear: work and location are not as tightly connected as we once thought. People can be productive outside of the office and working from anywhere is becoming the norm, especially for young people. By 2025, the workplace will look profoundly different as flexible work arrangements give rise to the “economy of individuals”. That leads to a world of opportunity where HR leaders can source talent globally. But it also raises concerns: Who are the employees most likely to thrive in this new environment and how can you help others catch up? How can you measure outcomes instead of presence and working hours? It is time to design what your post-pandemic workplace will look like. With the advance of mobile technologies, how people live and work has changed dramatically over the past decade. The ability to be connected regardless of location has opened new ways to work and collaborate with colleagues no matter where they are. And while we might think that the pandemic brought a fundamental change in employee expectations, the opposite is true: well before 2020, employees expressed the wish for more flexibility. When I ran the HR2025 survey in the fall of 2019, around 65% of global respondents
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4.1% Only work at 6.8% an office Only work from home/remotely
23.1%% Work anywhere in the world WHAT WORKING ARRANGEMENT WOULD YOU PREFER? (NOV 2019) 64.8% Flexibility to combine home and office expressed a need for more flexibility in working location. The same was true for working hours: just 12% wanted to stick to traditional office hours. More than 50% of respondents were looking for flexible working hours. They wanted a better work/ life balance, more in line with their personal needs. Interestingly enough, those numbers have not changed. Most of the research that was published in 2021 shows numbers that are close to what we found back in 2019. The biggest change: what people wished to achieve by 2025 became reality in 2020. Being able to decide when and
HERE ARE THREE IDEAS TO GET YOU STARTED:
• Design for flexibility. Your workforce is not looking for either/or: they want a healthy balance. Use this opportunity to design a workforce approach that combines the best of both worlds: remote and inperson, onsite and offsite, with business resilience in mind (because this pandemic will not be the last).
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• Apply a working from anywhere mindset and let the activity determine the location of work. Develop a work style in which employees can use different locations related to the various tasks they need to complete throughout the day. • And, especially important, engage your workforce. Ask your employees and
managers to participate. You gave them the responsibility to organise their work from home and trusted them to perform. It would be detrimental to their satisfaction if you took that away. Invite them to share what works and what does not and let them propose solutions. I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.
where you work is a strong motivator for productivity, engagement, recruitment and retention. Reverting back to being told to work in the office 9-5 will not go over well, especially not as employees held off on switching jobs. You cannot return to the way it was before the pandemic. Your employees will not accept it. Once economies rebound, we will see employees jump on the opportunity to accept a new job that fits their new lifestyle. Now that companies are reopening physical locations, the challenge is to carefully think through what this means: for the workforce, for individual employees and for your culture. The rapid transition to remote work was made possible by a digital transformation that was already underway, based on technological advances like mobile, cloud, cybersecurity and devices. There was no time to think beyond supporting employees to remain productive while working from home. But now it is time to deal with the challenges of remote work. Employees feel overwhelmed, isolated, and out of sight. They miss in-person interaction and collaboration. Managers struggle to lead virtually, keep their teams motivated and employees productive. Which means you need to define your post-pandemic approach to work, including new behaviors, guidelines, and policies. What are your strategies to improve productivity, communication, and collaboration? When do employees need to be in the office (if at all)?
About the Author ANITA LETTINK is Advisor, Future of Work Speaker and Founder of HRTechRadar.com. She will be making the closing keynote at HR Tech Fest Connect 2021 on May 27 at 3.50pm (SGT). A P R I L - M AY 2 0 2 1
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